116-561: Straight Outta Compton is the debut studio album by American gangsta rap group N.W.A , which, led by Eazy-E , formed in Los Angeles County 's City of Compton in early 1987. Released by his label, Ruthless Records , on August 8, 1988, the album was produced by N.W.A members Dr. Dre , DJ Yella , and Arabian Prince , with lyrics written by N.W.A members Ice Cube and MC Ren along with Ruthless rapper and unofficial member The D.O.C. Not merely depicting Compton's street violence,
232-649: A Kansan might use about a tornado ." Steve Huey, writing for AllMusic, considered that " Straight Outta Compton 's insistent claims of reality ring a little hollow today, since it hardly ever depicts consequences. But despite all the romanticized invincibility, the force and detail of Ice Cube's writing makes the exaggerations resonate." N.W.A's Greatest Hits , released in July 1996, featured six tracks from Straight Outta Compton : "Gangsta Gangsta", "If It Ain't Ruff", "I Ain't tha 1", "Express Yourself", an extended mix of "Straight Outta Compton", and "Fuck tha Police", which
348-420: A "live" sound. Recordings, including live, may contain editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology , artists can be recorded in separate rooms or at separate times while listening to the other parts using headphones ; with each part recorded as a separate track . Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of
464-449: A 1993 interview, remarked, "To this day, I can't stand that album. I threw that thing together in six weeks so we could have something to sell out of the trunk.” Additionally, he said, “Back then, I thought the choruses were supposed to just be me scratching.” In 2006, parodic music artist "Weird Al" Yankovic released a new album, Straight Outta Lynwood . Punk rock band NOFX released the 2009 song " Straight Outta Massachusetts ". In
580-427: A New York-based group who were signed to Ruthless Records; however, after that group rejected the song, Wright adopted the stage name Eazy-E and performed the rapping himself. Released under the name N.W.A, "Boyz-n-the-Hood" became a local hit, despite criticism that it sounded similar to Schoolly D's "P.S.K." single, and that its tempo was too slow to dance to. Expanding upon Ice-T's model, N.W.A imparted to gangsta rap
696-458: A brown heavy paper sleeve with a large hole in the center so the record's label could be seen. The fragile records were stored on their sides. By the mid-1920s, photo album publishers sold collections of empty sleeves of heavier paper in bound volumes with stiff covers slightly larger than the 10" popular records. (Classical records measured 12".) On the paper cover in small type were the words "Record Album". Now records could be stored vertically with
812-412: A collection of pieces or songs on a single record was called an "album"; the word was extended to other recording media such as compact disc, MiniDisc , compact audio cassette, 8-track tape and digital albums as they were introduced. An album (Latin albus , white), in ancient Rome, was a board chalked or painted white, on which decrees, edicts, and other public notices were inscribed in black. It
928-403: A compilation of songs created by any average listener of music. The songs on a mixtape generally relate to one another in some way, whether it be a conceptual theme or an overall sound. After the introduction of Compact discs, the term "Mixtape" began to apply to any personal compilation of songs on any given format. The sales of Compact Cassettes eventually began to decline in the 1990s, after
1044-424: A current or former member of a musical group which is released under that artist's name only, even though some or all other band members may be involved. The solo album appeared as early as the late 1940s. A 1947 Billboard magazine article heralded " Margaret Whiting huddling with Capitol execs over her first solo album on which she will be backed by Frank De Vol ". There is no formal definition setting forth
1160-557: A customer buys a whole album rather than just one or two songs from the artist. The song is not necessarily free nor is it available as a stand-alone download, adding also to the incentive to buy the complete album. In contrast to hidden tracks , bonus tracks are included on track listings and usually do not have a gap of silence between other album tracks. Bonus tracks on CD or vinyl albums are common in Japan for releases by European and North American artists; since importing international copies of
1276-472: A driver who, fleeing the failed carjacking, gets shot at. "8 Ball" is dedicated to the 40 oz bottles of malt liquor, Olde English 800 . "Express Yourself", written by Cube and rapped by Dre, incidentally scorns weed smoking—already proclaimed by Cube in "Gangsta Gangsta" as his own, chronic practice—which allegedly causes brain damage, a threat to the song's optimistic agenda, liberal individuality. "I Ain't tha 1" scorns spending money on women. "Dopeman" depicts
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#17329056459451392-461: A few hours to several years. This process usually requires several takes with different parts recorded separately, and then brought or " mixed " together. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed "live", even when done in a studio. Studios are built to absorb sound, eliminating reverberation , to assist in mixing different takes; other locations, such as concert venues and some "live rooms", have reverberation, which creates
1508-479: A gangster mystique that pays no attention to where criminality begins and marketing lets off." Even when depicting severe and unprovoked violence, the rappers cite their own stage names as its very perpetrators. By their sheer force, the album's opening three tracks—" Straight Outta Compton ", " Fuck tha Police ", and " Gangsta Gangsta "—signature songs setting N.W.A's platform, says AllMusic album reviewer Steve Huey, "threaten to dwarf everything that follows". First,
1624-494: A loss of the jobs that had allowed skilled union workers to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle. Downtown Los Angeles' service sector, which had long been dominated by unionized African Americans earning relatively fair wages, replaced most black workers with newly arrived Mexican and Central American immigrants. Widespread unemployment, poverty and street crime contributed to the rise of street gangs in South Central, such as
