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Straight Outta Compton was the second album by Compton based hip hop group N.W.A., originally released in 1988 through group member, Eazy-E's label, Ruthless Records. The album sold over 3 million units. The production came mainly from Dr. Dre with DJ Yella giving co-production. The album is generally seen as the pioneering record of Gangsta rap, with it's ever-present profanity and violent lyrics, helped to emerge the new sub-genre of hip hop. The album was a hip hop groundbreaker that went on to have an enormous impact on the evolution of gangsta rap.

The release of Straight Outta Compton redefined the direction of hip hop, which resulted in lyricism concerning the "gangsta lifestyle" become the driving force with sales figures. It also helped to shift the power to the West Coast from the East Coast, which had enjoyed a period of prominence in hip hop for most of the 1980s.

It was later re-released on September 24 2002 in a remastered version with four bonus tracks.

Impact

This album was a true underground blockbuster, as it reached double platinum sales status, becoming the first album to reach platinum status with no airplay support and without any major tours.

As the hip hop community world wide received the album with a high note, the members of N.W.A. became the top stars for the emerging new era of gangsta rap while popularizing the rap of Ice Cube. The album also helped to spawn many young MC's and gangsta rap groups who lived in the ghetto, as many thought they had the same story to tell and the ability to pursue the career track that N.W.A had taken, hence groups such as Compton's Most Wanted coming into fusion.

Because Straight Outta Compton was an album featuring recurring violent and sexual lyrics and profanity, often specifically directed at governmental organizations such as the LAPD, N.W.A always enjoyed a particular repudiation from Senators and FBI. This situation persisted over the years with the group's visible head, Eazy-E.

Seven tracks from this album were released on N.W.A.'s Greatest Hits named "Gangsta Gangsta", "Fuck tha Police", "Straight Outta Compton ", "If It Ain't Ruff", "I Ain't tha 1", "Express Yourself" and "A Bitch Iz A Bitch".

Music

Lyricism

The lyrics on the album were mainly written by Ice Cube, who wrote almost all of Eazy-E's rhymes Critics of the album expressed their view that the record glamorized Black-on-Black crime, but rappers stated that they were simply showing the reality of living in the areas of Compton, California and South Central, Los Angeles. Billboard states that the album lyrics are all about "raising hell", and that there is little political awareness or contemplation over the "gangsta lifestyle". The album is also noted for its humour, which some critics say has been lost in modern lyricism

Production

The production on the album was generally seen as top-quality for that point in time , with Dr. Dre's production performing well with his instrumentals and drum machine beats, and DJ Yella's turntable scratches and overall co-production seen as proficient by hip hop critics. But some other critics thought it was also little sparse, for the sheer significance of the album and how the low budget doesn't show up well compared to modern production.

West Coast hip hop

This album's record sales made many rappers from the east upset including Tim Dog. Later did several East Coast rappers release disses towards the west coast and it led to many responses from the rappers in West. However N.W.A. broke up soon after the diss, Tim Dog was referring to them in his song "Fuck Compton". When Dr. Dre went solo in Death Row, he and his new prótége Snoop Doggy Dogg responded in the song, Fuck wit' Dre Day.

Ratings

In 2003, the TV network VH1 named Straight Outta Compton the 62nd greatest album of all time. It was ranked 10 in Spin's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005". In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source Magazine's 100 Best Rap Albums. It's the group's only album on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (ranked #144), and when comedian Chris Rock wrote an article for the magazine about the 25 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of all time in 2005, "Straight Outta Compton"was #1 on his list. The song was also ranked the 327th best song of all time by Acclaimedmusic.net. In 2006, the album was listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Homages

Timbaland's album Under Construction, Part II has an intro song called "Straight Outta Virginia", a homage to N.W.A. and Straight Outta Compton. Likewise, "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the album's title as Straight Outta Lynwood on his 2006 album. Another homage was paid by rapper Young Buck with his album Straight Outta Ca$hville in 2004. Also in 2004, Goldie Lookin Chain's first album, Greatest Hits, was released in the U.S. as Straight Outta Newport. On Ice-T's Rap School, one of the performed songs was called "Straight Outta' Prep School".

"Fuck tha Police"

The album's most controversial track, "Fuck tha Police" was responsible in great part for the fame of N.W.A as World's Most Dangerous Group.

An excerpt from the lyrics of "Fuck tha Police":

Ice Cube will swarm

On any motherfucker in a blue uniform
Just 'cause I'm from the CPT, Punk police are afraid of me
A young nigga on a warpath
And when I'm finished, it's gonna be a bloodbath
Of cops, dyin in L.A.
Yo Dre, I got somethin to say;

Fuck tha Police

Track listing

An asterisk (*) indicates a 2002 reissue track.

Release date confusion

Straight Outta Compton's released date was often confused at times. Many sites say the album was released in 1988 and some say in 1989. This is because the album was released twice in the late 1980's: first on vinyl in 1988, and later on CD in 1989.

The CD version contained more songs than the year-old vinyl version.

References

1. ^ Steve Huey. Straight Outta Compton Review. Billboard. Accessed September 28 2007.
2. Jon Caramanica. Straight Outta Compton Review. Rolling Stone. Accessed September 30 2007.
3. Essential guide to Urban. BBC. Accessed September 30 2007.
4. ^ Alex Henderson. Straight Outta Compton > Overview. All Music Guide. Accessed September 30 2007.
5. Compton's Most Wanted. MP3.com. Accessed September 30 2007.
6. ^ Nick Butler. Straight Outta Compton Review sputnikmusic. Accessed October 1 2007.
7. www.acclaimedmusic.net.

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• Ice Cube
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• N.W.A. albums
• Ice Cube albums
• Eazy-E albums
• Dr. Dre albums
• Ruthless Records albums