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Song: NWA (1988). F*** the Police (Straight outta Compton)
Lyrics: ICE CUBE, YOUNG ANDRE ROMELL, PATTERSON LORENZO JERALD, WHITAKER HARRY LAMAH (1988), retrieved from https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nwa/fuckthepolice.html

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The song captures the essence of the experience of urban minority groups when police are involved.

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The song was written to voice outrage over racial profiling common against iinner city minority races by the police.

Song lyric->
"A young nigga got it bad 'cause I'm brown
And not the other color so police think
they have the authority to kill a minority"

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The song describes the conditions that the ethnic minorities had to live with in their every day lives in urban America. When they viewed the police as more foe than friend, because the police used their authority with their badge and gun to discriminate and cause violence rather than stop it.

Song lyric ->
" 'Cause they'll slam ya down to the street top
Black police showing out for the white cop"

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Police brutality evident all throughout American history, which the song (and video) captures. Only lately with the proliferation of cameras is this reported more accurately. The videos in this song are footage of excessive violence by police against ethnic minorities.

Song lyric ->
"'cause I ain't the one
for a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun to be beating on, and thrown in jail"

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DR Dre
Ice Cube
Easy E
MC Ren
DJ Yella

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Affect of the song creating effect in the communities of urban America

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You don't realise the depth of the N.W.A. story until you see it presented in a film like 'Straight Outta Compton'.

This was an incredibly emotional portrayal of one of the most important groups and the Hip-Hop scene that they emerged from.

Their story has many fascinating dimensions that are often overlooked due to the mainstream media's terminal condemnation of their lyrical content.

N.W.A. faced the age old struggles that all artists have faced at some point; bad management, bad contracts, bad decisions. They faced direct racial harassment from the Police, the well documented problems of inner city life, whilst trying to come to terms with the transition from 'Boyz in the hood' to manhood. Its easy to forget that N.W.A. were first and formost a group of young men that were just trying to make it.

This film is an accurate reflection of one of the greatest Hip-Hop eras

Its always difficult to get these kind of biopics right as there were so many experiences and perspectives, it's impossible to fit all of them into a couple of hours and please everyone. It feels like this was a strong honest attempt and the end result was amazing.

Anyone who came up in the 90's will feel a personal connection with the individual historical moments within the film. This era was before the internet and the concept of 'Behind the scenes', so the insight given in this film is fascinating, it draws you back into the 90s all over again. You feel the energy and passion of 'The World's most dangerous group' struggle and fight to be successful.

The scenes that document the music making process are meticulously shot, there are several key moments throughout the film that are literally jaw dropping. One of the highlights is where Dr Dre meets Tupac in the studio recording 'Hail Mary', the uncanny likeness of Marcc Rose as Pac was both incredibly accurate and eerie. You're happy to see Pac in his prime, but the moment is a sad reminder of the tragedy that followed.

In 2015, some of the traditional corporate media outlets are still trying to focus on the negative aspects of the story, giving one sided perspectives of the N.W.A. legacy. Fortunately, it's a different day the internet provides much more of a level playing field for positive Hip-Hop coverage. Lets see if the Oscars mirror this Cultural shift and recognise the talents of O'Shea Jackson Jr. who played Ice Cube, Corey Hawkins who played Dre, or F. Gary Gray who directed and documented the pivotal historic chain of events.

It was a big responsibility to get 'Straight Outta Compton' right as N.W.A. and their DNA continue to change the face of Popular Culture and Technological advancements. They spawned the direct lineage of genre defining artists such as Snoop Dogg, Tupac, 50 Cent, Eminem, and Kendrick Lamar. While the Beats collaboration with Apple signifies the first cohesive relationship between Music and Technology.

Hopefully the phenomenal box office success of 'Straight out of Compton' will turn attention to the possibility of more Hip-Hop biopics. The celluloid stories of Tupac, and other Hip-Hop empires are waiting to be told, and could be equally successful if treated with the same care and respect.

Although there are cries of missing parts of the story or people portrayed in the wrong light, it feels and looks like F. Gary Gray nailed it. This was a difficult and complex story, regardless of the fact that some of the truths may have not been told, it's as great as you could hope for. This film is an accurate reflection of one of the greatest Hip-Hop eras, it's a story that is equally as relevant today as it was then.

10/10

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You don't realise the depth of the N.W.A. story until you see it presented in a film like 'Straight Outta Compton'. This was an incredibly emotional portrayal of one of the most important groups and the Hip-Hop scene that they emerged from.

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Nothing has changed in 25 years

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Updated September 03, 2015 20:16:19

Almost 25 years since Rodney King was beaten by LA police, sparking riots when the officers who did it were exonerated, the man who penned the rap anthem F*** Tha Police says nothing much has changed.

As Straight Outta Compton, a film about his band NWA, hits cinemas in Australia, Ice Cube recalled the mood of the late 1980s for young black men in LA, particularly his home turf in the city's South Central.

"We had the influx of gang banging, crack cocaine was new in the 80s," Ice Cube told ABC's 7.30 program.

"Daryl Gates, who was our police chief, had considered a war on gangs, which was really a war on young black youth that looked like gang members, so it was pretty hard."

NWA's debut album Straight Outta Compton, released in 1988, was revolutionary for its honest and explosive social commentary on gang culture, drugs and police brutality.

"When you're dealing with a police department who has targeted your youth or your friends, family members, what do you do, you know, how do you fight back against that," Ice Cube said.

"You know we didn't want to go out in the street with guns, weapons, Molotov cocktails, we didn't want to burn down our neighbourhood, we didn't want to do any of that, we wanted to make a record.

"We wanted to give people somewhat of a verbal weapon and not a physical weapon."

