No matter what type of artist, musician, singer you are, the main purpose of a debut album remains the same. The idea is to make an impact in some way, whether it is on society, on the industry, with fans, critics, or both. With a debut album artists are attempting to establish a voice and show to the masses exactly why their name should be known.
Now of course some debut albums have more of an impact than others. For example, it's clear that Nas's first album "Illmatic" had a greater effect on the industry than let's say, Nappy Roots' freshman effort, but the point that I'm trying to get at, is that a debut album has a purpose and when it's done right, everyone in the industry feels it. One album that could be considered the perfect example of this is N.W.A's "Straight Outta Compton".
Released in August of 1988, the album arguably had one of the biggest impacts on the industry than any other. The album embodied the genre of gangsta rap, and launched it into mainstream popularity. One of its biggest impacts was how it helped shift focus from the East coast to the West, establishing that coast as the power player of rap in the early '90s.
While it's true that "Straight Outta Compton" was not the first gangsta-rap album released, it was a game changer for many reasons. Between the superb production from Dr. Dre and DJ Yella, which added some elements to gangsta rap that hadn't been seen before, and its realistic, harsh language and illustrative lyrics, "Straight Outta Compton" was unlike anything the industry had seen.
N.W.A. put together a listing of tracks that dwarfs most other albums in comparison. There are some legendary tracks on the album including "Express Yourself", the title track "Straight Outta Compton", "Fuck tha Police", "Gangsta Gangsta", and "Something Like That".
The three opening tracks on the album "Straight Outta Compton", "Fuck tha Police", "Gangsta Gangsta" might be one of the best one, two, three lineups of all-time. The three tracks are all made with supreme quality, but what adds to them is the fact that they are all connected by looking at the city the group comes from through many different prisms.
The title track "Straight Outta Compton" is one of the best of all-time, and sets the tone for the rest of the album. The track takes a hard look at a city that is controlled by crime, and gives a realistic portrayal of what it was like in Compton for the members of the group.
From the very beginning Ice Cube shows how passionate he is as he raps with ferocity in the opening verse: "Straight outta Compton, crazy motherfucker named Ice Cube/From the gang called Niggaz With Attitudes/When I'm called off, I got a sawed off/Squeeze the trigger, and bodies are hauled off/You too, boy, if ya fuck with me/The police are gonna hafta come and get me."
One thing the group does on this album so well is being political without being so obvious about it. On its face you could look at its harsh language and lyrics as just for show, but it all has underlying meaning.
This comes out clearly on the second track "Fuck Tha Police". Just the title itself was a political statement, but the track goes even further, detailing why the city is controlled by crime and who’s to blame for it. The track was extremely controversial for its language and stance on condoning violence against the police, but proved that the group wasn't afraid to take on anybody. The track at its core is about raising hell and not allowing authority to take control over everything.
The track is important because it embodied a truthful mindset of the people living in the community. The track spoke for them, the ones who had no voice, in such a harsh but frustrated way especially the verse: "To the police I'm sayin fuck you punk/Readin my rights and shit, it's all junk/Pullin out a silly club, so you stand/With a fake assed badge and a gun in your hand."
"Gangsta Gangsta" is a fantastic track as well, and illustrates the lifestyle that takes over the city due to all of the outside and institutional influences. The song conveys the dangers of living on the streets, but also the appealing side of the gangsta lifestyle.
The track has some of the most memorable lines on the entire album including Ice Cube's verse, which is one of his personal best: "Homies all standin around, just hangin/Some dope-dealin, some gang-bangin/We decide to roll and we deep/See a nigga on Dayton's and we creep/Real slow, and before you know/I had my shotgun pointed in the window/He got scared, and hit the gas/Right then, I knew I has to smoke his ass."
"Express Yourself" is my personal favorite track on the album, party because I love the beat, but mostly because of the message in the track itself. The song's lyrics center on ideas of free expression and the constraints in place by censorship. Even more so the track talks about how some artists are afraid to express themselves fully for fear of what other people might think.
That's one thing N.W.A. proved it wasn't afraid of and you can hear it as Dre raps: "I'm expressin with my full capabilities/And now I'm livin in correctional facilities/Cause some don't agree with how I do this/I get straight and meditate like a Buddhist/I'm droppin flava, my behavior is hereditary/But my technique is very necessary."
"Straight Outta Compton" took the industry by storm and even listening to it today the album still sounds refreshing and relevant, even though it's over twenty years old now (yeah, I'm surprised too). The album reached double platinum sales status, pretty mush with no airplay support and without any major tours making it a true rarity in the business.
N.W.A. was young and truly didn't give a fuck about anything except saying what they believed in and putting it on their album. While there isn't much in your face social criticism, the album itself is a social critique, which is what it has stood the test of time.
It's almost impossible to quantify what this album meant to hip-hop, but no matter how much time goes by, it remains an essential landmark, one of hip-hop's all-time greatest.
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