Special Ed is right about NWA destroying hip hop. Here's why. 

Just like when pac said “ my attitude was fuck it cuz motherfuckas love it” on ambitionz as a rida. Niggas were literally performing acts 😂😂

The industry destroyed rap... back then there was conscious, story telling, social rap amd ganster rap. Once ganster came on the sceen, the industry wanted more of it. They didnt want the power of words from conscience rap in the hands of young blackman.

In New York we were already passed that stage in rapping and everyone was moving toward the culture due to what was happening in our communities across the globe it was instinctive on the part of the natural born intellectualism that comes with community experiences and the evolution of the "Woke Culture". Rakim, Public Enemy, The X-Clan, King Sun, Krs One, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, Koo G. Rap, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Special Ed, Sister Souljah, and many more.

I remember hearing NWA’s second album for the first time a few years ago. They became pretty much every stereotype the critics accused them of portraying to the 15th power. I completely agree about them relying on shock value because listening to some of those songs, I realized that Eminem essentially used the same subject matter, which makes perfect sense why Dre signed him. Many of his and NWA’s fans were sheltered white kids, so appealing to that audience while also reaching for those who wanna hear those same topics, but without the melanin was a perfect business move. I’m sure this isn’t really a hot take, but I guess things become more clear the more I dig.

Agreed 1000%. I remember playing that _Straight Outta Compton_ album last year at work. Obviously, the title track is a banger, but after track four or so, I was just sitting there like “This is a chore to listen to” There must have been an interview out there or something where Eminem said that NWA made him want to rap. Yeah, makes sense. You both watered down hip-hop 😂

queen latifah, dela, atcq, digable planets, rakim, slick rick 1st album, illmatic, blackstarr, pharoah monch, murs, little brother, gza, blackalicious, jurrasic5, ultramagnetic mcs, kool keith, mf doom.

NWA first album is great and they got classic songs. The thing is that Dre and Cube reached their peaks after they left the group. Dre prime was Death Row and Cube prime was early solo career.

One of the seeds of gangster rap was Boogie Down Productions "Criminal Minded" album of 1987. "It was hip-hop's first major release to feature members brandishing firearms." It also has the shoot em up song song "9mm Goes Bang" as well as "Remix for P is Free" [Verse 2] A girl tried to take me out one day For a play, not your everyday trey We walked to the spot, she says she want a rock I looked in my pocket, didn't have a lot I said, "You better get yourself a job" She tried to tell me that times were hard I told the ho, I said, "Yo, that's not my fault You need a vault", I'm out to assault Any girl I find who try to take me for mine I'm gonna have to finish this another time, but Shortly after the release of this album, BDP's DJ, Scott LaRock was shot and killed said to be the first murder of a major hip hop artist. I can hear an influence of KRS in some of Dr. Dre's rhymes beats for NWA. But I don't think NWA destroyed Hip Hop. I think they started the trend of LA Gang rap and they dressed that style also. And they did say things for shock like tochi said. Ghetto Boys were another example. 1990 had the highest rate of murder ever for New York City over 2,000 and going through a crack epidemic which had started there around 1985. I think Kool G Rap's 1989 "Road to the Riches" is one of the earliest to manifest a gangster persona on the East Coast and I don't see any NWA influence. He was an influence on Nas who was more diverse but had gangster influence, illmatic has some pretty gangster lyrics on parts of it (and he became famous for talking about snuffing Jesus) and the Jay Z came in around the same time with his drug dealer king pin persona. Then came Biggie who was disgustingly violent in his lyrics. Some of it over the top shock stuff but I don't see it coming out of an NWA influence. That whole LA Gangbanger person was very foreign and far away to New York. Schooly D was from Philly and he never made it that big but he had a rap in way back in 1985: "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" P.S.K. is the abbreviation for Park Side Killas, a street gang with which Schoolly D was affiliated. Rappers knew about this song. It was an influence on Ice T's "6 in the Mornin'" another early gangster rap. "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" [Verse 1] Driving in my car down the avenue Towing on a J, sipping on some brew Turned around, see the fly young lady Pulled to the curb and parked my Mercedes Said, "Fly lady, now you're looking real nice Sweeter than honey, sugar, and spice" Told her my name was MC Schoolly D All about making that cash money She said, "Schoolly D, I know your game Heard about you in the hall of fame" I said, "Mama, mama, I tell you no lies 'Cause all I wanna do is to get you high And, uh, lay you down and do the body rock" Took a walk to the corner, got into the car Took a little trip to a fancy bar Copped some brew, some J, some coke Tell you now, brother, this ain't no joke She got me to the crib, she laid me on the bed I fucked her from my toes to the top of my head I finally realized the girl was a whore Gave her ten dollars, she asked me for some more [Chorus] P.S.K., we're making that green People always say, "What the hell does that mean?" P for the people who can't understand How one homeboy became a man S for the way we scream and shout One by one, I'm knockin' you out K for the way my DJ cuttin' Other MC's, man, you ain't saying nothin' Rocking on to the break of dawn I think Code Money, your time is on [Verse 2] Clinton Road one Saturday night Towing on a cheeba, I was feeling alright Then my homie-homie called me on the phone His name is Chief Keith, but we call him Bone Told me 'bout this party on the Southside Copped my pistol, jumped into the ride Got at the bar, copped some flack Copped some cheeba-cheeba, it wasn't wack Got to the place, and who did I see? A sucker-ass nigga trying to sound like me Put my pistol up against his head And said, "You sucker-ass nigga, I should shoot you dead" A thought ran across my educated mind Said, man, Schoolly D ain't doing no time Grabbed the microphone and I started to talk Sucker-ass nigga, man, he started to walk Ice T's lyrics to his 1986 rap "6 ‘N the Mornin’" is a lot more gangster than this (look them up) but a year later. So this is before Easy E was known. The seeds were there it was inevitable that with the crack epidemic and all the drug related murders going on on both coasts that this was going to manifest in the music and then in the deaths if Biggie and Tupac. Also Special Ed sounds ridiculous to say when Nore asked him "NWA or Wu-Tang Clan?" Special Ed says: " Wu-Tang okay Wu-Tang is for the kids. Besides that Wu-Tang was dropping knowledge and positivity" Raekwon, Ghostface, ODB etc had nothing to do with being "for the kids". ODB was an out of control drug addict a lot of the time and the group often talked about, street thuggery. Just because they mixed in some King Fu fantasies does not mean they were positive rappers "dropping knowledge". They were gritty Staten Island criminal mind gun-play ghetto dudes who also had imaginations. But they were not as all gangster focused like Biggie and Mobb Deep Just like Italian gangster movies all this is very exciting to black and white people who don't live in the hood and rappers did it with a lot of style. Problem was it wasn't all acting and the thug personas constantly leaking into real life. Special Ed kept preferring anything form Brooklyn and Est Coast so he tries to blame gangster rap all on NWA. That is BS. NWA, Snoop, Tupac, etc was the influence on the West Coast promoting the Blood and Crip sick culture but the East Coast had it's own seeds of criminal influence going back to before West Coast rap. And it was fueled (and funded) by crack wars. Also look at Ice T's album early covers trying to look like Superfly. That gangster pimp thing was already manifest in the 70s blaxploitation movies. There were multiple seeds for violent themes in the music, in my opinion.

