Hello, quite a contrast with last weeks Public Enemy, a group that largely held together for 30 years, their West Coast counterparts were into violence consequently made lot's of money and broke up within 5 years, no surprise there.....
Today's Artists were Niggaz Wit Attitudes an American hip hop group from Compton, California. They were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, and are widely considered one of the greatest and most influential groups in the history of hip hop music. Rolling Stone ranked N.W.A number 83 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 2016, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, following three previous nominations....... N Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
N.W.A, the unapologetically violent and sexist pioneers of gangsta rap, are in many ways the most notorious group in the history of rap. Emerging in the late '80s, when Public Enemy had rewritten the rules of hardcore rap by proving that it could be intelligent, revolutionary, and socially aware, N.W.A capitalized on PE's sonic breakthroughs while ignoring their message. Instead, the five-piece crew celebrated the violence and hedonism of the criminal life, capturing it all in blunt, harsh language. Initially, the group's relentless attack appeared to be serious, vital commentary, and it even provoked the FBI to caution N.W.A's record company, but following Ice Cube's departure in late 1989, the group began to turn to self-parody. With his high-pitched whine, Eazy-E's urban nightmares now seemed like comic book fantasies, but ones that fulfilled the fantasies of the teenage white suburbanites who had become their core audience, and the group became more popular than ever. Nevertheless, clashing egos prevented the band from recording a third album, and they fell apart once producer Dr. Dre left for a solo career in 1992. Although N.W.A were no longer active, their influence -- from their funky, bass-driven beats to their exaggerated lyrics -- was evident throughout the '90s, while their story was told in the critically acclaimed 2015 film Straight Outta Compton.
Ironically, in their original incarnation N.W.A were hardly revolutionary. Eazy-E (born Eric Wright), a former drug dealer who started Ruthless Records with money he earned by pushing, was attempting to start a rap empire by building a roster of successful rap artists. However, he wasn't having much success until Dr. Dre (born Andre Young) -- a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru -- and Ice Cube (born O'Shea Jackson) began writing songs for Ruthless. Eazy tried to give one of the duo's songs, "Boyz-n-the Hood," to Ruthless signees HBO, and when the group refused, Eazy formed N.W.A -- an acronym for Niggaz With Attitude -- with Dre and Cube, adding World Class Wreckin' Cru member DJ Yella (born Antoine Carraby), the Arabian Prince, and the D.O.C. to the group. N.W.A's first album, N.W.A. and the Posse, was a party-oriented jam record that largely went ignored upon its 1987 release.
In the following year, the group added MC Ren (born Lorenzo Patterson) and revamped its sound, bringing in many of the noisy, extreme sonic innovations of Public Enemy and adopting a self-consciously violent and dangerous lyrical stance. Late in 1988, N.W.A delivered Straight Outta Compton, a vicious hardcore record that became an underground hit with virtually no support from radio, the press, or MTV. N.W.A became notorious for their hardcore lyrics, especially those of "Fuck tha Police," which resulted in the FBI sending a warning letter to Ruthless and its parent company, Priority, suggesting that N.W.A should watch their step.
Most of the group's political threat left with Cube when he departed in late 1989 amid many financial disagreements. A nasty feud between N.W.A and the departed rapper began that would culminate with Cube's "No Vaseline," an attack on the group's management released on his 1991 Death Certificate album. By the time the song was released, N.W.A, for all intents and purposes, were finished. In the two years between Cube's departure and the group's dissolution, N.W.A were dominated by Eazy's near-parodic lyrics and Dre's increasingly subtle and complex productions. The group quickly released an EP, 100 Miles and Runnin', in 1990 before following it up early the next year with Efil4zaggin ("Niggaz 4 Life" spelled backward). Efil4zaggin was teeming with dense, funky soundscapes and ridiculously violent and misogynist lyrics. Naturally, the lyrics provoked outrage from many critics and conservative watchdogs, but that only increased the group's predominately male, white suburban audience. Even though the group was at the peak of its popularity, Dre began to make efforts to leave the crew, due to conflicting egos and what he perceived as an unfair record deal.
