Comments on: You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge

You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge

Bookhouse — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:13:23 -0800

From reviled to revered. A lot has changed since N.W.A. formed twenty years ago this month. They brought gangster chic Straight Out of Compton (NSFW Youtube) and said Fuck the Police in 1989. Then came squabbling and diss tracks. Founder Eazy E died of AIDS a decade ago. Ice Cube still raps and makes movies. Dr. Dre went on to discover folks like Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent and The Game and still produces. Both are superstars. Some other former members, um, aren't (NSFW audio). Want to learn more? Their manager Jerry Heller just wrote a book. [MI]

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:13:54 -0800

Additional Youtubery (NSFW) Express Yourself The D.O.C.'s solo track It's Funky Enough Dre (with Snoop) disses Eazy and Jerry Heller in Dre Day. Eazy fires back. Ice Cube and Dr. Dre in a post-NWA collaboration, Natural Born Killaz

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:23:32 -0800

"We have your motherfuckin record company surrounded Put down the candy and let the little boy go"

By: Optamystic

Optamystic — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:25:49 -0800

Excellent post. I remember listening to N.W.A. in my Chevette, the shitty factory speakers rattling the bassline, thinking I was the illest white boy in Jacksonville, Florida. Of course, I would always turn the volume down on Fuck Tha Police when I was stopped next to a cop at a light.

By: Optamystic

Optamystic — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:27:46 -0800

Damn, I'm old.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:40:14 -0800

"We have your motherfuckin record company surrounded Put down the candy and let the little boy go" Heh. How's Luke doing? ;>

By: chillmost

chillmost — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:41:40 -0800

Yeah, we would make sure there were no grown-ups around when we listened to this.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:42:49 -0800

Mmm, packaged rebellion, resold wholesale. While NWA is undeniably the "real thing", I find it funny how, in the end, they're no different from anyone else - they just want to move up the ladder. Fuck the police and call my stockbroker. In other news, Retired S1Ws Recalled To Active Duty.

By: Flunkie

Flunkie — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:56:12 -0800

Some other former members, um, aren't

What are you talking about? MC Ren is the final frontier.

By: luckypozzo

luckypozzo — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:14:27 -0800

I hear that MC Ren is fuckin' it up again.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:17:04 -0800

Nina Gordon's Straight Outta Compton is worth a listen

By: serazin

serazin — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:20:14 -0800

I found this Nina Gordon cover of Straight Outta Compton after reading about it a bunch of times here on MetaFilter

By: serazin

serazin — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:20:34 -0800

darn you srboisvert!

By: Vindaloo

Vindaloo — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:23:06 -0800

Rap history ftw! Great post.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:24:38 -0800

In the world of white people covering gangsta rap, that Nina Gordon is tops. Thanks for that.

By: papakwanz

papakwanz — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:27:43 -0800

GuyZero: Funny thing about that Onion post... Public Enemy is playing here in Tucson this week (or next week?) and the S1Ws are gonna be there. Life imitates satire, I guess.

By: undule

undule — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 17:00:09 -0800

Fuck the Police!

By: quin

quin — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 17:28:21 -0800

Am I the only one who can recite the whole of Straight Outta Compton? How's about Ice-T's Original Gangster? I bet I haven't listened to NWA in a couple of years, yet it's still in there; burned into my brain.

By: kurumi

kurumi — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 18:08:11 -0800

Wesley Willis on Eazy E

By: quonsar

quonsar — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 20:00:46 -0800

Diet Pepsi, uh-huh

By: spiderskull

spiderskull — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 20:26:11 -0800

I like how they show a map with Pasadena, Anaheim, then Compton. I can understand Pasadena, but the home of Disneyland? Really, any part of Orange County as about as culturally different from Compton as it gets.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:50:53 -0800

Gangstalicious: (while in the trunk of a car with Riley) Know who my favorite rapper was when I was your age? Ice Cube. Riley: The dude that makes family movies? He was a gangsta rapper? Gangstalicious: He was so gangsta. I used to have dreams Ice Cube would come to my house and kill my whole family.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 02:52:42 -0800

Bookhouse: "Additional Youtubery (NSFW) Express Yourself " That track samples the original Express Yourself, by the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, a fine piece of funky booty-bumping stuff. They had a couple of tracks that were big on the Northern Soul Scene here in the UK (I believe I still own a UK Warner Bros 45rpm copy of The Joker -- walking through the jungle), but I suspect they never sold enough copies of anything to make a nostalgia tour a viable proposition. The leader of Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band was Charles Wright, ie Easy-E's dad. Presumably, dad taught little E about getting fucked by the industry, hence E owning the label and fucking his buds in a fuck or be fucked world. He can still eat a big fat dick afaiac though.

By: jon_kill

jon_kill — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 06:45:57 -0800

This the first music I remember liking.

By: jon_kill

jon_kill — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 06:46:05 -0800

This is the first music I remember liking.

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 19:09:34 -0800

Of course, I would always turn the volume down on Fuck Tha Police when I was stopped next to a cop at a light. No, no, nooo, Optamystic. That's when you turn it UP! (says the white girl who used to delight in dancing to Ice-T's Original Gangster album while driving around her black neighborhood in her not very gangsta Toyota Corolla)