NWA - Straight Outta Compton: 20th Anniversary

Cop-botherers’ second album reissued again

Every five years …Compton comes back around. No arguing with how important the album is, but 20 years on, there’s little more to add. The 2002 reissue added extended remixes, so this time round we’re offered lacklustre covers. Snoop Dogg’s take on Gangsta Gangsta is endearing, but even the Dr Dre, Eazy-E and MC Ren’s sleepwalked live reunion for Compton’s N The House is notable only for the fact that the three are together again.

The album proper might be top-heavy, but it’s still powerful. Even now, Eazy-E’s first words (“…is a brother that’ll smother your mother/And make your sister think I love her”) shock, while Ice Cube’s lyrics and flow still mark him out as one of the best in the game at the time. Dre’s production retains its rough’n’ready appeal, still laidback with a danceable West Coast groove; G-Funk’s foundation, then. It wasn’t just about the shocking lyrics, see. Hold this against, say, 2 Live Crew, and you quickly realise that NWA worked at song structures.

If you’ve never heard this before, any version is essential. It is, after all, a hip-hop foundation block from the sampledelic days, pointing the way to gangsta rap’s 90s rule. Don’t re-buy this otherwise. It ain’t ruff.

EMI/Priority | 502 7972

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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