1740-663: A million copies sold, on April 13, 1989. Meanwhile, the album peaked at number 9 on Billboard ' s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and on April 15, 1989, at number 37 on the Billboard 200 , which ranks the week's most popular albums. On July 18, 1989, the album was certified platinum, one million copies sold. By contrast, N.W.A. and the Posse , out since November 1987, reached gold certification in September 1994. The group's 100 Miles and Runnin' EP, which took two years to produce and
1856-401: A minority alongside whites, Asians, and Hispanics; but by the 1930s those groups moved out of the area, African Americans continued to move in, and eastern South LA became majority black. Whites in previously established communities south of Slauson, east of Alameda and west of San Pedro streets persecuted blacks moving beyond established "lines", and thus blacks became effectively restricted to
1972-486: A pair of locally successful record producers and recording artists who were struggling to receive royalties . Wright recruited the South Central Los Angeles -based rapper Ice Cube , then a member of rap group C.I.A. , as a ghostwriter, and instructed him to collaborate with Dr. Dre and write a song for the label. The resulting track was " Boyz-n-the-Hood ". This song was originally intended to be performed by
2088-440: A signature style that featured "exaggerated descriptions of street life, militant resistance to authority, and outright sexist violence". N.W.A further strove to secure radio play by supplying radio edits of their music to local stations such as KDAY . Despite these efforts, N.W.A's national debut, Straight Outta Compton , saw virtually no radio play; even so, the album was hugely successful, selling one million copies and becoming
2204-412: A single artist, genre or period, a single artist covering the songs of various artists or a single artist, genre or period, or any variation of an album of cover songs which is marketed as a "tribute". South Central Los Angeles South Los Angeles , also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central , is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, California , lying mostly within
2320-522: A single case, or a triple album containing three LPs or compact discs. Recording artists who have an extensive back catalogue may re-release several CDs in one single box with a unified design, often containing one or more albums (in this scenario, these releases can sometimes be referred to as a "two (or three)-fer"), or a compilation of previously unreleased recordings. These are known as box sets . Some musical artists have also released more than three compact discs or LP records of new recordings at once, in
2436-433: A solo album for several reasons. A solo performer working with other members will typically have full creative control of the band, be able to hire and fire accompanists, and get the majority of the proceeds. The performer may be able to produce songs that differ widely from the sound of the band with which the performer has been associated, or that the group as a whole chose not to include in its own albums. Graham Nash of
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#17329056459452552-414: A studio. However, the common understanding of a "live album" is one that was recorded at a concert with a public audience, even when the recording is overdubbed or multi-tracked. Concert or stage performances are recorded using remote recording techniques. Albums may be recorded at a single concert , or combine recordings made at multiple concerts. They may include applause, laughter and other noise from
2668-406: A theme such as the "greatest hits" from one artist, B-sides and rarities by one artist, or selections from a record label , a musical genre , a certain time period, or a regional music scene. Promotional sampler albums are compilations. A tribute or cover album is a compilation of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may involve various artists covering the songs of
2784-543: A track which originally appeared on N.W.A's 1987 debut compilation album N.W.A. and the Posse . The one guest is The D.O.C., who raps the opening verse of "Parental Discretion Iz Advised". Whereas Ren wrote his own lyrics, and The D.O.C. wrote many of Eazy's lyrics, Cube wrote his lyrics, and both Dre's and Eazy's as well. Still, even Eazy and Dre, alike Cube and Ren, each brings a distinct delivery and character, making N.W.A altogether stand out from imitators. Reflecting in 2002, Rolling Stone writer Jon Caramanica calls
2900-509: A trend of shifting sales in the music industry , some observers feel that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album . An album may contain any number of tracks. In the United States, The Recording Academy 's rules for Grammy Awards state that an album must comprise a minimum total playing time of 15 minutes with at least five distinct tracks or a minimum total playing time of 30 minutes with no minimum track requirement. In
3016-430: A way of promoting the album. Albums have been issued that are compilations of older tracks not originally released together, such as singles not originally found on albums, b-sides of singles, or unfinished " demo " recordings. Double albums during the seventies were sometimes sequenced for record changers . In the case of a two-record set, for example, sides 1 and 4 would be stamped on one record, and sides 2 and 3 on
3132-469: Is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music ) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette ), or digital . Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records (78s) collected in a bound book resembling a photo album ; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl long-playing (LP) records played at 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 rpm . The album
3248-697: Is absent from Straight Outta Compton 's censored version. In the United Kingdom, the album was released by 4th & B'way Records after a period that Roy Wilkinson of Sounds described as "months" of selling well as an import release. Music journalist Greg Kot , reviewing Straight Outta Compton for the Chicago Tribune , finds N.W.A's sound "fuller and funkier" than that of East Coast hip hop, and their lyrics just as "unforgiving" as those of East Coast group Public Enemy. Los Angeles Times critic Dennis Hunt anticipates that listeners may be offended by
3364-580: Is any vocal content. A track that has the same name as the album is called the title track. A bonus track (also known as a bonus cut or bonus) is a piece of music which has been included as an extra. This may be done as a marketing promotion, or for other reasons. It is not uncommon to include singles, B-sides , live recordings , and demo recordings as bonus tracks on re-issues of old albums, where those tracks were not originally included. Online music stores allow buyers to create their own albums by selecting songs themselves; bonus tracks may be included if
