It still sounds as fresh and angry today as when it was first released back on August 8th 1988
Times have moved on though. I mean, back then, the American police shot or assaulted black people.....
N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton
- Thread starter soulman
- Start date
Times have moved on though. I mean, back then, the American police shot or assaulted black people.....
eatmorecheese
He's fallen out of the car again
I rinsed the hell out of Straight outta Compton and Efil4zaggin as a teen, still prefer the latter album. Viewing the trailer it took me a moment to realise that Ice Cube isn't playing himself 
Limerick Red
Мы вас похороним!
Been rinsing Onyx lately, hasn't listened to them since school...they were so fucking good, sticky fingers kills it
Jeff Robinson
Marxist-Lentilist: Jackboots and Jackfruit
ska invita
back on the other side
theres a 7 inch radio edit of backdafuck up where every swear word is replaced by the locking of a pump action gun - that means nonstop gun action making it more violent than it would be with the swearing
theres only this 1 min extract on youtube, but imagine that through the verses too - its a trip of a track
ive been looking for any kind of copy/mp3 of the full 3mins radio edit but cant find it....
theres only this 1 min extract on youtube, but imagine that through the verses too - its a trip of a track
ive been looking for any kind of copy/mp3 of the full 3mins radio edit but cant find it....
Jeff Robinson
Marxist-Lentilist: Jackboots and Jackfruit
I'm a huge fan of hip hop radio edits in which every other word is subbed with an explosion or sound effect. I posted it on the early 00s thread already, but Ante Up by MOP is one of the best for this...
Jeff Robinson
Marxist-Lentilist: Jackboots and Jackfruit
All you love birds out there: this is the perfect background music for a romantic dinner tonight. Add it to your valentines mix tapes.
Just to mix things up a bit....
Jeff Robinson
Marxist-Lentilist: Jackboots and Jackfruit
this clip has been making me laugh so much today. I've probably played it over 20 times now. It's amazing.
ska invita
back on the other side
its great innit! my memory is that a mate had this on seven inch when it came out and that had the radio edit on it - ive been looking for the full mix for years now - but according to discogs no such thing exists - i might have dreamt the longer version
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
If anyones got anything essay\article wise on the decline of political influenced hip hop I'd be interested. I mean, I know PE have been making angry records for ever but from NWA- seath row records it seemed that crowd lost the anger. Somehow.
Jeff Robinson
Marxist-Lentilist: Jackboots and Jackfruit
Dunno about an essay on the subject, but I'd say that the anger and politics has not to much gone away as been driven underground. I started a thread on here called 'New Skool Rappers You're Feeling' and there's quite a lot of new underground political influenced stuff posted in it. There's a documentary called 'beyond beats and rhymes' (available on youtube) that argues that the decline of mainstream political rap occurred at around the time that the major media corporations were buying up the successful independent hip hop labels. Various market forces and commercial interests militated against the more conscious stuff articulated by PE and the like...
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
for sure, even in UK hip hop theres the political stuff- council estate of mind for instance (sampling Tim Roth in Made In Britain to great efect lol)
will check the docu ta!
Jeff Robinson
Marxist-Lentilist: Jackboots and Jackfruit
I should say its not primarily about the decline of political rap, but more about violence, sexism and homophobia in hip hop. Very good though, and well worth a watch.
ska invita
back on the other side
other than the age old fact that the pop industry markets pop music best what else is there to say? Look what happened when Radio 1 backed DnB? Pop DnB emerged because (piss)"artists" wanted to cash in.
Recently there was a theory floating around that it was the (white) majors that created gangsta rap and subverted "real" hip hop - considering this was done near single handed by Dre and Suge thats clearly bollocks.
Id like to talk this through - first of all, who up to 93 (the last year of the golden age) counts as a political or angry rap group? Was there anything that could really be called "mainstream political rap" big enough to decline? I dont think there were that many to be honest. How ever many there have been id say the same amount has remained over time.