Dre left the group to form Death Row Records with Suge Knight and The D.O.C. in early 1992. According to legend, Knight threatened to kill N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller if he refused to let Dre out of his contract. Over the next few years, Dre and Eazy engaged in a highly publicized feud, which included both of the rappers attacking each other on their respective solo albums. Ren and Yella both released solo albums, which were largely ignored, and Eazy continued to record albums that turned him into a complete self-parody until his tragic death from AIDS in March 1995. Before he died, Dre and Cube both made amends with Eazy. With his first solo album, 1992's The Chronic, Dre established himself as the premier hip-hop producer of the mid-'90s, setting the pace for much of hardcore rap with its elastic bass and deep, rolling grooves. Gangsta rap established itself as the most popular form of hip-hop during the '90s -- in other words, N.W.A's amoralistic, hedonistic stance temporarily triumphed over the socially conscious hip-hop of Public Enemy, and it completely rewrote the rules of hip-hop for the '90s. A 2015 biopic, the critically acclaimed, Academy-Award-nominated Straight Outta Compton, made over $200 million worldwide at the box office and inspired Dr. Dre's third solo album, Compton, released that same year. With N.W.A.'s cultural resurgence and mainstream recognition of their legacy in the history of rap and hip-hop, the group received another honor with their induction into the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Hip-hop was still very much dominated by New York in 1987 when Macola Records (a company that distributed numerous L.A. rap labels in the 1980s, including Eazy-E's Ruthless Records) distributed N.W.A's groundbreaking debut album, N.W.A and the Posse. Ice-T was among the few West Coast rappers enjoying national exposure, and gangsta rap was far from the phenomenon it would become a few years later. A number of the songs -- including the brutally honest "Dopeman" -- would be reissued on Straight Outta Compton, while Eazy-E's first single, "Boyz-n-the Hood" would be included on his 1988 solo album, Eazy-Duz-It. And the entire album would be reissued by Priority in 1989. This CD ranges from those early and seminal examples of gangsta rap to songs that are pure, unapologetic fun -- such as the outrageously humorous "Fat Girl" and N.W.A associates the Fila Fresh Crew's "Drink It Up," an infectious ode to booze employing the melody from the Isley Brothers' "Twist and Shout." One of the Crew's members was the D.O.C., who Dr. Dre and Eazy-E took to the top of the charts in 1989. Though not quite on a par with Straight Outta Compton, this is an engaging and historically important CD that's well worth acquiring.
VA - N.W.A and The Posse (flac 320mb)
01 Eazy-E - Boyz-N-The Hood 5:40
02 N.W.A. - 8-Ball 4:26
03 The Fila Fresh Crew feat The D.O.C. - Dunk The Funk 5:03
04 N.W.A. - A Bitch Iz A Bitch 3:09
05 The Fila Fresh Crew feat The D.O.C. - Drink It Up 4:45
06 N.W.A. - Panic Zone 3:32
07 Eazy-E & Ron-De-Vu - L.A. Is The Place 4:33
08 N.W.A. - Dope Man 6:18
09 The Fila Fresh Crew feat The D.O.C. - Tuffest Man Alive 2:16
10 Eazy-E & Ron-De-Vu - Fat Girl 2:49
11 The Fila Fresh Crew feat The D.O.C. - 3 The Hard Way 4:13
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Straight Outta Compton wasn't quite the first gangsta rap album, but it was the first one to find a popular audience, and its sensibility virtually defined the genre from its 1988 release on. It established gangsta rap -- and, moreover, West Coast rap in general -- as a commercial force, going platinum with no airplay and crossing over with shock-hungry white teenagers. Unlike Ice-T, there's little social criticism or reflection on the gangsta lifestyle; most of the record is about raising hell -- harassing women, driving drunk, shooting it out with cops and partygoers. All of that directionless rebellion and rage produces some of the most frightening, visceral moments in all of rap, especially the amazing opening trio of songs, which threaten to dwarf everything that follows. Given the album's sheer force, the production is surprisingly spare, even a little low-budget -- mostly DJ scratches and a drum machine, plus a few sampled horn blasts and bits of funk guitar. Although they were as much a reaction against pop-friendly rap, Straight Outta Compton's insistent claims of reality ring a little hollow today, since it hardly ever depicts consequences. But despite all the romanticized invincibility, the force and detail of Ice Cube's writing makes the exaggerations resonate. Although Cube wrote some of his bandmates' raps, including nearly all of Eazy-E's, each member has a distinct delivery and character, and the energy of their individual personalities puts their generic imitators to shame. But although Straight Outta Compton has its own share of posturing, it still sounds refreshingly uncalculated because of its irreverent, gonzo sense of humor, still unfortunately rare in hardcore rap. There are several undistinguished misfires during the second half, but they aren't nearly enough to detract from the overall magnitude. It's impossible to overstate the enduring impact of Straight Outta Compton; as polarizing as its outlook may be, it remains an essential landmark, one of hip-hop's all-time greatest.