3480-552: Is not necessarily just in MP3 file format, in which higher quality formats such as FLAC and WAV can be used on storage media that MP3 albums reside on, such as CD-R-ROMs , hard drives , flash memory (e.g. thumbdrives , MP3 players , SD cards ), etc. The contents of the album are usually recorded in a studio or live in concert, though may be recorded in other locations, such as at home (as with JJ Cale's Okie , Beck's Odelay , David Gray's White Ladder , and others), in
3596-402: Is recorded on both the "A" and "B" side of the tape, with cassette being "turned" to play the other side of the album. Compact Cassettes were also a popular way for musicians to record " Demos " or "Demo Tapes" of their music to distribute to various record labels, in the hopes of acquiring a recording contract . Compact cassettes also saw the creation of mixtapes , which are tapes containing
Straight Outta Compton - Misplaced Pages Continue
3712-822: The Billboard Hot 100 , becoming N.W.A's first song in the Top 40, spent two weeks at number 38. In 2004, the DigitaArts list 25 Best Albums Covers included Straight Outta Compton . By the album's release, Arabian Prince , on the cover, had left N.W.A. Lacking him, an iconic group photo taken by Ithaka Darin Pappas on November 11, 1988, at Pappa's studio apartment in Los Angeles' Miracle Mile district, has been repeatedly republished in media, including The Source 's May 1989 cover, captioning, "California Rap Hits Nationwide!" Pappas calls it
3828-607: The 2028 Olympics , with many of the games to be hosted on or near the USC campus. Crime in South Los Angeles has increased significantly with the COVID-19 pandemic . Recession caused by the pandemic sparked gang warfare that rivalled all-time high statistics, with homicide figures similar to those of late 1990s to early-to-mid 2000s. By the end of the 1980s, South Los Angeles had an increasing number of Hispanics and Latinos , mostly in
3944-745: The Crenshaw District were "well-removed" from South Central. In 1992, this area was at the center of the Los Angeles Riots , also known as the Los Angeles Uprising, which were sparked after an all-White jury acquitted Los Angeles Police Department officers who were on trial for the videotaped police brutality of Rodney King . By the early 2010s, the crime rate of South Los Angeles had declined significantly. Redevelopment, improved police patrol, community-based peace programs, gang intervention work, and youth development organizations lowered
4060-676: The Crips and the Bloods . The gangs became even more powerful with money coming in from drugs, especially the crack cocaine trade that was dominated by gangs in the 1980s. Paul Feldman of the Los Angeles Times wrote in 1989: Leaders of the black community regret the branding of a large, predominantly black sector of the city as South-Central, saying it amounts to a subtle form of racial stereotyping. He added that they believed such "distinctive neighborhoods" as Leimert Park , Lafayette Square and
4176-425: The crack epidemic 's aftermath. Closing the album, "Something 2 Dance 2" is upbeat. The term "gangsta rap", soon to arise in journalism, had not been coined yet. According to Ice Cube, the rappers themselves called it "reality rap". Indicting N.W.A as its leading example, journalist David Mills , in 1990, acknowledges, "The hard-core street rappers defend their violent lyrics as a reflection of 'reality'. But for all
4292-517: The iPod , US album sales dropped 54.6% from 2001 to 2009. The CD is a digital data storage device which permits digital recording technology to be used to record and play-back the recorded music. Most recently, the MP3 audio format has matured, revolutionizing the concept of digital storage. Early MP3 albums were essentially CD-rips created by early CD- ripping software, and sometimes real-time rips from cassettes and vinyl. The so-called "MP3 album"
4408-606: The " Miracle Mile Shot ", the DVD cover of the 2015 documentary Kings Of Compton , in France's Musée d'art contemporain de Marseille from 2017 to 2018, and a backdrop at N.W.A's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2016 in Brooklyn , New York. Sinéad O'Connor , then herself controversial, appraised in 1990 that "It's definitely the best rap record I've ever heard". But, feeling that he had rushed its production, N.W.A's own Dr. Dre , in
4524-436: The "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005", identified it 10th. The first rap album ever to gain five stars from Rolling Stone at initial review, it placed 70th among the magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in its 2020 revised list. Time , in 2006, named it one of the 100 greatest albums of all time. Vibe appraised it as one of the 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century. In 2012, Slant Magazine listed it 18th among
4640-781: The "Best Albums of the 1980s". In any case, in November 2016, Straight Outta Compton became the first rap album inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame . In 2017, Straight Outta Compton was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress , who deemed it to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". N.W.A's best selling album, Straight Outta Compton , released in August 1988, attained gold certification , half
4756-514: The 1970s. Appraising the concept in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau said most "are profit-taking recaps marred by sound and format inappropriate to phonographic reproduction (you can't put sights, smells, or fellowship on audio tape). But for Joe Cocker and Bette Midler and Bob-Dylan -in-the-arena, the form makes a compelling kind of sense." Among
Straight Outta Compton - Misplaced Pages Continue
4872-528: The 1980s, New York City, the birthplace of hip hop , remained the rap genre's dominant scene. Los Angeles County was secondary. Until 1988, the Los Angeles hip hop scene, retaining more of hip hop's dance and party origin, prioritized DJs and DJ crews as the central players in hip hop; the prevailing style at the time was electro rap and "funk hop", similar to the New York-based 1982 hit " Planet Rock ". By contrast, East Coast hip hop had moved to prioritizing
