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December 5, 2006 3:13 PM Subscribe
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]
"We have your motherfuckin record company surrounded
Put down the candy and let the little boy go"
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:23 PM on December 5, 2006
Put down the candy and let the little boy go"
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:23 PM on December 5, 2006
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.
posted by Optamystic at 3:25 PM on December 5, 2006
Of course, I would always turn the volume down on Fuck Tha Police when I was stopped next to a cop at a light.
posted by Optamystic at 3:25 PM on December 5, 2006
Damn, I'm old.
posted by Optamystic at 3:27 PM on December 5, 2006
posted by Optamystic at 3:27 PM on December 5, 2006
"We have your motherfuckin record company surrounded
Put down the candy and let the little boy go"
Heh. How's Luke doing? ;>
posted by jonmc at 3:40 PM on December 5, 2006
Put down the candy and let the little boy go"
Heh. How's Luke doing? ;>
posted by jonmc at 3:40 PM on December 5, 2006
Yeah, we would make sure there were no grown-ups around when we listened to this.
posted by chillmost at 3:41 PM on December 5, 2006
posted by chillmost at 3:41 PM on December 5, 2006
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.
posted by GuyZero at 3:42 PM on December 5, 2006
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.
posted by GuyZero at 3:42 PM on December 5, 2006
Some other former members, um, aren'tWhat are you talking about?
MC Ren is the final frontier.
posted by Flunkie at 3:56 PM on December 5, 2006
I hear that MC Ren is fuckin' it up again.
posted by luckypozzo at 4:14 PM on December 5, 2006
posted by luckypozzo at 4:14 PM on December 5, 2006
Nina Gordon's Straight Outta Compton is worth a listen
posted by srboisvert at 4:17 PM on December 5, 2006
posted by srboisvert at 4:17 PM on December 5, 2006
I found this Nina Gordon cover of Straight Outta Compton after reading about it a bunch of times here on MetaFilter
posted by serazin at 4:20 PM on December 5, 2006
posted by serazin at 4:20 PM on December 5, 2006
In the world of white people covering gangsta rap, that Nina Gordon is tops. Thanks for that.
posted by Bookhouse at 4:24 PM on December 5, 2006
posted by Bookhouse at 4:24 PM on December 5, 2006
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.
posted by papakwanz at 4:27 PM on December 5, 2006
Life imitates satire, I guess.
posted by papakwanz at 4:27 PM on December 5, 2006
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.
posted by quin at 5:28 PM on December 5, 2006
I bet I haven't listened to NWA in a couple of years, yet it's still in there; burned into my brain.
posted by quin at 5:28 PM on December 5, 2006
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.
posted by spiderskull at 8:26 PM on December 5, 2006
posted by spiderskull at 8:26 PM on December 5, 2006
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.
posted by Eideteker at 9:50 PM on December 5, 2006
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.
posted by Eideteker at 9:50 PM on December 5, 2006
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.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:52 AM on December 6, 2006
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.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:52 AM on December 6, 2006
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)
posted by bitter-girl.com at 7:09 PM on December 6, 2006
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)
posted by bitter-girl.com at 7:09 PM on December 6, 2006
« Older "My name's Spenser. I'm a private cop." | Juice "Test Videos" Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
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
posted by Bookhouse at 3:13 PM on December 5, 2006