NWA

NWA
General information
origin	Compton , California , United States
Genre (s)	Gangsta rap , west coast hip hop
founding	1986
resolution	1991
Website	www.nwaworld.com (unofficial)
Founding members
DJ , rapper	Arabian Prince (until 1988)
DJ, rapper	Dr. Dre
rapper	Eazy-E († 1995)
rapper	Ice Cube (until 1989)
Last occupation
DJ, rapper	Dr. Dre
rapper	Eazy-E
rapper	MC Ren (since 1987)
DJ	DJ Yella (since 1987)

NWA ( abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes ) was a hip-hop crew from Compton ( Los Angeles ). The band's founding members were Arabian Prince , Dr. Dre , Eazy-E and Ice Cube , later DJ Yella and MC Ren joined them.

NWA contributed decisively to the popularization of gangsta rap and are considered to be important representatives of West Coast hip-hop . They became known worldwide through the songs Dopeman and Fuck tha Police from the album Straight Outta Compton (1988).

In 2015 the film Straight Outta Compton was released, which is a biography of the NWA.

Beginnings

The group was founded in 1986. The first songs were published as 12 "singles and later found their way to the compilation NWA and the Posse from 1987 with other productions of artist friends . It was only with the album Straight Outta Compton that a great, albeit difficult, breakthrough came. The record was made in six weeks the production cost about 8,000 US dollars . most radio stations refused to play the album, and MTV , which is an important time gatekeeper for pop culture was played no songs from the album. Nevertheless sold over three Millions of copies. The A-side in particular established the band's image, which resulted in both the success and a public condemnation of the group: Straight Outta Compton , Fuck tha Police and Gangsta, Gangsta . Similar to early hip- Hop described the life of the gangs on the street, but unlike before, it was no longer critical, but either nihilistic or even hedonistic table praising. They are, however, in the tradition of the music from Southern California by the Beach Boys , the Eagles or Jefferson Airplane . All groups praised the hedonistic lifestyle, money and women, except that the earlier groups did not come from the gang-dominated suburb of Los Angeles called Compton.

Ice Cube wrote most of the lyrics for Straight Outta Compton , Dr. Dre and Yella are shown as producers, although most of the production was actually done by Dre. Musically, however, the album has little in common with Dr 's earlier fast, electronic upbeat- influenced releases in the World Class Wreckin 'Cru . Straight Outta Compton is musically much slower, darker with strong funk influences, embedded in a sound collage of gunshots, sirens, car noises, screams and curses.

The album, although initially operated without advertising or media public, became an enormous sales success. First of all, the network of the Afro-American community and especially their record stores was decisive for this . Sales developed from region to region. Once it was possible to convince record stores to sell the album, word of mouth sold it almost automatically. It clearly changed from the Afro-American to the white community, where it was particularly popular with young people.

controversy

In 1989 the FBI wrote a letter complaining to the distributor Priority Records that Fuck tha Police was calling for violence against the police and asked the company to withdraw the record. The label spread the letter, whereupon the market success reached new dimensions. Bryan Turner of Priority Records says in retrospect: The [letter] was like a nuclear explosion. Once we circulated that, everybody wanted to hear the record the FBI wanted to suppress. The album, which had sold around 100,000 copies so far, made the national news. MTV still didn't play it, but it did show numerous TV shows and newspaper articles about the album. The sales figures then increased thirty-fold.

resolution

Ice Cube , one of the main rappers and lyricists of the band, left the group in 1989. The two albums 100 Miles And Runnin ' (1990) and Niggaz 4 Life (1991, released in the US as Efil4zaggin' ) also achieved international success, including through the underlying G-Funk sound from Dr. Dre. Due to financial disputes between Eazy-E and the rest of the group, NWA was finally dissolved in 1991

According to NWA

Dr. Dre formed the Death Row Records label with Suge Knight and released albums such as The Chronic or Snoop Doggy Doggs Doggystyle , which became successful due to the G-Funk sound. Eazy-E didn’t match the best times, but continued to be successful. On The Chronic and Doggystyle , Snoop and Dre insulted ( dissten ) Eazy-E, whereupon he countered with the album It's On ( Dr. Dre ) 187um Killa (187 is the police code for murder) with the tracks Real Muthaphuckkin G's and It's On . After the separation, Dr. Dre as a producer for other rappers including Snoop Doggy Dogg and Eminem . Ice Cube was successful as a rapper and actor . Eazy-E died of complications from AIDS in 1995 . The very explicit and often nihilistic lyrics of the NWA late phase served as a model for many rappers, especially on the west coast. The content of the texts also had a certain impact on the east coast. The DOC released their album No One Can Do It Better . After the album he was in a car accident which severely damaged his voice.

Appreciation

NWA were at the center of a number of lesser-known hip-hop bands signed to Ruthless Records , including King T , CPO, Above the Law and Kokane . NWA was one of the first gangsta rap groups. Schoolly D is also seen as a pioneer of gangsta rap . Many artists in this field draw their influence from the Straight Outta Compton album. The lyrics by Ice Cube and MC Ren are not typical of the genre, they were the first to interpret the genre. The quality of the rap style (better said of the MCing) of the individual NWA members was very different, especially in the early days. Compared to the big MCs on the east coast , which improved the quality of the lyrics and the flow , especially in the second half of the 1980s , the releases from the early days of the group ('88 and earlier) still sound qualitatively very simple. Rather, the explicit language drew attention to the group and the energy and anger with which Ice Cube presented his texts. Especially during his solo career, Ice Cube developed into a respected MC, also on the east coast. MC Ren's solo career, despite remarkable skills, never picked up speed. At Dr. Dre and Eazy-E should be mentioned that neither wrote the majority of their lyrics themselves. While Ice Cube was primarily a ghostwriter at the beginning, his rapper friend The DOC later mainly took on this role. After the NWA split, he switched to Dr. Dre formed Death Row Records and wrote much of the lyrics for The Chronic .