4988-480: The 2008 economic recession, housing prices in South Los Angeles recovered significantly, and by 2018, many had come to see South Los Angeles as a prime target for gentrification amid rising real estate values. Residents and activists are against market-rate housing as they have concerns that these projects will encourage landlords to sell, redevelop their properties or jack up rents. Under California law, cities can't reject residential projects based on these criticisms if
5104-476: The 2014 film 22 Jump Street , the character Mrs. Dickson, whose husband is played by Ice Cube , says she's "straight outta Compton". In 2015, the biopic Straight Outta Compton was a hit film. All the songs are produced by Dr. Dre , DJ Yella , and Arabian Prince Credits adapted from Tidal and All Music . Shipments figures based on certification alone. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. Studio album An album
5220-443: The 25-minute mark. The album Dopesmoker by Sleep contains only a single track, but the composition is over 63 minutes long. There are no formal rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as "albums". If an album becomes too long to fit onto a single vinyl record or CD, it may be released as a double album where two vinyl LPs or compact discs are packaged together in
5336-683: The City. As the wealthy were building stately mansions in West Adams and Jefferson Park , the White working class was establishing itself in Crenshaw and Hyde Park . Affluent blacks gradually moved into West Adams and Jefferson Park. As construction along the Wilshire Boulevard corridor gradually increased in the 1920s, the development of the city was drawn west of downtown and away from South Los Angeles. In
5452-491: The Hollies described his experience in developing a solo album as follows: "The thing that I go through that results in a solo album is an interesting process of collecting songs that can't be done, for whatever reason, by a lot of people". A solo album may also represent the departure of the performer from the group. A compilation album is a collection of material from various recording projects or various artists, assembled with
5568-596: The South Los Angeles region comprises 51 square miles (130 km ), consisting of 25 neighborhoods within the City of Los Angeles as well as three unincorporated neighborhoods in the County of Los Angeles. Google Maps delineates a similar area to the Los Angeles Times Mapping Project with notable differences on the western border. On the northwest, it omits a section of Los Angeles west of La Brea Avenue. On
5684-580: The UK, Sounds reviewer Roy Wilkinson declared Straight Outta Compton "rap's answer to Slayer 's Reign in Blood —a record the majors were scared to touch", continuing, "This is rock made genuinely wild again. Beware, the pop jive of the current 'Express Yourself' single will in no way prepare you for the Magnum beat that fires here." Other British publications were less enthusiastic. Paolo Hewitt of NME takes issue with
5800-516: The United Kingdom, the criteria for the UK Albums Chart is that a recording counts as an "album" if it either has more than four tracks or lasts more than 25 minutes. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs . Albums such as Tubular Bells , Amarok , and Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield , and Yes's Close to the Edge , include fewer than four tracks, but still surpass
5916-505: The album a "bombastic, cacophonous car ride through Los Angeles' burnt-out and ignored hoods". In a contemporary review, rather, Mark Holmberg, in the Richmond Times-Dispatch , calls it "a preacher-provoking, mother-maddening, reality-stinks" album that "wallows in gangs, doping, drive-by shootings, brutal sexism, cop slamming and racism". Newsweek wrote, "Hinting at gang roots, and selling themselves on those hints, they project
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#17329056459456032-413: The album can be cheaper than buying a domestically released version, Japanese releases often feature bonus tracks to incentivize domestic purchase. Commercial sheet music is published in conjunction with the release of a new album (studio, compilation, soundtrack, etc.). A matching folio songbook is a compilation of the music notation of all the songs included in that particular album. It typically has
6148-530: The album peaked at number 9 on Billboard ' s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and at number 37 on the Billboard 200 . Receiving media spotlight, N.W.A's example triggered the rap genre's movement toward hardcore, gangsta rap. Remastered, the album's September 2000 reissue gained four bonus tracks. Nearing the album's 20th anniversary, another extended version of it arrived in December 2007. In 2015, after an album reissue on red cassettes, theater release of
6264-516: The album's artwork on its cover and, in addition to sheet music, it includes photos of the artist. Most pop and rock releases come in standard Piano/Vocal/Guitar notation format (and occasionally Easy Piano / E-Z Play Today). Rock-oriented releases may also come in Guitar Recorded Versions edition, which are note-for-note transcriptions written directly from artist recordings. Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one-half of
6380-514: The album's lack of "moralizing", "even more so than the searing street language", and advises, "To appreciate this remarkable, disturbing album you have to approach it for what it is—a no-holds-barred, audio-documentary of ghetto life." On the other hand, Cary Darling, in California's Orange County Register , while thinking that the lyrics make Ice-T "look like a Cub Scout", ultimately deems Straight Outta Compton "curiously uninvolving", as it "lacks
6496-458: The album. If a pop or rock album contained tracks released separately as commercial singles , they were conventionally placed in particular positions on the album. During the sixties, particularly in the UK, singles were generally released separately from albums. Today, many commercial albums of music tracks feature one or more singles, which are released separately to radio, TV or the Internet as
6612-474: The amount of participation a band member can solicit from other members of their band, and still have the album referred to as a solo album. One reviewer wrote that Ringo Starr 's third venture, Ringo , "[t]echnically... wasn't a solo album because all four Beatles appeared on it". Three of the four members of the Beatles released solo albums while the group was officially still together. A performer may record
