Apple Music Rank: 70
Album: Straight Outta Compton
Artist: N.W.A
Year: 1988
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Was I familiar with N.W.A? Of course. Been a fan since 1989. Despite that, one thing I noticed for the first time just now despite being a fan for 35+ years: The “A” in N.W.A does not have a period. It did on their debut album N.W.A. and the Posse, but they dropped it for all remaining albums. Cool move for visual symmetry, but it doesn’t exactly make sense from an initialism perspective. Such rebels. Now I see what they mean by “attitude”. Grammar be damned!
Had I heard Straight Outta Compton? Many times
Thoughts on Straight Outta Compton: Let’s journey back to 1989. 13-year-old Charlie was getting his first taste of hip hop via crossover pop/rap like DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Young MC, and Tone Loc. I had other friends dabbling in hip hop, but I’m confident that I was the one actively searching for more. Everyone who knew anything at that time knew that there were two forbidden rap fruits that good boys should avoid: Luke Skyywalker and the 2 Live Crew and N.W.A. To a bunch of rural northern Wisconsin dorks there was nothing more intriguing than a rapper named Luke Skyywalker who rapped about his dick and dropped the F-word a lot. In hindsight, N.W.A could’ve benefitted if Ren would’ve called himself Yodda or Hann Solo or some other character from a galaxy far, far away. To those of us who didn’t know better, 2 Live Crew and N.W.A were the exact same thing: The dirtiest known rap music.
I had to hear these guys. Tone Loc was already pushing it as far as I was concerned. In hindsight, his most popular song was about drugging women for sex, so 2 Live Crew couldn’t be much worse, right? Eventually my brother obtained a copy of a 2 Live Crew cassette tape from his boy Chris Johnson and it was on. We waited for a time when our parents weren’t home and surrounded our stereo with the anticipation of the Nazis unsealing the ark of the covenant…only the contents of that tape did not melt our faces. The results were far more disappointing. Sure, they rapped about pussies and said “fuck” constantly, but once I giggled a few times at the song “S&M” there wasn’t a lot there to keep me interested. Bottom line: That group sucked. Sorry, Miami.
One half of the ultimate forbidden hip hop groups had been revealed to me and I wasn’t impressed. I brought that cynicism with me in July of ’89 when I traveled 25 long miles to the east shore of Green Bay for UWGB Band Camp. Feel free to laugh. Everyone else did. UWGB Band Camp was the highlight of the year for me back in those days. A completely different group of friends from all over the state. We stayed in dorms, played music, went to the mall, movies, Bay Beach, dances…everything Green Bay had to offer. It was there that I befriended a kid from Waukesha who became my annual hip hop hookup. He’d play me the stuff I couldn’t hear on the radio in Green Bay. I’d return to Pulaski at the end of band camp week armed with enough hip hop recommendations to last me until camp the next summer. Marquites reached into his pocket and brandished a copy of Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. This was eventful. I knew once I heard it the mystique would be gone. I told him about my hesitance to listen to N.W.A after my Luke experience. I’m sure I’m paraphrasing, but his response was something like, “This ain’t 2 Live Crew.” He popped the cassette into the boom box and pressed play.
“You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge.”
Within seconds I could tell this was different. The beat was dope. The rapper could rap. Yeah, this dude (Ice Cube) was dropping F-bombs galore, but not like Luke Skyywalker. There was substance behind these F-bombs. Also, what the hell is Compton? These guys are terrifying! So many emotions, the prevailing being that this was the forbidden fruit I had been waiting for. I was still reeling from “Straight Outta Compton” when “Fuck tha Police” dropped. Can they even say this? God damn this beat is hard. My head was spinning. Soon my mind went to thoughts like, “How can I get this tape? Where can I even listen to it if I do get it? What do I need to do to hide it?” This wasn’t just a tape, it was an education.
