![]() ![]() ![]() Crazily, there were attempts to ban the group from playing the song, which only fanned the flames. It transpired that the FBI were investigating their lyrics, in particular, ‘Fuck Tha Police’ (or, as the surprisingly coy album sleeve titled it: ‘- Tha Police (Fill In The Blanks)’). If you sold 10,000 records you got $30,000 dollars, and Jerry Heller went over to cash the cheque because he had the only bank account, and you split it up on the corner and everybody got money.”įollowing the release of attention-grabbing debut album ‘Straight Outta Compton’ in 1988, NWA were quickly dubbed “the world’s most dangerous group”. “It was where the music business should be. “I thought what was happening at Macola was where rock’n’roll was in 1964 and ’65,” Heller told me during our 2006 interview. Heller – who had years of experience in the music industry, promoting gigs on the west coast by ’70s superstars such as Elton John and Van Morrison – became their manager. Jackson and Young became Ice Cube and Dr Dre, and, alongside a former drug dealer called Eric ‘Eazy-E’ Wright, Lorenzo ‘MC Ren’ Patterson, another Wreckin’ Cru member, Antoine ‘DJ Yella’ Carraby (and, for a short while, Kim ‘Arabian Prince’ Nazel), they formed NWA, standing for Niggaz Wit Attitude.Įazy-E set up the label, Ruthless, that went on to release their records, and those by a slew of associated artists. The World Class Wreckin’ Cru’s DJ was Andre Young, while CIA included a teenager called O’Shea Jackson. I go down there, and who’ve you got pressing records, but Ice-T, MC Hammer, JJ Fad, Bobby Jimmy And The Critters, and a little group called the World Class Wreckin’ Cru and their friends, CIA.” For $1,000 you got 500 records and the artwork. “It’s 1985,” he recalled, “nobody’s making any money, there’s nothing new happening in the world, and I hear about this scene that’s happening at this little pressing plant on Santa Monica Boulevard called Macola. He met NWA right at the start of their career, and did more than anyone outside the group to bring their music to the world. I was too young to remember the impact this had on society back in 1988, but today it remains the greatest hip-hop album to exist.NWA needed their own Russell Simmons, and found him in the unlikely form of Jerry Heller. His lyrics and anger are the most dazzling throughout the record (note – he wrote most of the lyrics on the album). ![]() Ice Cube, of course is the real standout here (even surpassing Dr. Filled with tormented material, “Express Yourself” can be fun at times and “Gangsta Gangsta” is a hell of a song. It’s gritty subject matter and harsh lyrics bring it to life in a fearsome yet passionate way. Make no mistake, this is not a kids record. Many of the tracks contain some very graphic lyrics, but there is a certain level of playfulness to the album as a whole. From the superb opener “Straight Outta Compton” to the anger fueled “Fuck Tha Police,” this was hardcore music. Comes off a show-stopper, the go for broke style is so real and scary that it makes you feel you’ve been pistol whipped into oblivion, and yet you come back for more. Just like the Sex Pistols and Black Flag before them, this was right in your face and hard to ignore. I’ll have to put my vote in as this record being my favorite hip-hop/rap album of all-time. Our Blog N.W.A “Straight Outta Compton” (1988) ![]()
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