Despite not being a success at first and the lack of airplay, "Straight Outta Compton" sold over three million copies, thanks to the hits "Straight Outta Compton", "Gangsta Gangsta" and "Express Yourself". The album itself reached number 37 in the Billboard Top 200 in the spring of 1989, while it reached number 9 on Billboard's Top Soul LPs.
NWA - Straight Outta Compton (flac 375mb)
01 Straight Outta Compton 4:16
02 Fuck Tha Police 5:45
03 Gangsta Gangsta 5:35
04 If It Ain't Ruff 3:33
05 Parental Discretion Iz Advised 5:15
06 8 Ball (Remix) 4:51
07 Something Like That 3:33
08 Express Yourself 4:23
09 Compton's In The House (Remix) 5:19
10 I Ain't Tha 1 4:53
11 Dopeman (Remix) 5:19
12 Quiet On Tha Set 3:56
13 Something 2 Dance 2 3:22
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Following a round of Ruthless Records releases (Eazy-E's Eazy-Duz-It, 1988; the D.O.C.'s No One Can Do It Better, 1989; Above the Law's Livin' Like Hustlers, 1990) and the departure of group member Ice Cube (who released a very successful debut, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, 1990), Dr. Dre went about producing new N.W.A music for a follow-up to Straight Outta Compton (1988). 100 Miles and Runnin', a five-track EP, was the first material to surface from the recording sessions, released in summer 1990 partly as a response to Ice Cube's departure (both Dr. Dre and MC Ren take verbal shots at him), a preview of what fans could expect on the group's forthcoming album (promoted on the two-minute, EP-closing "Kamurshol"), and a stopgap measure for a marketplace hungry for cutting-edge gangsta rap. The EP's title track is a clear highlight and is among N.W.A's all-time greatest efforts. Driven by a densely layered, fast-paced production, "100 Miles and Runnin'" is perhaps most noteworthy for its second verse, where Dr. Dre uncharacteristically delivers a fierce verse that stylistically resembles Ice Cube's classic opening verse from "Straight Outta Compton." The second song, "Just Don't Bite It," is another highlight, an alarming porno rap that at the time of its release was as explicit as anything out there, including 2 Live Crew. The third song, "Sa Prize, Pt. 2," is a passable "Fuck tha Police" rehash that suffers for the absence of Ice Cube, while next and final song on the EP, "Real Niggaz," is a fairly uneventful hardcore rap purposefully laden with the N-word. In little over 20 minutes, 100 Miles and Runnin' manages to broach the key gangsta rap points of controversy -- fleeing and/or killing the police, pornographic sex, obscenity, and extreme aggression -- as well as diss Ice Cube and promote the upcoming album. Years later, the controversial aspects of 100 Miles and Runnin' may seem ho-hum -- at least to anyone conditioned to expect such rhetoric from hardcore rap music -- but it's important to put this EP into its proper context, for the boundary-pushing showcased here was alarming for its time and a major reason why N.W.A earned such renown.
