There isn’t much left to be said about N.W.A’s 1988 debut Straight Outta Compton. 35 years later (released 8/8/88) and the head-pounding drums and unfiltered aggression that built an empire are still as potent as the day these 13 songs entered the world. The album has spawned some of the most critically-acclaimed solo careers hip-hop has ever seen and was immortalized in the 2015 film of the same name.
The group’s politically charged lyrics sparked a whirlwind of controversy that forced its members to navigate a media firestorm, which included a letter from the FBI, on their first outing as a group. While its songs have been cemented as cultural phenomenons, all of the movie magic, platinum plaques, and karaoke versions of “Fuck tha Police” might have diluted the boundary-pushing sonics and artistic articulations of class and race struggles in 80s Los Angeles. Underneath the decades of hype and ukulele covers is still a hip-hop album that not only redefined the perspective of west coast rap music but changed music as a whole.
Recording for Straight Outta Compton began a year prior to its August 8, 1988 release. At the time, New York City was the hotbed for hip-hop. The birthplace of the genre was frontrunning any culturally moving works for the genre, with the likes of Slick Rick and Big Daddy Kane releasing career-defining albums the same year as N.W.A’s debut. The west coast scene of the 80s was more influenced by electronic production, leaning towards DJ-centered releases that put an emphasis on the deep grooves of its instrumentals. Straight Outta Compton changed the narrative of the west coast hip-hop culture by taking the rugged nature of New York’s scene and spinning their life experiences and unique sonic palate. To say N.W.A. simply cloned the New York sound would do a terrible injustice to the group’s undeniable uniqueness. Their debut essentially invented the concept of “Gangster rap”, although that label doesn’t necessarily do Straight Outta Compton justice either.
While the political nature of the record stirred up plenty of backlash from critics and people outside of the genre, the musicality of Straight Outta Compton is not to be overlooked. The album acts as a pillar to chemistry as the group’s six members moved as a unit for this hour of perfected song craft. Members Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince were behind the sonically ambiguous instrumentals while Ice Cube and MC Ren penned the album’s iconic lyrics. All under the eye of Eazy-E, the group crafted a formula they were able to bend and twist into something magical. The fact the same group who created the smooth, slow-burning beat for “Parental Discretion Iz Advised” is the same musicians who spit the juxtaposing verses filled with cartoonish flows and hyper-confident lyrics is enough for the 35-year-old album to be remembered so fondly. N.W.A was able to remove themselves from their environment and enter into a mindset of unfiltered creative freedom. They didn’t reinvent what was going on in the L.A. scene and made it their own, they made their own L.A. scene.
35 years later and Straight Outta Compton has only gotten better. The album that once sparked FBI involvement now sits in the Library of Congress for its cultural and artistic significance. Its backlash has now been outshined by three platinum plaques and leagues of fans from every era singing its praises. Its longevity speaks for itself much like the 13 hip-hop defining tracks that make up the album. Straight Outta Compton defines timeless music and continually proves that the most daring music prospers.
