Music, Vintage Bin

Still Owns: N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton

Posted by: detourmag on July 13, 2007 at 8:48 am

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Among those of a certain age — i.e. those in Detour’s target demographic — conversations about NWA usually begin with a “Where were you when you first heard it”-type query. And then there are the answers. “I was in biology class, and someone passed me a dubbed copy of Compton; hardcore just didn’t do much for me after that.” We were witnessing the strength of street knowledge. And so the track begins and we see Dre, Eazy, Ice Cube, and Ren walking the streets with their shoes on fire. A siren wails; even the drum machine sounds fucking pissed. This is not “Walk it Out” by Unk, the lowest , most obnoxious stab at ringtone-hop yet made. This is a nightmare that jams.

Ren’s a ruthless villain and we know this, but so is Officer Cliche driving around LA there, right? If he’s looking for something to arrest, he should start with Cube’s haircut. As Ren’s verse continues, we see the LAPD on a gang sweep, and the crew scattering down an alley. These shots are dynamic — low to the ground, they hug the pavement like the sick murmur of that siren on the track — but in retrospect, this sequence also looks a bit like every cop show ever. Which is probably on purpose, if we’re going to get meta about it. MC Ren controls the automatic.

Eazy’s sequence in “Compton” is probably the most badass, since he’s rolling in a Lebaron and standing up in the seat like he’s about to start driving from the passenger seat with his left leg. There’s more enforcement of horrifying cop moustaches, and more of Eazy. Best shot? 3:34, when he lays out in the seat with this little pimp lean — that was imitated in parking lots the world over, particularly because most white, suburban cheerleaders in 1988 and ‘89 drove Lebarons. We never could find a windbreaker that big, though.

– Johnny Loftus

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