100 Miles And Runnin' EP (flac 154mb)
01 100 Miles And Runnin' 4:32
02 Just Don't Bite It 5:28
03 Sa Prize (Part 2) 5:58
04 Real Niggaz 5:27
05 Kamurshol 1:56
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Like 100 Miles and Runnin' (1990), the five-track EP that preceded it, N.W.A's third full-length album, Niggaz4life, courts controversy in every imaginable way, from its title (printed backward on the cover, as a mirror image) down to its mercilessly misogynistic second half, and it remains shocking years later, no matter how many times the controversial aspects of the album have been exploited again and again by others. Unfortunately, the shocking rhetoric -- which, to a degree unprecedented at the time of the album's release, revels in relentless obscenity, graphic sex, and extreme violence -- tends to overshadow the remarkable production work of Dr. Dre here. Similar in practice to the concurrent production work of the Bomb Squad, Dr. Dre and co-producer DJ Yella densely layer soul-funk samples from the 1970s over hard-hitting beats. As he had on his previous productions, Dr. Dre mines the Parliament-Funkadelic back catalog in particular for sample material: for instance, two Eazy-E solo showcases, "Automobile" and "I'd Rather Fuck You," are satirical interpolations of Parliament's "My Automobile" and Bootsy Collins' "I'd Rather Be with You," respectively, while the skits "Don't Drink That Wine" and "1-900-2-Compton" are likewise homage to George Clinton and company -- and, if you're keeping tabs, "Niggaz 4 Life" borrows an elastic bassline from Parliament's "Sir Nose d'Voidoffunk." The album-opening "Real Niggaz Don't Die" is one of the most remarkable productions, comprised of multiple samples, most evidently Rare Earth's "I Just Want to Celebrate," a joyous song whose sampled hook is in great juxtaposition to the overriding dire tone of the production, best characterized by one of the other songs sampled on the track, the Last Poets' "Die Nigger!!!" In terms of rapping, Niggaz4life suffers for the absence of Ice Cube, even as the D.O.C. assumes his position as the in-house ghostwriter. There's a lot of Eazy-E to be heard throughout the album, for better and for worse, as his sense of humorous menace is amusing as well as unsettling. In the end, it's easy to understand why N.W.A unraveled shortly after Niggaz4life: on the one hand, the group had become a vehicle for exploiting the taboos of gangsta rap, to significant commercial success (this was a chart-topping album, after all), while on the other hand, it had become less about the production talent of Dr. Dre, whose work was being sorely overshadowed by all the controversy
NWA - Niggaz4Life (flac 401mb)
01 Prelude 2:27
02 Real Niggaz Don't Die 3:40
03 Niggaz 4 Life 4:58
04 Protest 0:53
05 Appetite For Destruction 3:22
06 Don't Drink That Wine 1:07
07 Alwayz Into Somethin' 4:24
08 Message To B.A. 0:48
09 Real Niggaz 4:27
10 To Kill A Hooker 0:50
11 One Less Bitch 4:47
12 Findum, Fuckum & Flee 3:54
13 Automobile 3:15
14 She Swallowed It 4:13
15 I'd Rather Fuck You 3:57
16 Approach To Danger 2:45
17 1-900-2-Compton 1:27
18 The Dayz Of Wayback 4:19
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
This is a remastered version of Straight Outta Compton topped up with cover versions by friends and the infamous live call Compton's N The House .
