N.W.A - Classic or Dud?

I remember there was a great SPIN article (a rare thing indeed) around the time of that record wherein the journalist (I forget who) took the members of NWA out to the Russian Tea Room for an interview over a meal. The name of the piece was Niggaz4Dinner. Oh I laughed.

I also remember initially mistaking the expression "Niggaz 4 Life" as some sort've life-affirming, positive message ala "Up with People!" ("up with Niggaz"?).....until, that is, I heard the album.

I wonder if/when trife is gonna come in here and call us all racists for talking about NWA

I wonder if/when trife is gonna come in here and call us all racists for talking about NWA

hmm.

Easily one of my most listened too albums in hs.

Niggaz 4 Life really pissed me off. Complete shit.

But yeah, Straight Outta Compton = total utter classic. As is it's companion piece, Eazy E's Eazy-Duz-It. Those records literally scared me back in high school when they came out. Not "scare" as in fear, but more like awe at the power music could wield, the emotions that something like "Fuck Tha Police" could incite in me. I actually tend to agree with cprek, although he's slightly overstating it. But only slightly.

Ummmmmm.......no it didn't.

Straight... managed to keep a sense of humor while being rebellious. Niggaz4Life is lowest common denominator material. Incohesive, pushing obvious boundaries, and aside from "Real Niggaz..." and "Appetite..." totally lacking in quality material.

Their story of making cash from chaos is as interesting as the Sex Pistols.

In their wake, even MC HAMMER went hard.

Top it off that Dre is still one of the biggest producers in hip hop, Eazy E goes to a Republican fund raiser then dies of AIDS and Ice Cube has become a film star (comedic no less). That has to be one of the wildest storylines for any group of any kind.

The Rodney King thing is interesting and I had it in mind as I was considering what cprek said; I honestly wonder to what degree the riots would have happened if NWA hadn't existed.

Well, maybe not that odd considering the Republican-CIA-Contra-crack dealer axis...

And gimme a break, none of this music inspired the riots. Decades of poverty and police brutality inspired the riots. LA was (and in many ways still is) an incredibly racially polarized city.

The Watts riots gave us the brilliance that is "Wattstax: The Living Word".

A cop beat up someone, it got taped, they slipped the trial out to the burbs, the cops walked and all hell broke loose with the local and state government completely fumbling the situation with the LAPD head Gates leading the bungling of the riot itself.

The fact that L.A. had that riot has to be concidered one of the reasons Lord Bush beat by Clinton. It was an exclamation point that the old boy didn't know what was going on in his own back yard.

It wasn't inspiration, it was a mirror and probably more authentic in such than damn well most musicians ever hope to muster.

I'm not a big fan of the music, I just think considering all that went down it is quite interesting.

A Life (in a nutshell):
September 7, 1963 - Eric Wright, a.k.a. Eazy-E was born in Compton

Winter 1979 - Eazy-E drops out of high school in 10th grade. He later
returned to receive his GED.

March 3, 1987 - Eazy-E meets Jerry Heller at a record-pressing plant
in Hollywood. Heller hears a sample of Eazy-E's music and the two
become partners, launching Ruthless Records.

March 1987 - Eazy-E discovers D.O.C., signs him to a Ruthless/Atlantic
Records deal and brings him out on tour with N.W.A.

November 1987- N.W.A. with members Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, DJ
Yella and Arabian Prince, Starts a 14-date national tour on the bill
with UTFO, Salt & Pepa and Heavy D.

July 1988 - Ruthless Records cuts a deal with Atco Records to
distibute products by JJ Fad and Michel'le

August 1988 - N.W.A. releases "Straight Outta Compton", which
eventually sells more than 3 million units

September 1988 - - MTV refuses to air the video for "Straight Outta
Compton, "claiming the clip, a re-creation of a police gang sweep of
black teens, "glorified violence"

September 1988 - - Eazy-E releases solo project "Eazy Duz It, " which
eventually sells more than 2.5 million copies.

June 19, 1989 - Members of N.W.A. are arrested for performing "Fuck
Tha Police" on stage.

August 6, 1989 - Members of N.W.A. are briefly detained by Detroit
police after chanting a few lines from "Fuck Tha Police" in concert

August 20, 1989 - D.O.C. falls asleep while behind the wheel of a car
he gets into a serious accident. He loses his voice as a result of
the accident

August 1989 - A woman, 16, says she was raped after a concert in
Birmingham, Ala. In a later civil suit she claims she had a daughter
as a result of being raped by N.W.A. member Lorenzo "MC Ren"
Patterson on a tour bus after the concert.

