Straight Outta Compton

“Our art it a reflection of our reality.” This was said by Ice Cube’s character O’Shea Jackson, his son, in the movie Straight Outta Compton referring to the music they were producing at the time. Back then and even today some musicians “artists” are afraid to say what they really think. They are too worried about selling their music and pleasing the people in order to keep them popular and liked. But this was not the case for the N.W.A. (Niggaz Wit Attitudes). They weren’t worried about what people thought of them or what they thought about their music. They were just making raps and rhymes about their day to day lives to make people aware of what was going on and to be a voice to those who couldn’t or wouldn’t stand up and speak what they really felt. In other words, they are writing their music based on their reality. The dictionary definition of reality is the state or quality of being real. Writing about what they see every day in Compton, California. What they saw what they did including; the women, the alcohol, the drugs, and even how they were treated. Treated both by other people in the area and by the police. The police would do things to them for no reason just because they could. Police were abusing their power and authority to do what they wanted to who they wanted even if it was not right. Their songs hit like wild fire becoming famous in no time. Soon a group of rappers, artists, that just wanted to make a name for themselves and put Compton, California on the map were way bigger than they ever have imagined.

N.W.A., Niggaz Wit Attitude, started in 1986 and went to 1991 then it started back up from 1998 to 2002. The original group consisted of Arabian Prince, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, and Ice Cube. DJ Yella and MC Ren joined later on. The group’s album Straight Outta Compton marked the beginning of the new gangsta rap era. Then not long after their second album, Niggaz4Life, was the first hardcore rap album to debut at number one on the billboard 200 sales charts. Some other songs they also recorded were “One Less B*_ _ _”, “100 Miles and Runnin”, “8 Ball”, “A B*_ _ _ lz a B*_ _ _”, “F _ _ _ tha Police”, “Findum, F _ _ _um and Flee”, etc. The Rolling Stones also ranked the N.W.A. number 83 on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time charts. Later in time the N.W.A. was also nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the first time in 2012 and a second time in 2013 but finally got it on their third try in 2016.

 During this time the N.W.A. rap group endured controversy owing to their music’s explicit lyrics that many people viewed as disrespectful, glorification of drugs and crime. The group’s music also brought more unneeded problems with the police all around the nation. The police thought that the music displayed bad behavior, violence, drugs, crime, and most of all they didn’t like how the N.W.A. group was bashing the police by their music. This led to cops reacting to the music and to the people going against the police. I don’t agree with all the force that the police used on people including the Rodney King beating. It was beatings like this that started many of the riots including the Los Angeles riot of 1992. Things got so out of control and some of the riots got so bad that the police were ordered to leave the area for their own safety. There was so much vandalism by the people setting fire to buildings, vehicles, and other things. People were also beating each other up and many people were either injured or killed.

Though some people think that the music was bad and promoted violence, drugs, alcohol, sex, and other bad things, people cannot deny the impact that the N.W.A. group had on hip hop music. They left a lasting legacy on music, especially hip hop music, which has lasted even to today. As musicians they did what many other musicians where scared to do. They spoke the truth and spoke out how they felt. They were the voice for many and didn’t care what other people said or thought about them or what they were writing. There are a lot of musical artists out there both past and present that don’t say what they really think or feel because of what they think others will think of them. They want to please the people with their music so they can have as many fans as possible because the more fans they have the more popular they will be. And the more popular they are, the more money they will make. And for some artists it’s all about the money and making as much as they can.

Is culture or reality or is reality or culture? I believe that our culture is our reality. Our culture is what is real about us. It is where we come from, who we are, and what we believe. Relating this question to the movie Straight Outta Compton they were African American rappers that lived in Compton, California where bad things happen. Being from there and being African American is part of their culture and that made there reality bad for them. They didn’t have anything anywhere else so therefore they stayed and had to adapt in order to survive. But then turning this back on someone else, a white person grows up in a safe and friendly neighborhood and went to a good school. Because of that their future looks bright and promising. This is their reality. But even though I believe that culture is our reality, I also think that people can change their reality through hard work, dedication, and they have to be driven to do so. It definitely wouldn’t be easy to do so but it has been done.