NWA - Straight Outta Compton (20th Anniversary) (flac 547mb)
Remastered
01 Straight Outta Compton 4:03
02 F**k The Police 5:15
03 Gangsta Gangsta 4:06
04 If It Ain't Ruff 3:34
05 Parental Discretion Iz Advised 5:12
06 8 Ball (Remix) 4:33
07 Something Like That 3:34
08 Express Yourself 4:23
09 Compton's N The House 5:16
10 I Ain't Tha 1 4:54
11 Dopeman (Remix) 5:50
12 Quiet On Tha Set 3:58
13 Something 2 Dance 2 3:24
Bonus
14 Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - F**k Tha Police 5:03
15 Snoop Dogg / C-Murder - Gangsta Gangsta 4:40
16 Mack 10 - Dopeman 4:02
17 WC - If It Ain't Ruff 3:45
18 N.W.A - Compton's N The House (Live) 2:02
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Today's Artists were Niggaz Wit Attitudes an American hip hop group from Compton, California. They were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, and are widely considered one of the greatest and most influential groups in the history of hip hop music. Rolling Stone ranked N.W.A number 83 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 2016, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, following three previous nominations....... N Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
N.W.A, the unapologetically violent and sexist pioneers of gangsta rap, are in many ways the most notorious group in the history of rap. Emerging in the late '80s, when Public Enemy had rewritten the rules of hardcore rap by proving that it could be intelligent, revolutionary, and socially aware, N.W.A capitalized on PE's sonic breakthroughs while ignoring their message. Instead, the five-piece crew celebrated the violence and hedonism of the criminal life, capturing it all in blunt, harsh language. Initially, the group's relentless attack appeared to be serious, vital commentary, and it even provoked the FBI to caution N.W.A's record company, but following Ice Cube's departure in late 1989, the group began to turn to self-parody. With his high-pitched whine, Eazy-E's urban nightmares now seemed like comic book fantasies, but ones that fulfilled the fantasies of the teenage white suburbanites who had become their core audience, and the group became more popular than ever. Nevertheless, clashing egos prevented the band from recording a third album, and they fell apart once producer Dr. Dre left for a solo career in 1992. Although N.W.A were no longer active, their influence -- from their funky, bass-driven beats to their exaggerated lyrics -- was evident throughout the '90s, while their story was told in the critically acclaimed 2015 film Straight Outta Compton.
Ironically, in their original incarnation N.W.A were hardly revolutionary. Eazy-E (born Eric Wright), a former drug dealer who started Ruthless Records with money he earned by pushing, was attempting to start a rap empire by building a roster of successful rap artists. However, he wasn't having much success until Dr. Dre (born Andre Young) -- a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru -- and Ice Cube (born O'Shea Jackson) began writing songs for Ruthless. Eazy tried to give one of the duo's songs, "Boyz-n-the Hood," to Ruthless signees HBO, and when the group refused, Eazy formed N.W.A -- an acronym for Niggaz With Attitude -- with Dre and Cube, adding World Class Wreckin' Cru member DJ Yella (born Antoine Carraby), the Arabian Prince, and the D.O.C. to the group. N.W.A's first album, N.W.A. and the Posse, was a party-oriented jam record that largely went ignored upon its 1987 release.
In the following year, the group added MC Ren (born Lorenzo Patterson) and revamped its sound, bringing in many of the noisy, extreme sonic innovations of Public Enemy and adopting a self-consciously violent and dangerous lyrical stance. Late in 1988, N.W.A delivered Straight Outta Compton, a vicious hardcore record that became an underground hit with virtually no support from radio, the press, or MTV. N.W.A became notorious for their hardcore lyrics, especially those of "Fuck tha Police," which resulted in the FBI sending a warning letter to Ruthless and its parent company, Priority, suggesting that N.W.A should watch their step.
Most of the group's political threat left with Cube when he departed in late 1989 amid many financial disagreements. A nasty feud between N.W.A and the departed rapper began that would culminate with Cube's "No Vaseline," an attack on the group's management released on his 1991 Death Certificate album. By the time the song was released, N.W.A, for all intents and purposes, were finished. In the two years between Cube's departure and the group's dissolution, N.W.A were dominated by Eazy's near-parodic lyrics and Dre's increasingly subtle and complex productions. The group quickly released an EP, 100 Miles and Runnin', in 1990 before following it up early the next year with Efil4zaggin ("Niggaz 4 Life" spelled backward). Efil4zaggin was teeming with dense, funky soundscapes and ridiculously violent and misogynist lyrics. Naturally, the lyrics provoked outrage from many critics and conservative watchdogs, but that only increased the group's predominately male, white suburban audience. Even though the group was at the peak of its popularity, Dre began to make efforts to leave the crew, due to conflicting egos and what he perceived as an unfair record deal.