6728-417: The area in between. The black mutual protection clubs that formed in response to these assaults became the basis of the region's street gangs . As in most urban areas, 1950s freeway construction radically altered the geography of southern Los Angeles. Freeway routes tended to reinforce traditional segregation lines. Beginning in the 1970s, the rapid decline of the area's manufacturing base resulted in
6844-510: The audience, comments by the performers between pieces, improvisation, and so on. They may use multitrack recording direct from the stage sound system (rather than microphones placed among the audience), and can employ additional manipulation and effects during post-production to enhance the quality of the recording. Notable early live albums include the double album of Benny Goodman , The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert , released in 1950. Live double albums later became popular during
6960-406: The best selling live albums are Eric Clapton 's Unplugged (1992), selling over 26 million copies, Garth Brooks ' Double Live (1998), over 21 million copies, and Peter Frampton 's Frampton Comes Alive! (1976), over 11 million copies. In Rolling Stone ' s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time , 18 albums were live albums. A solo album , in popular music , is an album recorded by
7076-497: The biographical film Straight Outta Compton reinvigorated sales of the album, which by year's end was certified 3x Multi-Platinum . In 2016, it became the first rap album inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame . The next year, the Library of Congress enshrined Straight Outta Compton in the National Recording Registry , who have deemed it to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". For most of
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#17329056459457192-446: The cassette tape throughout the 1970s and early 1980s; the popularity of the cassette reached its peak during the late 1980s before sharply declining during the 1990s. The cassette had largely disappeared by the first decade of the 2000s. Most albums are recorded in a studio , although they may also be recorded in a concert venue , at home, in the field, or a mix of places. The time frame for completely recording an album varies between
7308-515: The city limits of Los Angeles , south of downtown . It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a 16-square-mile (41 km ) rectangle with two prongs at the south end.” In 2003, the Los Angeles City Council renamed this area "South Los Angeles". The name South Los Angeles can also refer to a larger 51-square-mile (130 km ) region that includes areas within the city limits of Los Angeles as well as five unincorporated areas in
7424-454: The city's "2014 South Los Angeles Community Plan Area Demographic Profile", South Los Angeles had a population of 271,040 residents with the following racial and ethnic balance: Race: Asian - 4.9%, White - 21.4%, African-American - 28.7%, Other Race - 39.4%. Ethnicity (Hispanic or Latino Origin by Race): Not Hispanic or Latino - 39%, Hispanic or Latino - 61%. According to the census, for the category of "race", respondents self-identified as one of
7540-610: The city. The working- and middle-class blacks who poured into Los Angeles during the Great Depression and in search of jobs during World War II found themselves penned into what was becoming a severely overcrowded neighborhood. During the war, blacks faced such dire housing shortages that the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles built the virtually all-black and Latino Pueblo Del Rio project, designed by Richard Neutra . During this time, African Americans remained
7656-507: The eastern side of South Los Angeles (which the city calls the "Southeastern CPA") roughly east of the Harbor Freeway, the area grew southward in the late 1800s along the ever-longer streetcar routes. Areas north of Slauson Boulevard were mostly built out by the late 1910s, while south of Slauson land was mostly undeveloped, much used by Chinese and Japanese Americans growing produce. In 1903, the farmers were bought out and Ascot Park racetrack
7772-612: The field – as with early blues recordings, in prison, or with a mobile recording unit such as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio . Most albums are studio albums —that is, they are recorded in a recording studio with equipment meant to give those overseeing the recording as much control as possible over the sound of the album. They minimize external noises and reverberations and have highly sensitive microphones and sound mixing equipment. Band members may record their parts in separate rooms or at separate times, listening to
7888-456: The first gangsta rap album to be certified platinum. As rap fans, even from afar, sought more from Compton and South Central, local rappers, like MC Eiht of Compton's Most Wanted , met the call. The Los Angeles rap scene rapidly moved from party rap to hardcore rap. On the global stage, N.W.A towered as gangsta rap's icons. The group's profane, unrelentingly violent lyrics led to backlash from law enforcement and other groups: an FBI agent sent
8004-408: The following: White, African-American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Some Other Race, or Two or More Races. For the category of "ethnicity", they self-identified as either "Hispanic or Latino" or "Not Hispanic or Latino". According to the 2000 United States census , Mexican and Unspecified African were the most common ancestries. Mexico and El Salvador are
8120-494: The form of a prototype. Compact Cassettes became especially popular during the 1980s after the advent of the Sony Walkman , which allowed the person to control what they listened to. The Walkman was convenient because of its size, the device could fit in most pockets and often came equipped with a clip for belts or pants. The compact cassette used double-sided magnetic tape to distribute music for commercial sale. The music
8236-480: The form of boxed sets, although in that case the work is still usually considered to be an album. Material (music or sounds) is stored on an album in sections termed tracks. A music track (often simply referred to as a track) is an individual song or instrumental recording. The term is particularly associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks; the term is also used for other formats such as EPs and singles . When vinyl records were
8352-661: The foundation for the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry , referring to the album as "the West Coast firing on New York's Fort Sumter in what would become '90s culture's biggest Uncivil War." The album was recorded and produced in Audio Achievements Studio in Torrance, California for $ 12,000. Dr. Dre, in a 1993 interview, recalls, "I threw that thing together in six weeks so we could have something to sell out of