In 2016, NWA were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . After Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five (2007), Run-DMC (2009), Beastie Boys (2012) and Public Enemy (2013), the group is only the fifth hip hop act to receive this honor.

Members

• Arabian Prince (Mik Lezan): DJ, rapper ( left the group after the album Straight Outta Compton )
• DJ Yella (Antoine Carraby): DJ, producer
• Dr. Dre (André Romell Young): DJ, producer, rapper
• Eazy-E (Eric Wright; † 1995): rapper, producer
• Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson): rapper
• MC Ren (Lorenzo Patterson): rapper

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1988	Straight Outta Compton	DE36 1 (5 weeks) DE	AT55 1 (3 weeks) AT	CH66 1 (5 weeks) CH	UK35 2 platinum (14 weeks)UK	US4 3 × 3 Triple platinum (110 weeks)US	First published: August 9, 1988 Sales: + 3,300,000
1991	Niggaz4Life	-	-	-	UK25 (2 weeks) UK	US1 platinum (44 weeks)US	First published: May 28, 1991 Sales: + 2,150,000

¹ Straight Outta Compton only reached the charts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland after the release of the film of the same name in 2015.

² Straight Outta Compton only peaked in the UK in 2003. In 1989 it was 41st.

³ Straight Outta Compton only peaked in the United States after the 2015 film of the same name was released. In 1989 it was 37th.

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1987	NWA and the Posse	-	-	-	-	US- gold US	First published: November 6th, 1987 Sales: + 500,000
1996	Greatest hits	-	-	-	UK49 4 gold (5 weeks)UK	US48 gold (13 weeks)US	First published: July 2nd, 1996 Sales: + 600,000
1999	The NWA Legacy, Vol. 1: 1988-1998	-	-	-	-	US77 platinum (8 weeks)US	First published: March 23, 1999 Sales: + 1,000,000
2002	The NWA Legacy, Vol. 2	-	-	-	-	US154 (2 weeks) US	First published: August 27, 2002
2006	The Best of NWA: The Strength of Street Knowledge	-	-	-	UK- gold UK	US72 (7 weeks) US	First published: December 26th, 2006 Sales: + 100,000
2008	NWA and Their Family Tree	-	-	-	-	-	First published: September 30, 2008

^4th Greatest Hits only peaked in the UK in 2015. In 1996 it was 56th.

EPs

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1987	Panic Zone	-	-	-	-	-	First published: August 13, 1987
1990	100 Miles and Runnin '	-	-	-	UK38 (4 weeks) UK	US27 platinum (25 weeks)US	First published: August 14, 1990 Sales: + 1,000,000

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1988	Straight Outta Compton Straight Outta Compton	-	-	-	UK66 5 gold (3 weeks)UK	US38 5 platinum (2 weeks)US	First published: July 10, 1988 Sales: +1,400,000
	Gangsta Gangsta Straight Outta Compton	-	-	-	UK70 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 5, 1988
1989	Express Yourself Straight Outta Compton	-	-	-	UK26th silver (9 weeks)UK	-	First published: March 27, 1989 Sales: + 200,000
1991	Appetite for Destruction Niggaz4Life	-	-	-	-	-	First publication: 1991
	Alwayz into Somethin ' Niggaz4Life	-	-	-	UK60 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: April 15, 1991 feat. Admiral D.
1999	Chin Check Soundtrack for Next Friday	-	-	-	-	-	First published: August 23, 1999 feat. Snoop Dogg
The following songs did not appear as single, but were made available for download and streaming through the album and were thus able to achieve a placement:
2015	Fuck tha Police Straight Outta Compton	-	-	-	UK97 silver (1 week)UK	-	Sales: + 200,000

⁵ Straight Outta Compton did not hit the UK and United States charts until after the film of the same name was released in 2015

Video albums

year	title	Remarks
1992	Niggaz4Life: The Only Home Video	First published: November 2, 1992

statistics

Chart evaluation

DE  AT  CH  UK  US Number one albums DE-DE AT-AT CH-CH UK-UK US1US Top 10 albums DE-DE AT-AT CH-CH UK-UK US2US Albums in the charts DE1DE AT1AT CH1CH UK4thUK US7thUS

DE  AT  CH  UK  US Number one singles DE-DE AT-AT CH-CH UK-UK US-US Top 10 singles DE-DE AT-AT CH-CH UK-UK US-US Singles in the charts DE-DE AT-AT CH-CH UK5UK US1US

Awards for music sales

Golden record

•  Canada
  • 1999: for the album Greatest Hits
  • 2003: for the album The NWA Legacy, Vol. 1: 1988–1998
  • 2016: for the song Fuck tha Police

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Canada (MC)	-	3 × gold3	-	140,000	musiccanada.com
United States (RIAA)	-	2 × gold2	7 × platinum7th	7,500,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	2 × silver2	3 × gold3	platinum1	1,300,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	2 × silver2	8 × gold8th	8 × platinum8th

swell

1. ↑ Potter, Russell A. Spectacular Vernaculars: Hip-Hop and the Politics of Postmodernism . State University of New York Press, 1995. p50. ISBN 0-7914-2626-2
2. ↑ Ice Cube produces NWA biopic
3. ↑ Steve Hochman: FBI Claims Song by NWA Advocates Violence on Police In: Los Angeles Times , October 5, 1989. Retrieved July 24, 2015
4. ↑ Inductees 2016
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US

Web links

• NWAWorld (English)
• NWA at Discogs (English)
• Detailed article on the band's history in the Los Angeles Times (English)