Dre left the group to form Death Row Records with Suge Knight and The D.O.C. in early 1992. According to legend, Knight threatened to kill N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller if he refused to let Dre out of his contract. Over the next few years, Dre and Eazy engaged in a highly publicized feud, which included both of the rappers attacking each other on their respective solo albums. Ren and Yella both released solo albums, which were largely ignored, and Eazy continued to record albums that turned him into a complete self-parody until his tragic death from AIDS in March 1995. Before he died, Dre and Cube both made amends with Eazy. With his first solo album, 1992's The Chronic, Dre established himself as the premier hip-hop producer of the mid-'90s, setting the pace for much of hardcore rap with its elastic bass and deep, rolling grooves. Gangsta rap established itself as the most popular form of hip-hop during the '90s -- in other words, N.W.A's amoralistic, hedonistic stance temporarily triumphed over the socially conscious hip-hop of Public Enemy, and it completely rewrote the rules of hip-hop for the '90s. A 2015 biopic, the critically acclaimed, Academy-Award-nominated Straight Outta Compton, made over $200 million worldwide at the box office and inspired Dr. Dre's third solo album, Compton, released that same year. With N.W.A.'s cultural resurgence and mainstream recognition of their legacy in the history of rap and hip-hop, the group received another honor with their induction into the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Hip-hop was still very much dominated by New York in 1987 when Macola Records (a company that distributed numerous L.A. rap labels in the 1980s, including Eazy-E's Ruthless Records) distributed N.W.A's groundbreaking debut album, N.W.A and the Posse. Ice-T was among the few West Coast rappers enjoying national exposure, and gangsta rap was far from the phenomenon it would become a few years later. A number of the songs -- including the brutally honest "Dopeman" -- would be reissued on Straight Outta Compton, while Eazy-E's first single, "Boyz-n-the Hood" would be included on his 1988 solo album, Eazy-Duz-It. And the entire album would be reissued by Priority in 1989. This CD ranges from those early and seminal examples of gangsta rap to songs that are pure, unapologetic fun -- such as the outrageously humorous "Fat Girl" and N.W.A associates the Fila Fresh Crew's "Drink It Up," an infectious ode to booze employing the melody from the Isley Brothers' "Twist and Shout." One of the Crew's members was the D.O.C., who Dr. Dre and Eazy-E took to the top of the charts in 1989. Though not quite on a par with Straight Outta Compton, this is an engaging and historically important CD that's well worth acquiring.
VA - N.W.A and The Posse (flac 320mb)
01 Eazy-E - Boyz-N-The Hood 5:40
02 N.W.A. - 8-Ball 4:26
03 The Fila Fresh Crew feat The D.O.C. - Dunk The Funk 5:03
04 N.W.A. - A Bitch Iz A Bitch 3:09
05 The Fila Fresh Crew feat The D.O.C. - Drink It Up 4:45
06 N.W.A. - Panic Zone 3:32
07 Eazy-E & Ron-De-Vu - L.A. Is The Place 4:33
08 N.W.A. - Dope Man 6:18
09 The Fila Fresh Crew feat The D.O.C. - Tuffest Man Alive 2:16
10 Eazy-E & Ron-De-Vu - Fat Girl 2:49
11 The Fila Fresh Crew feat The D.O.C. - 3 The Hard Way 4:13
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Straight Outta Compton wasn't quite the first gangsta rap album, but it was the first one to find a popular audience, and its sensibility virtually defined the genre from its 1988 release on. It established gangsta rap -- and, moreover, West Coast rap in general -- as a commercial force, going platinum with no airplay and crossing over with shock-hungry white teenagers. Unlike Ice-T, there's little social criticism or reflection on the gangsta lifestyle; most of the record is about raising hell -- harassing women, driving drunk, shooting it out with cops and partygoers. All of that directionless rebellion and rage produces some of the most frightening, visceral moments in all of rap, especially the amazing opening trio of songs, which threaten to dwarf everything that follows. Given the album's sheer force, the production is surprisingly spare, even a little low-budget -- mostly DJ scratches and a drum machine, plus a few sampled horn blasts and bits of funk guitar. Although they were as much a reaction against pop-friendly rap, Straight Outta Compton's insistent claims of reality ring a little hollow today, since it hardly ever depicts consequences. But despite all the romanticized invincibility, the force and detail of Ice Cube's writing makes the exaggerations resonate. Although Cube wrote some of his bandmates' raps, including nearly all of Eazy-E's, each member has a distinct delivery and character, and the energy of their individual personalities puts their generic imitators to shame. But although Straight Outta Compton has its own share of posturing, it still sounds refreshingly uncalculated because of its irreverent, gonzo sense of humor, still unfortunately rare in hardcore rap. There are several undistinguished misfires during the second half, but they aren't nearly enough to detract from the overall magnitude. It's impossible to overstate the enduring impact of Straight Outta Compton; as polarizing as its outlook may be, it remains an essential landmark, one of hip-hop's all-time greatest.
