Back in 1988, NWA was the Richard Clarke of its day. True,
\nClarke probably never considered writing “life ain’t nothing but
\nbitches and money” in his book,
\nAgainst All Enemies<\/i>, but both Clarke and NWA were
\nbroadcasting alarms about a terrible event that was not too far
\naway — and both were broadcasting their warnings on essentially
\ndeaf ears.<\/p>\n
When NWA’s groundbreaking debut,
\nStraight Outta Compton<\/i>, debuted, it was shocking. If Public
\nEnemy’s
\nIt Takes ANation Of Millions To Hold Us Back<\/i> was the
\nequivalent of a leftist militant political rally,
\nStraight Outta Compton<\/i> was the equivalent of a stickup. Much
\nhas been made about the album’s immediacy — it was recorded on the
\ncheap and came from firsthand experiences in life in South Central
\nLos Angeles.<\/p>\n
The highlights come early. The leadoff track features a ‘pass
\nthe mike’ introduction to three or four emcees that would forever
\nchange rap: Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube and MC Ren. The beat and
\nflows of the rhymes have woven its way into virtually every aspect
\nof pop culture. From Kid Rock’s declaration that he’s “straight
\noutta the trailer” to bands like Straight Outta Junior High to
\nall-too numerous “straight outta” punch lines in sitcoms, the song
\nwas absorbed into the mainstream almost instantaneously, and with
\nvirtually no airplay.<\/p>\n
Of course, the next song, “F*** Tha Police” is the song that put
\nNWA on the map, for all the right and wrong reasons. The song was
\nlike a match to a gas can and resulted with NWA getting in trouble
\nwith the FBI. For free speech advocates, there was a lot to defend
\nin
\nStraight Outta Compton<\/i>. If you were conservative, the album
\nwas public enemy No. 1, because it attacked police and glorified
\nviolence. If you were liberal, the album was public enemy No. 1
\nbecause of its rampant sexism and glorified violence.<\/p>\n
Despite all of the violent-ridden, misogynistic lyrics, there
\nare some moments of
\nStraight Outta Compton<\/i> that are extremely disciplined
\nmusically. Remove the lyrics to “Parental Discretion Iz Advised”
\nand what remains is a sophisticated beat that would sound right at
\nhome on an Earth, Wind and Fire album in the late ’70s. Even on his
\nfirst album that landed him major exposure, Dre showed, even at
\nthat young age, that he had the ear and talent to eventually become
\nthe Phil Spector of rap and hip-hop in the ’90s and well into
\ntoday.<\/p>\n
The beats of
\nStraight Outta Compton<\/i> are stark and dense. For the most
\npart, the album has held up fairly well considering how much rap
\nhas evolved since it was released. “Express Yourself” can still
\nbring a laugh with its old-school sampling and the second-half of
\nthe album remains strong, with the exception of “Something Like
\nThat” and “Compton’s N The House.”<\/p>\n
Of course, it’s hard not to look at the events that took place
\nafter
\nStraight Outta Compton<\/i> was released: the 1992 LA riots
\n(which, despite what cultural snobs say, NWA did NOT cause), Eazy-E
\ndying of AIDS, Ice Cube going from
\nAmerikka’s Most Wanted<\/i> to a movie star who can make a $100
\nmillion movie and Dr. Dre, who has had to settle for merely
\nsculpting what rap, hip-hop, R&B and even rock sounds like
\ntoday. And most shocking, the album began the uneasy blur between
\nfiction and reality that ultimately resulted in the deaths of Tupac
\nand Biggie. Listen to
\nStraight Outta Compton<\/i> today and it’s likely you’re not
\ngoing to learn anything in terms of sociology. But if you want to
\nget a sample of how it all started, this is the album to start
\nwith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7049],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-38038","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-nwa","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38038"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}