8468-473: The gunshots they mix into their music, rappers rarely try to dramatize that reality" empathetically. "It's easier for them to imagine themselves pulling the trigger." Still, the year before, Bud Norman, reviewing in the Wichita Eagle-Beacon , assesses that on Straight Outta Compton , "they don't make it sound like much fun". In Norman's view, "They describe it with the same nonjudgmental resignation that
8584-561: The heart of the black community in southern California. Originally, the city's black community was concentrated around what is now Little Tokyo , but began moving south after 1900. It had one of the first jazz scenes in the western U.S., with trombonist Kid Ory a prominent resident. Under racially restrictive covenants, blacks were allowed to own property only within the "Slauson Box" (the area bounded by Main, Slauson, Alameda, and Washington) and in Watts, as well as in small enclaves elsewhere in
8700-410: The insight and passion that put the best work by the likes of Boogie Down Productions, Ice-T and Public Enemy so far ahead of the field". Robert Christgau of The Village Voice perceives N.W.A's persona as calculated: "Right, it's not about salary—it's about royalties, about brandishing scarewords like 'street' and 'crazy' and 'fuck' and 'reality' until suckers black and white cough up the cash." In
8816-582: The later '30s, record companies began releasing albums of previously released recordings of popular music in albums organized by performer, singers or bands, or by type of music, boogie-woogie , for example. When Columbia introduced the Long Playing record format in 1948, it was natural the term album would continue. Columbia expected that the record size distinction in 78s would continue, with classical music on 12" records and popular music on 10" records, and singles on 78s. Columbia's first popular 10" LP in fact
8932-488: The longer 12-inch 78s, playing around 4–5 minutes per side. For example, in 1924, George Gershwin recorded a drastically shortened version of his new seventeen-minute composition Rhapsody in Blue with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. The recording was issued on both sides of a single record, Victor 55225 and ran for 8m 59s. By 1910, though some European record companies had issued albums of complete operas and other works,
9048-549: The lyricist (or "MC") after the success of Run-DMC 's self-titled 1984 album . As the 1980s continued, it became increasingly popular to record lyrics on top of electro rap music. The World Class Wreckin' Cru , which included Dr. Dre and DJ Yella , published the West Coast 's first rap album to be released under a major record label . Also among LA's rising lyricists was Ice-T . Inspired by Philadelphia rapper Schoolly D 's 1985 single " P.S.K. What Does It Mean? " Ice-T released
9164-435: The lyrics repeatedly threaten to lead it by attacking peers and even police. The track " Fuck tha Police " drew an FBI agent's warning letter, which aided N.W.A's notoriety, with N.W.A calling itself "the world's most dangerous group." In July 1989, despite its scarce radio play beyond the Los Angeles area, Straight Outta Compton received gangsta rap's first platinum certification , one million copies sold by then. That year,
9280-468: The lyrics' "macho repetition and tunnel vision", while in the Hi-Fi News & Record Review , Peter Clark, going further, calls the lyrics "unrelenting in their unpleasantness". Offering the lowest possible rating, Clark adds, "The cumulative effect is like listening to an endless fight next door. The music on this record is without a hint of dynamics or melody." Charlie Dick, writing for Q , contends, "In
9396-410: The lyrics, including those rapped by Eazy-E and by Dr. Dre. On the other hand, DJ Yella never raps, and Arabian Prince does only minor vocals on "Something 2 Dance 2". Otherwise, each group member stands out through a solo rap, too. MC Ren has two solo tracks, "If It Ain't Ruff" and "Quiet on tha Set". Dr. Dre dominates " Express Yourself ". Ice Cube's is "I Ain't tha 1". Eazy-E's is a remix of "8 Ball",
9512-483: The mid-1930s, record companies had adopted the album format for classical music selections that were longer than the roughly eight minutes that fit on both sides of a classical 12" 78 rpm record. Initially the covers were plain, with the name of the selection and performer in small type. In 1938, Columbia Records hired the first graphic designer in the business to design covers, others soon followed and colorful album covers cover became an important selling feature. By
9628-479: The mid-1960s to the late 1970s when the Compact Cassette format took over. The format is regarded as an obsolete technology, and was relatively unknown outside the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Stereo 8 was created in 1964 by a consortium led by Bill Lear of Lear Jet Corporation , along with Ampex , Ford Motor Company , General Motors , Motorola , and RCA Victor Records . It
9744-660: The most common foreign places of birth. South Los Angeles is home to the University of Southern California , a private research university in the University Park neighborhood. It is California's oldest private research university. The following LAUSD schools fall within the boundaries of South Los Angeles. LAUSD Elementary Schools LAUSD Middle Schools LAUSD High Schools LAUSD 6-12 schools : Community Colleges Universities The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates
9860-455: The most grotesquely exciting music ever made". Writing in retrospect, Steve Huey, in AllMusic, deems the album mainly just "raising hell" while posturing, but finds that "it still sounds refreshingly uncalculated because of its irreverent, gonzo sense of humor, still unfortunately rare in hardcore rap". In the 2004 Rolling Stone Album Guide , Roni Sarig states that although Straight Outta Compton
9976-477: The murder and crime rates to levels that had not been seen since the 1940s and 1950s. Nevertheless, South Los Angeles was still known for its gangs at the time. After leading the nation in homicides again in 2002, the City Council of Los Angeles voted to change the name South Central Los Angeles to South Los Angeles on all city documents in 2003, a move supporters said would "help erase a stigma that has dogged