Despite not being a success at first and the lack of airplay, "Straight Outta Compton" sold over three million copies, thanks to the hits "Straight Outta Compton", "Gangsta Gangsta" and "Express Yourself". The album itself reached number 37 in the Billboard Top 200 in the spring of 1989, while it reached number 9 on Billboard's Top Soul LPs.
NWA - Straight Outta Compton (flac 375mb)
01 Straight Outta Compton 4:16
02 Fuck Tha Police 5:45
03 Gangsta Gangsta 5:35
04 If It Ain't Ruff 3:33
05 Parental Discretion Iz Advised 5:15
06 8 Ball (Remix) 4:51
07 Something Like That 3:33
08 Express Yourself 4:23
09 Compton's In The House (Remix) 5:19
10 I Ain't Tha 1 4:53
11 Dopeman (Remix) 5:19
12 Quiet On Tha Set 3:56
13 Something 2 Dance 2 3:22
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Following a round of Ruthless Records releases (Eazy-E's Eazy-Duz-It, 1988; the D.O.C.'s No One Can Do It Better, 1989; Above the Law's Livin' Like Hustlers, 1990) and the departure of group member Ice Cube (who released a very successful debut, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, 1990), Dr. Dre went about producing new N.W.A music for a follow-up to Straight Outta Compton (1988). 100 Miles and Runnin', a five-track EP, was the first material to surface from the recording sessions, released in summer 1990 partly as a response to Ice Cube's departure (both Dr. Dre and MC Ren take verbal shots at him), a preview of what fans could expect on the group's forthcoming album (promoted on the two-minute, EP-closing "Kamurshol"), and a stopgap measure for a marketplace hungry for cutting-edge gangsta rap. The EP's title track is a clear highlight and is among N.W.A's all-time greatest efforts. Driven by a densely layered, fast-paced production, "100 Miles and Runnin'" is perhaps most noteworthy for its second verse, where Dr. Dre uncharacteristically delivers a fierce verse that stylistically resembles Ice Cube's classic opening verse from "Straight Outta Compton." The second song, "Just Don't Bite It," is another highlight, an alarming porno rap that at the time of its release was as explicit as anything out there, including 2 Live Crew. The third song, "Sa Prize, Pt. 2," is a passable "Fuck tha Police" rehash that suffers for the absence of Ice Cube, while next and final song on the EP, "Real Niggaz," is a fairly uneventful hardcore rap purposefully laden with the N-word. In little over 20 minutes, 100 Miles and Runnin' manages to broach the key gangsta rap points of controversy -- fleeing and/or killing the police, pornographic sex, obscenity, and extreme aggression -- as well as diss Ice Cube and promote the upcoming album. Years later, the controversial aspects of 100 Miles and Runnin' may seem ho-hum -- at least to anyone conditioned to expect such rhetoric from hardcore rap music -- but it's important to put this EP into its proper context, for the boundary-pushing showcased here was alarming for its time and a major reason why N.W.A earned such renown.