September 1989 - FBI sends a letter to ruthless Records, warning the
group that the agency didn't take kindly to the single "Fuck Tha
Police"

January 1990 - Ice Cube leaves N.W.A. over finacial disputes

March 26 1990 - Tennesse District Attourney Joe Baugh rules that
N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton" and 2 Live Crew's "As Nasty as They
Wanna Be" violates the Tennessee obscenity laws August 1990 - N.W.A
releases "100 MILES AND RUNNIN" EP, which eventually sells more than
500, 000 copies.

September 1990 - WaxWorks, a 110-store, Kentucky basedretail chain,
pulls 100 Miles and Runnin from its store shelves and refuses to sell
it due to its explicit references to oral sex and gang violence.

November 1990 - Fox TV rap video show "Pump it up" runs a segment on
N.W.A in which it crosscut between members of the group badmouthing
Ice Cube and a interview Ice Cube saying bad things about them.

January 27, 1991 - Dre runs into "Pump it up" host Dee Barnes at a
record release party in Los Angeles and gets into a physical
confrintation with her.

Febuary 1991 - Barnes files criminal charges against Dre for "assault
and battery" and files a $22.7 million lawsuit against Dre and the
members of N.W.A. The civil case is eventually settled outside of
court.

May 29, 1991 - N.W.A releases "Efil4zaggin", which eventually sells
more then 1 million copies. Debuts at No.2 on the pop chart.

June 22, 1991 - "Efil4zaggin" becomes the first gangsta rap album to
reach No.1 on the Billboard charts. June 1991 - Irish singer Sinead
O'Conner, after originally aggreeively defending N.W.A, tells British
music magazine "New Musical Express" that N.W.A's "attitudes have
become increasingly dangerous". O'Conner also said "the way they deal
with women is pathetic".

Summer 1991 - N.W.A breaks up.

August 1991 - Eazy-E files a state court complaint against Dr.Dre,
DeatRow Records executive Marion "Suge" Knight and rap artist D.O.C.
that alleges the defendents used "duress" and "menace" to get Eazy-E
to void his exclusive contracts with Dre and the D.O.C. The case is
still pending.

October 1992 - Ruthless Records sues Dr. Dre's Death Row Records and
accuses Dre's label of racketeering. The suit gets dismissed on
Aug.9, 1993. It is under appeal.

November 1992 - Dr. Dre releases "Dre Day, " a video where he shows
an Eazy-E likeness in a disparaging light.

December 1992 - Eazy-E releases solo EP "5150 Home For Tha Sick, Which
has sold more than 500, 000 copies.

April 1993 - Amid a swirl of controversy, Eazy-E publicly speaks out
in support of Timothy Briseno, one of the police officers who was
video taped beating Rodney King.

May 1993 - Houston-based rapper Willie Dee, formerly of the Getto
Boys, tells the Los Angeles Times in a interview that "Eazy-E is a
sellout, " for supporting Briseno.

August 1993 - Relativity Records signs a deal with Ruthless Records to
promote, market and distribute Ruthless artist.

October 26, 1993 - Eazy-E releases second solo album "It's
on(Dr.Dre)187um Killa, " which eventually sell more than 1.5 million
copies. The album contains repeated references to Dr.Dre and shows
Dre on the album's inner sleeve wearing eye shadow, lipstick and
sequins.

Winter 1993 - Eazy-E pays $2, 500 to attend a fund-raising luncheon
for the Republic Inner Circle, where George Bush spoke.

Winter 1993 - Eazy-E ordered to pay child support of $58, 000 a year
for a girl he fathered in Nebraska.

April 1994 - Eazy-E starts hosting "The Ruthless Radio Show" at Los
Angeles radio station KKBT (The Beat) on Saturday nights with former
N.W.A. member Yella.

October 14, 1994 - Members of the rap act Po' Broke & Lonely sue
Eazy-E, claiming Ruthless Records interfered with their ability to
negotiate with other labels.

February 24, 1995 - Eazy-E is hospitalized for what he believes to be
a case of chronic asthma.

March 16, 1995 - Through attorney Ron Sweeney Eazy-E releases a
statement, disclosing he has contracted full-blown AIDS. In this
statement, Eazy-E also says that he has fathered 7children with 6
different women

March 1995 - Eazy-E marries Tomika Wood, with whom he had a son,
Dominick, In his statement Eazy-E says that both Wood and Dominick
have tested negative for HIV

March 26, 1995 - Eazy-E dies aty Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los
Angeles at the age of 31.The cause was complications from AIDS,
according to his doctor, Dr. Williams Young