N.W.A.

Straight outta Compton!

Crazy motherfucker named Ice Cube

From the gang called Niggas Wit Attitudes

When I'm called off, I got a sawed-off

Squeeze the trigger and bodies are hauled off

You too, boy, if you fuck with me

The police are gonna have to come and get me

Off your ass, that’s how I’m going out

For the punk motherfuckers that’s showing out

To understand the full impact of a record like “Straight Outta Compton!”, we'd need to jump back in time, setting the temporal navigator to 08/08/1988, destination Compton, historically the most violent neighborhood in the City of Angels and the cradle of a musical movement that's still boiling over today. In the troubled '80s, Compton is a hellish ghetto, a no-go zone for almost everyone. The Black community is at war, and within its gangs grows the need to tell the story of an incendiary, forgotten stretch of city, left to its own fate and its own internal feuds, as if the State had inexplicably decided to opt out and "outsource" the job to an internal bloodbath fueled by endless score-settling.

It's out of this abandonment that the urge takes shape to "grow some balls" and rage with the redemptive power of music. And it's precisely those attributes — pulled out without reservation and without fear anymore — that give meaning to the acronym chosen by N.W.A, needless to say a crew from Compton: Niggaz Wit Attitudes.

N.W.A take their first steps within the ranks of Ruthless in 1986, the label founded by Eazy-E and Jerry Heller with the aim of launching a new musical movement in the city capable of channeling all the rage of young Black men subjected to the worst abuses, crushed by the aforementioned indifference of the federal government and by unemployment rates never before seen in the land of opportunity. Eazy-E, aka Eric Lynn Wright, is at the time a skilled MC, but above all a formidable music entrepreneur. A budding talent with a crystal-clear vision. It's no coincidence that he would go on to discover and launch, among others, acts like Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Still, sharp instincts aside, Eazy-E lacks a crew of his own. A collective of agitators, MCs and beatmakers able to shake not just troubled Compton but the whole West Coast, starting right from the ground up, from a raw, concrete account of everyday life with all its crushing contradictions. It will be his friend Andre Romelle Young, aka Dr. Dre, who's first to answer Eazy-E's call to put together a supergroup capable of flattening literally everything in its path.

But if Dr. Dre is the ideal producer to fine-tune and "invent" an inimitable sound, O'Shea Jackson, aka Ice Cube, is the perfect wrecking ball. The undisputed and unstoppable demolition man. One who fires off verse after verse like a rotary cannon. Sure, Cube is a war machine, but behind his mean stare lies a boundless heart and a deep sensitivity. At this point, the trio is complete, made up as it is of an innovator, a visionary and a demolisher. Let's be honest: even today it's practically impossible to find a trio anywhere in the vast hip-hop universe with the artistic and stage power of the one made up of Eazy, Dre and Cube. Three standout talents joined by the skilled DJ Antoine Carraby, aka DJ Yella, MC Lorenzo Jerald Patterson, aka MC Ren, and finally The Arabian Prince, or if you prefer Professor X, aliases of Kim Renard Nazel. A team of giants who would change the history of rap forever, tilting it toward a gangsta sensibility. A style, N.W.A's, that's inimitable and born out of a discontent impossible to fully decode.

The invaluable Tracy Curry, known as The D.O.C., also took part in the project as co-writer. Preceding the release of “Straight Outta Compton!” is the compilation “NWA and the Posse”, containing the manifesto "Boyz n da Hood", with Eazy stealing the show. In fact, he's behind three tracks, plus the legendary "Boyz n da Hood" wisely placed as the opener. A record that also collects four tracks by the trio Fila Fresh Crew, led by the aforementioned The D.O.C.

The beats on “Straight Outta Compton!” are handled by Dr. Dre and DJ Yella, while the songwriting is credited to Ice Cube, Eazy-E and MC Ren. The opening is disarming. The title track lays it all out immediately, with Cube unleashing an impressive string of invectives, from questionable references (Manson as a metaphor for some improbable uprising) to missiles fired in every direction:

