NARRATIVE/ANALYSIS

During the late 1980's and early 1990's, the gangsta rap group, N.W.A which stood for Nigg** Wit Attitude rose to prominence and stardom. The original 5 members include Easy E., Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella. N.W.A. is notorious for rapping about the street code in the South-Central L.A. and Compton. They rapped about what was going on in the inner-city neighborhoods they grew up in. Essentially, N.W.A. made music that reflected the reality of being black in America. A pattern of common themes emerges from their music and can be seen in their songs that made the Billboard Charts. Common themes that can be seen in their music and lyrics include: violence, gang-life, police brutality, sex, misogyny, and many more. Very explicit language can be seen in almost every N.W.A song that was produced. It is clear that each N.W.A. song that charted has some of the same common themes, and that the two most controversial songs were comprised of lyrics that displayed resentment towards law enforcement and the police and included the phrase, "F*** the police." As popular and as polarizing as N.W.A. was, only 6 of their songs cracked the Billboard Hot 100 List and it wasn't until 2015, that 2 out of those 6 songs cracked the Hot 100. Why is that? Well first we must analyze the themes of the 6 songs that made the Hot 100 charts. The 6 songs that cracked the Hot 100 were, 'Express Yourself,' 'Straight Outta Compton,' '100 Miles and Runnin,' 'Gangsta, Gangsta,' 'F*** Tha Police,' and 'Appetite for Destruction,'. In all but one of the songs, 'Express Yourself,' the rest of the 5 N.W.A. songs feature very explicit lyrics. Addressing police brutality and violence against African Americans, and the dangers and appealing sides of gang and street life are common themes that can found in these songs. Perhaps the most common theme of all these songs in totality is that having to do with the police. The two things/themes that stood out with these six songs was their explicit nature and attitude towards the police. In the song, 'F*** Tha Police,' the phrase, "f*** the police," can be heard 17 times throughout the song. The song, '100 Miles and Runnin,' and the music video for the song pits N.W.A. against the cops, while they run away back to Compton while being chased by the police. While those songs had themes that stemmed from the tension between the police and African Americans, other songs had themes that reflected gang life in the streets of L.A. The song, "Gangsta, Gangsta," talked about the dangers of living in the streets of South Central L.A. and Compton. It spoke to the "appealing" side of gangsta life. The song, 'Appetite for Destruction,' and its title is self-explanatory. It talked about gang-banging in the streets and murder. Completely different from the other 5 songs, was 'Express Yourself'. This song was written in response to the constraints placed on rappers by radio censorship. Unlike any other song, it contained no profanity at all. "Express Yourself" gives us an idea and answer to the question I posed earlier as to why did a group as famous as N.W.A only have 6 songs that cracked the Billboard Hot 100 of which two didn't do so until 2015. The answer to that is that there was so much controversy surrounding the lyrics and themes of these N.W.A. songs that radio stations banned N.W.A. from being played as well as shows such as MTV which also banned the playing of N.W.A. songs for a period of time. N.W.A was heavily criticized for their constant use of the n-word, fleeing the police, killing, and pornographic, misogynistic lyrics. In 1988 they were temporarily banned from MTV, the same year the song, 'F*** Tha Police' was released. This song was the 1st song in history to question pop music censorship and 1st amendment rights. The releasing of this song led to the FBI assistant director of public affairs to issue a letter to N.W.A. record label, stating that the law enforcement community took such action to advocating that violence and assault is wrong. The song, 100 Miles and Runnin was also the talk of much controversy and was heavily criticized for its continual use of the "n" word, and its themes of fleeing and killing the police. I think it is of no coincidence that 'F*** Tha Police' and '100 Miles and Runnin' are arguably the two most controversial N.W.A. songs of all time. That is because both of these songs narrate the ongoing tensions between police and the African American community as well as resentment towards the police. Both of these songs are also the only ones to contain the infamous phrase, "F*** the Police" in its lyrics. I also think its important to see that all 6 of N.W.A.'s songs that charted all shared a common theme. That is that the lyrics in each song suggest that they were written in response to some form of tension/repression or told a true story of the lives and experiences of African Americans in South Central L.A. and Compton.