10092-515: The northeastern section of the region. According to scholars, "Between 1970 and 1990 the South LA area went from 80% African American and 9% Latino to 50.3% African American and 44% Latino." Many African Americans from South Los Angeles have moved to Palmdale and Lancaster in the Antelope Valley . South Los Angeles has received immigrants from Mexico and Central America . According to
10208-443: The other parts of the track with headphones to keep the timing right. In the 2000s, with the advent of digital recording , it became possible for musicians to record their part of a song in another studio in another part of the world, and send their contribution over digital channels to be included in the final product. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing or multi-tracking are termed "live", even when done in
10324-414: The other. The user would stack the two records onto the spindle of an automatic record changer, with side 1 on the bottom and side 2 (on the other record) on top. Side 1 would automatically drop onto the turntable and be played. When finished, the tone arm's position would trigger a mechanism which moved the arm out of the way, dropped the record with side 2, and played it. When both records had been played,
10440-464: The practice of issuing albums was not widely taken up by American record companies until the 1920s. By about 1910, bound collections of empty sleeves with a paperboard or leather cover, similar to a photograph album, were sold as record albums that customers could use to store their records (the term "record album" was printed on some covers). These albums came in both 10-inch and 12-inch sizes. The covers of these bound books were wider and taller than
10556-406: The primary medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves and many album covers or sleeves included numbers for the tracks on each side. On a compact disc the track number is indexed so that a player can jump straight to the start of any track. On digital music stores such as iTunes the term song is often used interchangeably with track regardless of whether there
10672-470: The project complies with applicable planning and zoning rules. The construction of the K Line light rail through the neighborhood has stimulated the building of denser multistory projects, especially around the new stations. The NFL Stadium in Inglewood also encourages gentrification according to activists. Real estate values in South Los Angeles were further bolstered by news that Los Angeles will host
10788-404: The record industry as a standard format for the "album". Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, it has remained the standard format for vinyl albums. The term "album" was extended to other recording media such as 8-track tape , cassette tape , compact disc , MiniDisc , and digital albums, as they were introduced. As part of
10904-407: The record label a warning letter, MTV banned the " Straight Outta Compton " video, some venues banned N.W.A performance, and some police officers refused to work security at N.W.A shows elsewhere. The controversy served to further bolster N.W.A's anti-establishment image, and so the rappers would highlight it themselves in later tracks. Slant Magazine describes Straight Outta Compton as laying
11020-617: The record not touching the shelf, and the term was applied to the collection. In the early nineteenth century, "album" was occasionally used in the titles of some classical music sets, such as Robert Schumann 's Album for the Young Opus 68, a set of 43 short pieces. With the advent of 78 rpm records in the early 1900s, the typical 10-inch disc could only hold about three minutes of sound per side, so almost all popular recordings were limited to around three minutes in length. Classical-music and spoken-word items generally were released on
11136-451: The recording, and lyrics or librettos . Historically, the term "album" was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage, the word was used for collections of short pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78s were bundled in book-like albums (one side of a 78 rpm record could hold only about 3.5 minutes of sound). When LP records were introduced,
11252-497: The records inside, allowing the record album to be placed on a shelf upright, like a book, suspending the fragile records above the shelf and protecting them. In the 1930s, record companies began issuing collections of 78s by one performer or of one type of music in specially assembled albums, typically with artwork on the front cover and liner notes on the back or inside cover. Most albums included three or four records, with two sides each, making six or eight compositions per album. By
11368-452: The release and distribution Compact Discs . The 2010s saw a revival of Compact Cassettes by independent record labels and DIY musicians who preferred the format because of its difficulty to share over the internet . The compact disc format replaced both the vinyl record and the cassette as the standard for the commercial mass-market distribution of physical music albums. After the introduction of music downloading and MP3 players such as
11484-517: The southern part of the city." On August 11, 2014, just two days after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri , a resident of South L.A., Ezell Ford, described as "a mentally ill 25-year-old man," was fatally shot by two Los Angeles police officers (see Shooting of Ezell Ford ). Since then, a number of protests focused on events in Ferguson have taken place in South Los Angeles. After
11600-589: The southern portion of Los Angeles County. The City of Los Angeles delineates the South Los Angeles Community Plan area as an area of 15.5 square miles (40 km ). Adjacent communities include West Adams, Baldwin Hills, and Leimert Park to the west, and Southeast Los Angeles (the 26-neighborhood area east of the Harbor Freeway) on the east. According to the Los Angeles Times Mapping Project ,
11716-532: The southwest, it includes a section of the City of Inglewood north of Century Boulevard. According to the Mapping L.A. survey of the Los Angeles Times , the South Los Angeles region consists of the following neighborhoods: The roots of South Los Angeles traces back to the beginning of the 20th Century. Until the 1920s, the South Los Angeles neighborhood of West Adams was one of the most desirable areas of
11832-511: The title track, smearing and menacing civilians and police, men and women, while women receive gruff sexual advances, too, even threatens to "smother your mother". Then, after a skit of the police put on criminal trial, "Fuck tha Police", alleging chronic harassment and brutality by officers, singularly threatens lethal retaliation. "Gangsta Gangsta" depicts group outings to carouse with women while slurring unwilling women and assaulting men, whether confrontational troublemakers, innocent bystanders, or