The cold reality is political music sells less than pop friendly numbers, and all through the golden age it was non-political tracks that did the biggest business. Rap blew up so big that the pop sensibilities got exploited further and further - by the rappers themselves. The pop industry turned its wheels too of course, but thats what it does.
Is dotcoms question Should rappers in the US be angrier now than they are?
as to why didnt the Death Row camp stay angry - maybe becasue they're all multimillionaires
whatdyoureckon?
stethoscope
Well-Known Member
Other than PE, the only other reasonably well known political rap groups that come to mind are possibly Brand Nubian, X-Clan, and Disposable Heroes? Having a think
UK-wise, I loved Marxman but they never attained mainstream success.
Jeff Robinson
Marxist-Lentilist: Jackboots and Jackfruit
mistake.
Jeff Robinson
Marxist-Lentilist: Jackboots and Jackfruit
Other than PE, the only other reasonably well known political rap groups that come to mind are possibly Brand Nubian, X-Clan, and Disposable Heroes? Having a think
KRS 1 and Boogie Down Productions, Afrika Bambaataa, Gangstarr, Jeru the Damager, Tupac, De La Soul? Even groups like Tribe Called Quest and the Furious Five who were more known for producing party music had more politically tinged stuff - think about 'the message' for example.
I guess its important to define what we mean by 'political rap'. If we mean groups and MCs that devote most of their time to talking about party politics, international relations, macroeconomics and the like then that's always been a tiny component of hip hop's output. A broader definition of political hiphop - one that is endorsed by people like Chuck D and Ded Prez - involves the act of working class, usually black, urban youth telling stories about their lives and their communities. Out of such story telling emerged an (at least latent) critique of ghettoisation, poverty, discrimination, police brutality etc. As Kool DJ Herc - widely acknowledged as the modern founding father of hip hop put it: hip hop was created as an alternative to disco. The people in the South Bronx who got together to create what became known as hip hop couldn't identify with the glitz and glamour of disco music and developed their own style that captured their life experiences etc. Now hip hop has gone full circle - the mainstream stuff overwhelmingly now represents the glitz and glamour 'bling' lifestyle that the art form was created as an alternative to.
I agree with ska that the commercial music industry has its own structural dynamics that conspire against more politically conscious forms of rap. I'd only add that I think there are also important supply side factors at work here too in addition to the demand side factors. Aside from the world out looks of the corporate label owners, distributors and marketers that control the supply of hip hop, another pernicious influence has been all the commercial tie-ins and sponsorship. If you listen to rap tunes these days they are absolutely littered with product placement, as are the videos. Its hardly surprising that with these sort of market forces at work that most commercial rap these days is about acquiring stuff.
ska invita
back on the other side
I often wonder how Spike Lee feels today about playing such a key role in making Nike = Hiphop
Jeff Robinson
Marxist-Lentilist: Jackboots and Jackfruit
And Run DMC with Adidas:
(proof actually that these things were around in the 'good old days' too - mustn't idealise them too much!)
ska invita
back on the other side
didnt understand, proof that what was what?
the story i heard is that My Adidas created a spike in sales in Adidas which Nike picked up on (rather than Adidas ironically), and decided it was goign to actively court the hiphop market - the Jordan + Spike Lee campaign was the result. The rest is a depressing history
Jeff Robinson
Marxist-Lentilist: Jackboots and Jackfruit
Proof that the commercial pressures that I'm bemoaning have in fact been there right since the early days.
ska invita
back on the other side
oh yeah - and the tunes i remember riding high in the charts were 2 Live Crew Porn in the USA, Whistle - Bugging, That one about ametyville, The Show (which is a tune), Fight for Your Right to Party, etc etc.
Heres PE's chart positions in the UK:
http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/public enemy/
Athos
Well-Known Member
Deffo. This, 36 Chambers, Boom Bap, Doggystyle, Strictly 4 My..., Black Sunday, etc., etc..
Although '88 is a contender: Straight Outta Compton, Nation of Millions, Tougher Than Leather, Slick Rick, By All Means..., Follow The Leader, Straight Out The Jungle, etc., etc..
