I don't think people understood it then.
They spent their first year or two ripping off Beastie Boys before they finally realized there was more money to be made ripping off Ice T.
Then they aimed at making Hip-Hop all nihlist...after the notion of a "West Coast All-Star Group" failed.
Yeah, CB4 sumed it up.
― PappaWheelie II, Friday, 12 August 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)
but "We're All in the Same Game" was a great song!!And the first w/o Ice Cube, correct?
I should add that I AM an NWA fan...
― PappaWheelie II, Friday, 12 August 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)
Oh, and by "West Coast All-Star Group" , I mean that was the initial goal of NWA, not the 'West Coast All Stars' that did 'Same Gang':
the original lineup/goal of NWA:
Arabian Prince - the star of the group as he had quite a few solo hits out west.
Dre Dre & Yella - Core of World Class Wrecking Kru, therefore, the star producers
Ice Cube - Lead rapper of CIA and became the writer for WCWK. He would assume writing duties for NWA also.
They also had some backup work from Ron De Vu, who was on a lot of West Coast records in the mid-late 80's.
Eazy E never intended to rap...he just wanted to be the money man. When the group HBO turned down Ice Cube's lyrics to 'Boyz in the Hood', and studio time was paid for, Dre convinced Eazy to do the lyrics. The fact that it hit is what prompted the change in creative direction.
When Ice Cube decided to leave for architecture school in Arizona, they had to replace him as a rapper and a writer...so they got:
Dr. Tray - Main rapper of the texas group 'Fila Fresh Crew', who Dr. Dre did some production work for. He later changed his "Dr." to D.O.C. to match the acronym thing, although DOC stood for nothing.
MC Ren was not a 'star' at all. He answered a newspaper ad and auditioned in the garage solely to replace Ice Cube. He debuted on Eazy E's single.
The success of the Boyz in the Hood caused Ice Cube to return, but they weren't about to let go of DOC and Ren.
DOC wrote 50% of NWA's lyrics, which he openly admits, was nothing more than a contest between he and Ice Cube over who could be more nihilist.
― PappaWheelie II, Friday, 12 August 2005 16:33 (twenty years ago)
Pappawheelie's a little off w/r/t the roles/motives/timeline in his NWA synopsis.
If you have time, read this which is a very clear history of the early days of the group.
― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 12 August 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)
That article is one of several I started with when I came up with this...and more imporatantly, I was buying all the Macola 12" releases in 1986> -- so I can tell you where that article is a bit off.
― PappaWheelie II, Friday, 12 August 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)
the LA Times article was good, but yeah gygax I would defer to PappaWheelie's more first-hand accounts, honestly...
― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 12 August 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)
two weeks pass...
Just cos they're from the ILM
Punk-ass posters are afraid of them.
― I Ain't No Addict, Whoever Heard of a Junkie as Old as Me? (noodle vague), Thursday, 1 September 2005 12:05 (twenty years ago)