100 Miles And Runnin' EP (flac 154mb)
01 100 Miles And Runnin' 4:32
02 Just Don't Bite It 5:28
03 Sa Prize (Part 2) 5:58
04 Real Niggaz 5:27
05 Kamurshol 1:56
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Like 100 Miles and Runnin' (1990), the five-track EP that preceded it, N.W.A's third full-length album, Niggaz4life, courts controversy in every imaginable way, from its title (printed backward on the cover, as a mirror image) down to its mercilessly misogynistic second half, and it remains shocking years later, no matter how many times the controversial aspects of the album have been exploited again and again by others. Unfortunately, the shocking rhetoric -- which, to a degree unprecedented at the time of the album's release, revels in relentless obscenity, graphic sex, and extreme violence -- tends to overshadow the remarkable production work of Dr. Dre here. Similar in practice to the concurrent production work of the Bomb Squad, Dr. Dre and co-producer DJ Yella densely layer soul-funk samples from the 1970s over hard-hitting beats. As he had on his previous productions, Dr. Dre mines the Parliament-Funkadelic back catalog in particular for sample material: for instance, two Eazy-E solo showcases, "Automobile" and "I'd Rather Fuck You," are satirical interpolations of Parliament's "My Automobile" and Bootsy Collins' "I'd Rather Be with You," respectively, while the skits "Don't Drink That Wine" and "1-900-2-Compton" are likewise homage to George Clinton and company -- and, if you're keeping tabs, "Niggaz 4 Life" borrows an elastic bassline from Parliament's "Sir Nose d'Voidoffunk." The album-opening "Real Niggaz Don't Die" is one of the most remarkable productions, comprised of multiple samples, most evidently Rare Earth's "I Just Want to Celebrate," a joyous song whose sampled hook is in great juxtaposition to the overriding dire tone of the production, best characterized by one of the other songs sampled on the track, the Last Poets' "Die Nigger!!!" In terms of rapping, Niggaz4life suffers for the absence of Ice Cube, even as the D.O.C. assumes his position as the in-house ghostwriter. There's a lot of Eazy-E to be heard throughout the album, for better and for worse, as his sense of humorous menace is amusing as well as unsettling. In the end, it's easy to understand why N.W.A unraveled shortly after Niggaz4life: on the one hand, the group had become a vehicle for exploiting the taboos of gangsta rap, to significant commercial success (this was a chart-topping album, after all), while on the other hand, it had become less about the production talent of Dr. Dre, whose work was being sorely overshadowed by all the controversy
NWA - Niggaz4Life (flac 401mb)
01 Prelude 2:27
02 Real Niggaz Don't Die 3:40
03 Niggaz 4 Life 4:58
04 Protest 0:53
05 Appetite For Destruction 3:22
06 Don't Drink That Wine 1:07
07 Alwayz Into Somethin' 4:24
08 Message To B.A. 0:48
09 Real Niggaz 4:27
10 To Kill A Hooker 0:50
11 One Less Bitch 4:47
12 Findum, Fuckum & Flee 3:54
13 Automobile 3:15
14 She Swallowed It 4:13
15 I'd Rather Fuck You 3:57
16 Approach To Danger 2:45
17 1-900-2-Compton 1:27
18 The Dayz Of Wayback 4:19
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
This is a remastered version of Straight Outta Compton topped up with cover versions by friends and the infamous live call Compton's N The House .
NWA - Straight Outta Compton (20th Anniversary) (flac 547mb)
Remastered
01 Straight Outta Compton 4:03
02 F**k The Police 5:15
03 Gangsta Gangsta 4:06
04 If It Ain't Ruff 3:34
05 Parental Discretion Iz Advised 5:12
06 8 Ball (Remix) 4:33
07 Something Like That 3:34
08 Express Yourself 4:23
09 Compton's N The House 5:16
10 I Ain't Tha 1 4:54
11 Dopeman (Remix) 5:50
12 Quiet On Tha Set 3:58
13 Something 2 Dance 2 3:24
Bonus
14 Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - F**k Tha Police 5:03
15 Snoop Dogg / C-Murder - Gangsta Gangsta 4:40
16 Mack 10 - Dopeman 4:02
17 WC - If It Ain't Ruff 3:45
18 N.W.A - Compton's N The House (Live) 2:02
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
No comments:
Post a Comment