| Straight Outta Compton | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 8, 1988[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1987-1988 | |||
| Studio | Audio Achievements (Torrance, California) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 60:16 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | ||||
| N.W.A chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Straight Outta Compton | ||||
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Straight Outta Compton is the debut studio album by American gangsta rap group N.W.A, which, led by Eazy-E, formed in Los Angeles County's City of Compton in early 1987.[3][4] Released by his label, Ruthless Records, on August 8, 1988,[1] the album was produced by N.W.A members Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince, with lyrics written by N.W.A members Ice Cube and MC Ren[5] along with Ruthless rapper and unofficial member The D.O.C.[3] Not merely depicting Compton's street violence, the lyrics repeatedly threaten to lead it by attacking peers and even police. The track "Fuck tha Police" drew an FBI agent's warning letter, which aided N.W.A's notoriety, with N.W.A calling itself "the world's most dangerous group."[3][6][7]
In July 1989, despite its scarce radio play beyond the Los Angeles area,[4] Straight Outta Compton received gangsta rap's first platinum certification, one million copies sold by then.[3] That year, the album peaked at number 9 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and at number 37 on the Billboard 200.[8] Receiving media spotlight, N.W.A's example triggered the rap genre's movement toward hardcore, gangsta rap.[9]
Remastered, the album's September 2000 reissue gained four bonus tracks. Nearing the album's 20th anniversary, another extended version of it arrived in December 2007.[10] In 2015, after an album reissue on red cassettes,[11] theater release of the biographical film Straight Outta Compton reinvigorated sales of the album, which by year's end was certified 3x Multi-Platinum.[3] In 2016, it became the first rap album inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[12] The next year, the Library of Congress enshrined Straight Outta Compton in the National Recording Registry, who have deemed it to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[13]
- ^ a b Kory Grow (August 8, 2018). "N.W.A's 'Straight Outta Compton': 12 Things You Didn't Know". rollingstone.com. Rolling Stone, LLC. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
- ^ "Straight Outta Compton – N.W.A – Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic.
- ^ a b c d e Kory Grow, "N.W.A's 'Straight Outta Compton': 12 things you didn't know", Rolling Stone website, Penske Business Media, LLC, 8 Aug 2018.
- ^ a b David Diallo, ch. 10 "From electro-rap to G-funk: A social history of rap music in Los Angeles and Compton, California", in Mickey Hess, ed., Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide, Volume 1: East Coast and West Coast (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2010), pp 234–238.
- ^ Incidentally, this 1988 album is N.W.A's last album with contributions by Arabian Prince, already gone by its August release, and by Ice Cube, gone by 1990. Both, however, are on N.W.A's 1987 compilation album, N.W.A. and the Posse—sometimes recognized as N.W.A's first album—whereas at the Posse album's release, MC Ren may not have yet joined N.W.A's roster. That is despite MC Ren's appearance, among several others, in the Posse album's cover photo [Martin Cizmar, "Whatever happened to N.W.A's posse?", LA Weekly, 6 May 2010]. In any case, by N.W.A's next significant release, a 1990 EP, 100 Miles and Runnin', the group is four—Eazy, Dre, Yella, and Ren—also on the next and final album, 1991's Efil4zaggin or Niggaz4Life.
- ^ Musician (Amordian Press), 1991, volume 147, p 59.
- ^ McDermott, Terry (April 14, 2002). "NWA:Straight Outta Compton pt 1". Los Angeles Times. Reprinted at Hip Hop News. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
- ^ "Tenth Ruthless anniversary: For the record", Billboard, 1997 Aug 9;109(32):R-16.
- ^ Jeff Chang, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005), pp. 327–328.
- ^ Omar Burgess (October 10, 2007). "HHDX News Bits: NWA and Eazy-E". HipHopDX. Retrieved October 10, 2007.
- ^ Universal Music Group announced that it would reissue the album as a limited-edition red cassette on April 15 as part of Universal's Respect the Classics series [Pietro Fililpponi, "Universal announces more N.W.A re-releases, 'Straight Outta Compton' cassette tape, Friday 20th anniversary vinyl", Gotham News website, Gotham News LLC, 2 Apr 2015].
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "National Recording Registry Picks Are 'Over the Rainbow'". Library of Congress. March 29, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2016.