11948-523: The track " 6 in the Mornin' " in 1986. This song began to pull the Los Angeles scene's attention away from electro rap; it reached gold sales and inaugurated a new rap subgenre, later called " gangsta rap ". In 1986, Eric Wright , a Kelly Park Compton Crip , formed Ruthless Records , an independent record label based in Compton. Through drug dealing, Wright had become acquainted with Dr. Dre and Arabian Prince ,
12064-507: The trunk. In an incident recalled in Jerry Heller 's book and later portrayed in the film Straight Outta Compton , police approached the group while they were standing outside the studio in the fall of 1987 and demanded them to get on their knees and show ID without explanation. Outraged by the experience, Cube began writing the lyrics that would become "Fuck tha Police." Initially, still spending weekends in jail over traffic violations, Dre
12180-461: The user would pick up the stack, turn it over, and put them back on the spindle—sides 3 and 4 would then play in sequence. Record changers were used for many years of the LP era, but eventually fell out of use. 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8: commonly known as the eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, or simply eight-track) is a magnetic tape sound recording technology popular in the United States from
12296-570: The wake of Public Enemy and KRS-One, it is amazing that something this lightweight could cause such a stir. The all-mouth-and-trousers content is backed up by likable drum machine twittering, minimal instrumentation and duffish production." Still, he predicts, "This regressive nonsense will be passed off as social commentary by thrill-seekers all across the free world." By 1991, while criticizing group members for allegedly carrying misogynist lyrics into real life, Newsweek incidentally comments that Straight Outta Compton , nonetheless, "introduced some of
12412-592: Was Frank Sinatra's first album, the four-record eight-song The Voice of Frank Sinatra , originally issued in 1946. RCA's introduction of the smaller 45 rpm format later in 1948 disrupted Columbia's expectations. By the mid-1950s, 45s dominated the singles market and 12" LPs dominated the album market and both 78s and 10" LPs were discontinued. In the 1950s albums of popular music were also issued on 45s, sold in small heavy paper-covered "gate-fold" albums with multiple discs in sleeves or in sleeves in small boxes. This format disappeared around 1960. Sinatra's "The Voice"
12528-491: Was a further development of the similar Stereo-Pak four-track cartridge created by Earl "Madman" Muntz . A later quadraphonic version of the format was announced by RCA in April 1970 and first known as Quad-8, then later changed to just Q8. The Compact Cassette was a popular medium for distributing pre-recorded music from the early 1970s to the early 2000s. The first "Compact Cassette" was introduced by Philips in August 1963 in
12644-467: Was built, which turned into a "den of gambling and drinking". In the late 1910s the park was razed and freed up land for quick build-up of residential and industrial buildings in the 1920s. "By 1940, approximately 70 percent of the black population of Los Angeles was confined to the Central Avenue corridor"; the area of modest bungalows and low-rise commercial buildings along Central Avenue emerged as
12760-461: Was certified triple-platinum, three million copies sold. Approaching the August 2015 release of the film Straight Outta Compton , the album reentered the Billboard 200 at number 173. The next week, it rose to number 97, another week later reached number 30—beyond its 1989 peak position of #37—and on September 5 peaked at number 6. Meanwhile, the album's title track, entering the popular songs chart,
12876-414: Was from this that in medieval and modern times, album came to denote a book of blank pages in which verses, autographs, sketches, photographs and the like are collected. This in turn led to the modern meaning of an album as a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item. The first audio albums were actually published by the publishers of photograph albums. Single 78 rpm records were sold in
12992-399: Was issued in 1952 on two extended play 45s, with two songs on each side, in both packagings. The 10-inch and 12-inch LP record (long play), or 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. A single LP record often had the same or similar number of tunes as a typical album of 78s, and it was adopted by
13108-542: Was released in August 1990, went platinum in September 1992. That year, on March 27, Straight Outta Compton was certified double-platinum, two million copies sold. By Priority Records ' estimation, about 80% of Straight Outta Compton 's sales occurred in suburban areas predominantly white. N.W.A's next and final full-length album, Efil4zaggin or Niggaz4Life , released in late May 1991, went platinum just over two months later, in August 1991, yet in 2020 remains platinum, whereas on November 11, 2015, Straight Outta Compton
13224-514: Was reluctant to do "Fuck tha Police", a reluctance that dissolved once that sentence concluded. The album's producers were Dr. Dre with DJ Yella and Arabian Prince. Its production was mostly sampled horn blasts, some funk guitar riffs , sampled vocals, and turntable scratches atop a drum machine . Their drum machine, used for kick , was the Roland TR-808 . N.W.A's Ice Cube and MC Ren along with Ruthless Records rapper The D.O.C. wrote
13340-411: Was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period known as the album era . Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the first tape format widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983, being gradually supplanted by
13456-607: Was viewed as a "perversion" of the "more politically sophisticated" style of hip hop exemplified by Public Enemy, the album displays "a more righteous fury than the hundreds of copycats it spawned". In 1994, British magazine Hip Hop Connection , placing the album third among rap's best albums, adds, " Straight Outta Compton sounded so exciting, insignificant details such as realism and integrity could be overlooked." Hip hop magazine The Source included Straight Outta Compton in its 1998 "100 Best Albums" list. Television network VH1 , in 2003, placed it 62nd. Spin magazine, sorting
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