Not much good came out of the 80s. I know many will refute that, but the 80s is a musical wasteland - for the larger part. Some good stuff, some highly influential stuff, sure. It is a rash generalisation and of course there are examples, but for the most part ordinary. Mainstream music from the 1980s? Now that was a define wasteland. If you were into 80s music in the 80s - i hope you have moved on by now.
However there were some shining beacons - the underground world of hip hop was starting to get recognition with artists such as grandmaster Flash, Run DMC and the Beastie Boys.
Then in 1988 hip hop & music changed forever..............
N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton.
"you are about to witness the strength of street knowledge"
It does not matter how many listens I give this album, I press play and Dr Dre announces that first line - I just know i am about to hear something special.
"Straight Outta Compton" was probably not the first Gangsta Rap Album, but it created a revolution in hip hop and perhaps gave birth to the sub- genre of gangsta rap. Either way it has come to epitomise the genre and influenced countless others to follow in their footsteps. In 1988 hip-hop was barely a blip on the musical radar - this album was put it very much front and center and not just from an artistic point of view, it redefined hip hop and through the next decade gangsta rap would enjoy huge popularity. The FBI sent a letter to the bands record label advising them that "advocating violence and assault is wrong and we in the law enforcement community take exception to such action." this of course just drew more attention. The Album became the first to ever go platinum without radio airplay and they were largely banned from touring. Some stores would not sell the album with the song "Fuck tha Police" on it - rather than editing the song, the censored version of the album did not feature the song at all. In 1989, Australian radio station Triple J had been playing "Fuck tha Police" for up to six months, before gaining the attention of Australian Broadcasting Corporation management who subsequently banned it. As a reaction the staff went on strike and put N.W.A's "Express Yourself" on continuous play for 24 hours, playing it roughly 360 times in a row.
The stories held within are frightening, and riveting; thought provoking and unapologetic. Main members, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren and Eazy-E, paint a vivid picture of L.A.'s rough Compton ghetto. You really feel the empathy of the life that they live through their brutally honest delivery of pain, anger and the need to be heard. The lyrical content provides powerful images of poverty, guns, violence, police, women and more violence. It is rough, raw, misogynistic, homophobic and whatever other negative labels you want to stick to it.
The album is completely fearless - this is part of the beauty of it. These guys were young when it came out, Ice Cube and MC Ren were just 19 and the others in their early 20s. N.W.A. was a super group of Rap/Hip-Hop's greatest talent before any of them had become known. Ice Cube and Dr Dre are legendary. Even at a very young age, it is apparent that all five were first rate producers, rappers, and lyricists, as each song possesses an infectious groove and a catchy beat. Lyrically it was so confrontational and so explicit for the time that it is hard imagine when compared to much of the content in modern rap. This was like the sex pistols and punk a decade earlier - only young black and angry.
It is not all killing and swearing though, the record sounds insanely fresh and perfect; which is quite a feat, since production value in hip-hop has come a long way since 1988. It highlights what would become apparent over the next 20 years and that is Dr Dre's production mastery. The beats and samples are are funky, innovative, well crafted and most importantly, they serve as a perfect template for their engrossing lyrical flows. The raw samples used tend to provide the perfect atmosphere for all the anger and rebellion featured on this album. Ice Cube's nitty-gritty lyricism and acute observations of society are most impressive. His richly detailed storytelling will captivate Their is a fair amount of comic relief, mainly by the playful Easy-E to balance out the record, especially once the sheer confrontation of the first few tracks is dealt with.
This album was one of the first rap albums to cross into white middle class suburbia - Whether it was the shock value, the profanity, the controversy cause by songs like Fuck tha Police - im not sure. Long before rap artists that grew up in middle class families created a gangsta persona and acted to suit, long before eminem came along, these guys were hardcore and just rapping about what they knew. They changed the game.
Straight Outta Compton" is an angry, raw and beautifully crafted masterpiece.
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.
Almost the rap antithesis of NWA, Public Enemy have eloquent raps not about violence & sexism, but empowerment, self-respect, and self-determination. Artists such as Run D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys, had shown that hip-hop could expand its sound and be more than a passing fad, Public Enemy showed that hip-hop could also be a voice for the black community and its social and political concerns. Intense, angry, militant, political, thoughtful and creative all apply to this album. I'm no proponent of black radicalism, however I definitely admire the intelligence and innovation that went into this recording. If NWA were like the Sex Pistols, then PE were The Clash and the Dead Kennedys. Powerful stuff.
Chuck D is lyrical master - the content is very thought-provoking, eloquent and has some downright quotable expressions of righteous indignation at the American prison system, pop culture "values," the inner-city drug epidemic, the federal government, the media and the education system - among other things. A far cry from today's common topics of "bling and bitches," that's for sure. Flavor Flav, a far cry from the caricature he now portrays on MTV reality shows, provides the perfect foil for Chuck. Hyper-active, abrasive and wild, he underscores all of Chuck D's statements like an exclamation point with humorous rhymes thrown in between Chuck D.'s venom.
Aside from Chuck D and Flavor Flav, it was the Bomb Squad (Hank and Keith Shocklee, and Eric Sadler) who put PE on the map. The Bomb squad were the producers and along with the mayhem of Terminator X on the turntables, they created a furious mixture of whistles, whines, and noise over dense samples, scratches and beats - an unmistakable sound. Constantly self-referencing, the music here is dense and complex, adding to the epic feel of the album. They sample widely, the album includes spoken word from Malcolm X & Louis Farrakhan and music from luminaries such as James Brown, Kool and The Gang, Parliament, Funkadelic, Run DMC, The Jackson 5, Isaac Hayes, Bob Marley, Salt-n-Peppa, they even sample thrash metal icons Slayer and of course they sample themselves. As a whole, the group was way ahead of it's time. Boldly putting out their political views and attacking the media, PE was also unfairly attacked in the press portrayed as anti-semetic and anti-white.
Bring The Noise, Don't Believe The Hype (practically an anti-media anthem), Louder Than A Bomb, Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos (could be one of the best song titles ever!), Prophets Of Rage, Party For Your Right To Fight...all classic hip-hop. To all those who think Eminem & 50-cent are "thought-provoking" or "original" I'd advise you to pick this up and experience the real thing.
Multiple listens reveal more and more of what Public Enemy has embedded into this startling effort. Any fan of hip-hop who doesn't own this album needs to, as does any fan of music who has dismissed hip-hop as anything less than a vibrant art form.
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These two albums changed hip hop, they changed music. You could argue that they were instrumental in bringing a sub culture to the surface. Both albums are fearless, intelligent, thought provoking and overall an integral part of your collection.
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