When I first heard pioneering Los Angeles rap crew Niggaz Wit Attitudes (N.W.A) in the late 1980s, they were the last brothers I ever thought I’d be watching a film about damn near thirty years later. With the release of their marauding masterpiece Straight Outta Compton (1988), which inspired the title of the film biopic that hits theaters this Friday, the four-man crew crashed on the scene rapping about crack, guns and bitches, and went from unknown to infamous virtually overnight. On the thuggish track “Gangsta Gangsta,” Ice Cube bellows over the hypnotic Dr. Dreblessed beat, “Takin’ a life or two that’s what the hell I do, you don’t like how I’m livin’, well fuck you.” All up in your face, one could damn near feel Cube’s spittle. “Do I look like a muthafuckin’ role model? To a kid lookin’ up to me, life ain’t nothin’ but bitches and money.”

The song’s title was later adopted to coin the “gangsta rap” genre. While some gangsta rappers scripted cautionary songs about the literal dead-end (jail, death) of the bang bang lifestyle, most wrote rhymes that celebrated their world of bullets, blow, bitches and body bags. Gangsta rap was seductive in its abusiveness, as addictive as the drugs it was spawned from. As societal conditions worsened during the crack years, some gangsta rappers perceived themselves as grassroots voices of the people living in deteriorating communities. Late rapper-businessman Eazy-E, who signed Black Eyed Peas before he died in 1995, co-owned N.W.A’s label Ruthless Records with his manager Jerry Heller. They recruited producer Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, MC Ren and Ice Cube, the best rapper in their crew. Dre’s gritty production on Eazy’s solo debut album Eazy-Duz-It and the group effort Straight Outta Compton didn’t qualify as full-blown g-funk yet, but one could see where he was headed. With more than a chip on their collective shoulders, N.W.A put California rap on the map and blasted (verbally, of course) anyone who got in their way. Through all the gun smoke and nightmare-inducing imagery, they constructed Straight Outta Compton as a criminal-minded album that was as harsh as tear gas sprayed in a morning police raid.

Like punk rockers, these dudes from Compton sounded crazy as they spat their lyrical venom at the police, various “hoes” and anybody else who wasn’t down with their dope-dealing ways. For N.W.A and the artists who followed in their footsteps, crime became a metaphor for the American Dream. In 2014, former crack dealer turned successful rapper and “business, man” Jay-Z, who has rhymed extensively about his sordid past, might compare himself to gangsta balladeer Frank Sinatra. Inspired and influenced by various 1970s sources including vintage Holloway House paperbacks (Donald Goines, Iceberg Slim), funk music (George Clinton, Zapp) blaxploitation films (The Mack, Super Fly), raunchy comedy albums (Rudy Ray Moore, Blowfly) and gangster movies (Scarface, The King of New York), gangsta rap became the latest commodity for those looking to cash-in on the miseries of the hood by the end of the eighties.

http://www.soulhead.com/2...a-gonzales/

Really good article.

Awesome. NWA definitely kicked the door in for gansta rap, I just hate the fact that no one ever seems to remember Ice T's "Rhyme Pays" album. It dropped in the summer of 87, well before "Straight Outta Compton." Ice T was my intro to gangsta rap..

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"Six in the mornin, police at my door...fresh Adidas squeak across my bathroom floor...out my back window I made my escape...didnt even get a chance to grab my old school tape...mad with no music but glad cuz I'm free...and the streets to a player is the place to be..."

UncleJam said:

Awesome. NWA definitely kicked the door in for gansta rap, I just hate the fact that no one ever seems to remember Ice T's "Rhyme Pays" album. It dropped in the summer of 87, well before "Straight Outta Compton." Ice T was my intro to gangsta rap..

Ice T was my introduction as well, but still Schooly D predates all of them

BombSquad said:

UncleJam said:

Awesome. NWA definitely kicked the door in for gansta rap, I just hate the fact that no one ever seems to remember Ice T's "Rhyme Pays" album. It dropped in the summer of 87, well before "Straight Outta Compton." Ice T was my intro to gangsta rap..

Ice T was my introduction as well, but still Schooly D predates all of them

"Boyz In The Hood" and "Six In The Morning" were my introductions to gangsta rap back in 1987, but after hearing 1985's "PSK" some years later, it was easy to tell how BOTH songs copied Schoolly D's flow and style.

namepeace said:

BombSquad said:

Ice T was my introduction as well, but still Schooly D predates all of them

"Boyz In The Hood" and "Six In The Morning" were my introductions to gangsta rap back in 1987, but after hearing 1985's "PSK" some years later, it was easy to tell how BOTH songs copied Schoolly D's flow and style.

6 In The Mornin' as it appears on Rhyme Pays is actually a re-recording. It was originally released in 1986, and THAT'S what Eazy-E's "The Boyz-N-The Hood" was based on.

Cinny said:

namepeace said:

"Boyz In The Hood" and "Six In The Morning" were my introductions to gangsta rap back in 1987, but after hearing 1985's "PSK" some years later, it was easy to tell how BOTH songs copied Schoolly D's flow and style.

6 In The Mornin' as it appears on Rhyme Pays is actually a re-recording. It was originally released in 1986, and THAT'S what Eazy-E's "The Boyz-N-The Hood" was based on.

I can't cut and paste the link right now, but stopthebreaks.com has an excerpt from an interview with Ice-T about PSK's influence on 6 in the Mornin'. So PSK is the godfather of "6" and the great-godfather of "Boyz" . . .

namepeace said:

Cinny said:

"6 In The Mornin'" as it appears on Rhyme Pays is actually a re-recording. It was originally released in 1986, and THAT'S what Eazy-E's "The Boyz-N-The Hood" was based on.

I can't cut and paste the link right now, but stopthebreaks.com has an excerpt from an interview with Ice-T about PSK's influence on 6 in the Mornin'. So PSK is the godfather of "6" and the great-godfather of "Boyz" . . .

That's right. I think Ice-T explained it in his documentary Art of Rap?

Cinny said:

namepeace said:

I can't cut and paste the link right now, but stopthebreaks.com has an excerpt from an interview with Ice-T about PSK's influence on 6 in the Mornin'. So PSK is the godfather of "6" and the great-godfather of "Boyz" . . .

That's right. I think Ice-T explained it in his documentary Art of Rap?

I think so, as well. I first remember Ice-T from Breakin' and Breakin' II . . . he decided to ditch the party raps and went all in with gangsta. You're right though, Ice-T was one of the best storytellers in the game in his prime, and on the Mt. Rushmore of West Coast hip-hop.