With a crime record like Charles Manson

AK-47 is the tool

Don't make me act a motherfucking fool

Me you can go toe to toe, no maybe

I’m knocking niggas out the box, daily

Yo, weekly, monthly and yearly

Until them dumb motherfuckers see clearly

That I’m down with the capital C-P-T

Boy, you can’t fuck with me

So when I’m in your neighborhood, you better duck

‘Cause Ice Cube is crazy as fuck

Gangsta rap was officially born. Cube's words set fire to fleets of weary, afflicted young African Americans. It's no longer a private matter, and brotherly posses must cease. Everyone needs to band together with full force to face a battle against a bigger enemy. A struggle that is, of course, figurative. The intent of Cube and his friends is to shake the masses, to open a cultural breach and show the ruling classes their discontent. N.W.A. ignite a blindingly bright and effective spark, capable of stirring the souls of a generation ready to bare its teeth and howl like a rabid dog through the streets of a wounded Los Angeles. It's an action driven by Dr. Dre, with arrangements that leave their mark, samples that interweave beautifully within a multi-layered flow, while Eazy and Cube trade off on the mic, pointing the finger at a rotten system with the courage of those who have nothing left to lose and just want to give voice to the unrest. Their rhymes pay no mind to side effects. There's no warning label to show. The famous "Parental Advisory" sticker is more than enough. In this regard, the glorification of crime is only apparent. In reality, the Los Angeles crew wants to provoke the system, exposing various cracks within it. Nevertheless, the LAPD and the FBI wage a battle that would go down in history, forcing the band to suspend its concerts, in a scathing clash that N.W.A. themselves would ultimately win. "Fuck Tha Police" is the song that comes under the heaviest fire. Its "crime" is highlighting the violence of the local police.

Making the police's position even worse is the own-goal scored by Milt Ahlerich, then director of the FBI, who decides to send a letter to Ruthless, warning the musicians with a clear statement of intent: "Respect for the law does not permit an attitude of disrespect for it or, for that matter, tolerate advocacy of violence against, and disrespect for, the men and women of law enforcement who put their lives on the line every day." An invitation that immediately backfires. Support from fans and public opinion grows, with N.W.A. seen more than anything as victims of a possible attempt at censorship. Beyond the extra-musical fallout, "Fuck Tha Police" ultimately stands as one of the greatest manifestos of the entire gangsta movement. The anthem to use in case of revolt against the arrogance of corrupt badges. Dr. Dre spares no expense, sampling "Funky Drummer" by his majesty James Brown, adding to it samples from Marva Whitney and a snippet of "The Boogie Back" by the trio Roy Ayers Ubiquity.

In the future, Dre will say the song was created as the band's reaction to police accusations. A chase that would lead the young musicians to lie face down in the street with guns pointed at their heads. However, what really riled up the police was Eazy-E's behavior, who had even shot at some people at a bus stop with a paintball gun – as Dre himself clarified.

The following "Gangsta Gangsta" follows the same path laid out at the start, with police sirens and machine-gun bursts opening the curtain. Ice Cube's words are uncontrollable bolts falling from the sky, while Dre steers the rhythm onto an overwhelming g-funk groove, confirming a production sensibility out of the ordinary. "If It Ain’t Ruff" in turn insists on the same funk cadences, paying tribute to fellow travelers in style and struggle Public Enemy with the sample of "Don’t Believe The Hype" chosen by Dre to embellish the track. "Parental Discretion Iz Advised" is an exhortation in no uncertain terms, with The D.O.C. behind the boards, acting as the resident genie of the lamp. Cube, for his part, certainly doesn't hold back, while MC Ren bares his claws and his own philosophy:

Ren is most extremely high performance

The black hat cause I worn this, cause it’s like enormous

Some shit I don’t take it, not even in a toilet

And shit from a sucker, put in a pot and I’ll boil it

Turn up the pilot as it burns

And maybe the motherfuckers will learn

I’m not a sub, cause I speak sensible

The album continues between a collective tribute to the battered and beloved Compton ("Compton’s N The House") and the machismo of an irreverent Cube, dealing with a girl who wants to get the upper hand on him ("I Ain’t Tha 1"). Cube himself would soon leave the group, irritated by the ambiguity of manager Jerry Heller and in open conflict with Eazy. A dispute that would give rise to the most inspired dis track of all time. The only one with its own raison d'être and artistic merit. That same anger, built up by Ice Cube over the murky financial handling of the success of "Straight Outta Compton!", would also spawn his solo debut, another absolute masterpiece of the gangsta genre: "AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted". Dre too would jump ship, disillusioned like Cube by the conduct of the celebrated Wright/Heller partnership. Waiting for him: a stellar career and astronomical earnings.

It would take Eazy's illness to bring the old friends back together. Even today, many rumors circulate about a moving meeting shortly before his death, with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre in tears at his bedside. Others, on the contrary, believe the only one actually present was DJ Yella.

Beyond the tragic epilogue and the group's internal feuds, the fire lit by N.W.A. would keep burning in the hot, eternally restless belly of the United States. A truly insane crew. The first to lay the groundwork for a narrative that was violent yet sincere, free of any conventions.

N.W.A. are the quintessence of rap that comes from the gut and reaches everyone's heart. And thanks to records like "Straight Outta Compton!", that cross-cutting movement would be born linking UGK and 2Pac, Cypress Hill and Ghetto Boys, all the way up to WC and the Pulitzer of Kendrick Lamar.

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12/05/2019