The rest of the details are hazy to me. At some point I got my hands on a Straight Outta Compton CD, but it took a minute. The rest of the album was hit or miss. Nothing hit nearly as hard as that first experience hearing “Straight Outta Compton” and “Fuck tha Police”, but I still I love Straight Outta Compton. Musically I put it up against any other hip hop album from that era. The last 90 seconds of “Gangsta Gantsta” might be the prototype for every 90s west coast hip hop beat that followed. Even in 1988 Dr. Dre was killing it. Admittedly, the actual rappers in N.W.A weren’t the best. There’s no Rakim carrying the group. Dre barely raps on Straight Outta Compton, but the dirty secret about him has always been that he’s a mediocre rapper. His genius is in the beats. Ice Cube is dope and he’s doing most of the heavy lifting, leading off every relevant track on the album. Eazy-E is entertaining and his voice is one of a kind, but he’s a C- rapper at best. MC Ren has always been underrated and underused even though his lyrical content frequently drifts into Luke Skyywalker’s lane. The over-the-top sex lyrics were never particularly interesting to me. Tracks like “If it Ain’t Ruff” and “Quiet on tha Set” are shockingly PG-rated Ren solo tracks, but they’re two of my favorites on the album. When I was a kid I played “If it Ain’t Ruff” on repeat because I could listen to it all day without tipping off my parents or other adults that I was in possession of contraband.
My love for N.W.A and a lot of other hip hop and new jack shit me a target of a lot of ridicule in my small town back in the day. As I’ve mentioned many times on this site, I estimate that about 80% of the kids I went to school with routinely called me “wigger”, which made my blood boil and still pisses me off to this day. Racist fucking clowns. First and most importantly, there’s the blatantly racist element. Second, it’s always been my understanding that the “W” in that ridiculous word indicated that I was a “wannabe”. I guess listening to hip hop, watching the NBA, and dressing even a little bit hip hop meant I wanted to be something I wasn’t. I always knew exactly what I was: A white boy fascinated by a culture that wasn’t necessarily meant for me. I was also straight up terrified of it thanks to the street knowledge bestowed upon me by Ice Cube, MC Ren, Eazy-E, DJ Yella, and Dr. Dre. Compton was the scariest fucking town on Earth. I knew that the tales N.W.A told were fictional, but was also wise enough to understand that there was truth in those lyrics. The last place I would ever “wannabe” was Compton, California. I wouldn’t last 30 seconds and I have nothing but the utmost respect for people who live it. I have N.W.A to thank for that.
At one point in high school I had to write a persuasive essay. I decided to write about how hip hop gets a bad rap (sorry) and used Public Enemy and N.W.A lyrics as part of my argument. I wish I could see that paper now. I remember making the argument that musicians sing/rap about what they know and that they were a product of a racist society. I remember critics being terrified that N.W.A was going to do something terrible to our impressionable virgin brains. It did the opposite to me. I believe I’m a better person now because I listened to N.W.A as a kid. Straight Outta Compton wasn’t just an album for me. It was my introduction to street knowledge.
Favorite track: I’m gonna zag here and go with “Gangsta Gangsta”. My guy Ren is notably absent, but Cube shoulders the load admirably. As I mentioned above, at about the 4:05 mark Dre takes an already-iconic beat and elevates it. Cube surrenders the mic to Eazy and he drops a verse worthy of the Smithsonian. “Straight Outta Compton” and “Fuck tha Police” understandably get the headlines, but “Gangsta Gangsta” is my shit. Also, a quick side note if I may. I’m unsure where to direct my ire in this case. To Apple, WordPress, or whomever else provides autocorrect when I’m writing on my Mac: You can stop correcting me when I type “Fuck tha Police” and “Quiet on tha Set”. You’re supposed to be so fucking smart. Can you not tell I’m doing it intentionally? I’m writing about N.W.A. That most world’s most dangerous group. They didn’t title their song “Fuck the Police” and it’s definitely not “Fuck That Police”. It’s “Fuck THA Police”. Stop making me type it three times to correct you. I’m not misspelling it, you are. Implement some AI or something that’ll teach you when T-H-A is tha appropriate spelling. Thank you.
Will I listen to Straight Outta Compton again? Until the day I die.
Would I buy it on vinyl? I’ve been collecting records for 15 years and I haven’t bought it yet. I’m not against it, but this isn’t the kind of music I usually play on my turntable. I’m usually spinning records when I wanna chill. “Fuck tha Police” is not chill. That said, if I had a copy I wouldn’t sell it. So there. I’m not necessarily looking to buy it, but if I received it as a gift I wouldn’t return it. How’s that for an overly complicated answer?
To access more expert analysis of the Apple 100 Best Albums list click here.
mookiefantana 