Ferguson rioting an eerie parallel

Ice Cube's son, O'Shea Jackson Junior, plays his father in the new Straight Outta Compton biopic.

For him, the recent cases of police brutality and subsequent rioting in Ferguson, Missouri provided an eerie parallel during filming.

"You started to feel it on set," he said.

What we are doing is being a mirror of what is happening on the ground, and the music usually does that when it is great.

"We are doing the riot scenes in Detroit and LA, and then you go home and Ferguson is on the TV, the whole hands up movement starting.

"The relevancy of the film is not something that we wanted.

"It is a film that is talking about the past, but is still talking about the present.

"If you make people aware of a problem it usually leads to a solution, but we are still dealing with the exact same problems, it's just more camera phones, more social media and you are allowing people to see more cases of it and the cases are piled up.

"It is a matter of people in positions of power, abusing that power before NWA, during NWA and sadly way after NWA."

Film criticised for omission of dark elements

The film has been criticised for leaving out some of the darker elements of NWA's history.

Hip hop journalist Dee Barnes recently spoke up about an incident in 1991 in which band member Dr Dre allegedly assaulted her over the way her TV program reported an NWA story.

Other women, including Dre's former girlfriend Michel'le, have also claimed he was violent towards them.

These events were not depicted in Straight Outta Compton, but Ice Cube defended the decision.

"When you are trying to put 10 years into two hours, there is no way of getting everything in there," he said.

"We had those conversations, you know, and we left out even darker things.

"We have a laundry list of things we couldn't put in the movie, that probably should have been in there, but what is in there is so great.

"People are being nitpicky because what we put in the movie is the story of NWA, everything else you can Google it and there have been a thousand things said about NWA in its existence."

Last month, via a statement to the New York Times, Dr Dre apologised to the women he had hurt.

"I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives," he wrote.

Rap lyrics a reflection of society

Gangsta rap is often criticised for glorifying guns and violence.

They want us to censor our music but when I walk out my front door the world is raw, the world is in your face and it is vivid. The music should be the same way.

But Ice Cube said he believed the lyrics were just a reflection of what is actually happening in society.

"I don't think it is overly emphasised because there is a lot of guns in our neighbourhood," he said.

"What we are doing is being a mirror of what is happening on the ground, and the music usually does that when it is great.

"America is obsessed and over flooded with guns.

"That is something that we have to get a hold of, because you can't just put a gun in everybody's hand, that is just not good for society."

However he said he believed that artists should be able to express themselves freely.

"The world has no censors," Ice Cube said.

"They want us to censor our music but when I walk out my front door the world is raw, the world is in your face and it is vivid.

"The music should be the same way."

Topics: hip-hop, arts-and-entertainment, law-crime-and-justice, music, united-states

First posted September 03, 2015 20:06:16

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Ice Cube: NWA rapper on Straight Outta Compton and race tensions in the US

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Updated September 03, 2015 20:16:19 Almost 25 years since Rodney King was beaten by LA police, sparking riots when the officers who did it were exonerated, the man who penned the rap anthem F*** Tha Police says nothing much has changed.

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Police Violence

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N.W.A interview speak on police and police brutality

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Background of the group NWA

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Before the Wu-Tang Clan or the Native Tongues, rap's most extensive dysfunctional family was Compton's N.W.A. Gracing the cover of its debut album, N.W.A. & The Posse, are twelve gentlemen. Among them are each of the group's core members - Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, and MC Ren - along with a handful of guys that aren't even on the album, yet would go on to build careers for themselves off of the strength of one powerful photo bomb (I see you Candyman.) Ironically, the album cover photo does not include several other contributors to the album, such as Microphone Mike - known better to most as Freestyle Fellowship's Myka N9ne - or The D.O.C.

This is indicative of the larger scope of N.W.A's influence as a whole, as the core members - Eazy, Dre, and Cube - would each go on to build their own separate, successful brands. These labels, Ruthless, Death Row, Aftermath, and Lench Mob each stood on their own, grandfathering multiple offspring, such as Bone Thugs 'N Harmony, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Hieroglyphics. Stranger yet, those acts would in turn would give birth to their own artists, inadvertently making people like Fergie and Petey Pablo the stepchildren of the group that said "Fuck The Police."

Given that N.W.A received a letter from the FBI in 1989, it is highly likely that a flowchart like the one below exists in a federal building storage vault somewhere. But the purpose of this flowchart is to demonstrate the incestuous nature of the L.A. hip-hop scene and to show how many careers were birthed by the original "Boyz 'N The Hood." One could surmise that without N.W.A, many of the over 150 artists on this chart may have never broken into the music industry.

This chart does acknowledge some acts that were not introduced by members of N.W.A directly, but became later affiliated, such as 2Pac, who entered via Digital Underground, or Rakim, who had a brief stint on Aftermath late in his career. It also does not discriminate between the successful collaborators and unsuccessful ones. So while 50 Cent and Kendrick are here, so are each of the one-off acts from Dr. Dre Presents The Aftermath. And who can forget Snoop Dogg's female trio, Doggy's Angels? However this chart does not list every artist that the individual members of N.W.A ever worked with, such as DJ Quik or Xzibit, who both were collaborators that were not directly affiliated and entered the rap game through other channels. Note: This chart was built before the announcement of the Compton album, and therefore does not include new artists like Anderson .Paak or King Mez.

You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge.

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Before the Wu-Tang Clan or the Native Tongues, rap's most extensive dysfunctional family was Compton's N.W.A. Gracing the cover of its debut album, N.W.A. & The Posse, are twelve gentlemen.

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NWA - Police Brutality / Racial Profiling

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NWA - Police Brutality / Racial Profiling

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugrl7HIiwXM

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Fuck The Police by NWA (Police Brutality)