a fellow hip ho p head suggested that beatsie boys were the first mainstream group to promote violence( they did talk a lot about beating up nerds and jocks in some of their songs) in hip hop and that nwa was influenced by the beatsie boys( ice cube admitted to being a big fan of the beatsie boys and his first group, cia sounded like them) and so I would also say they( the beatsie boys) were the first performative group in hip hop and there would probably be no nwa without the Beatsie boys.

I’ve actually been researching them recently and I really can’t get into their music either. That’s how I came across that clip of Special Ed. A lot of it is artistically bland for its time. They’re mostly important for the influence and helping people understand what hiphop has become right now.

I experienced it in real time. NWA's Niggz 4 Life album was the second hip hop album I ever purchased. Special Ed's youngest in charge was the first. The irony lol. I didn't realize it at the time, but a market was created, through capitalist investment, for that gangsta music

That point about performative and not performative is so quality. Good work tochi

Insightful video - I would say "performative" hiphop is definitely something that destroyed the genre. You see acts today like Tyler The Creator who embody this completely. Tyler The Creator is the quintessential performative hip-hop act. From his social media popularity to his aesthetic music videos, it's clearly beyond the music. You just knew Tyler was a performative act when the IFHY video dropped in 2013. Rocky glues to him like crazy, and you can see he has transitioned from a relatively carefree hood rapper to an excessively performative aesthetic act that is too interested in fashion and art and thus lost a majority of his core fanbase. From when the "Babushka Boi" video dropped, I knew Rocky was as good as dead, regardless of the fact he ghosted in music for 3 years after that. Performative acts can only be creatively inspired for so long to chase clout, which is why they need to actually drop good ill music to stay relevant. Clout-chasing music does NOT stand the test of time. It never does. Most of Tyler the Creator's catalog is irrelevant outside of the songs he did with Kali Uchis. Babushka Boi is mediocre because it's a cartoony phonk song that has no real-life relevance, relatability or quotables. It's a fun, forgettable song that was never enough to justify people waiting on whatever Rocky was going to drop after that. "Goldie" is good because, the beat is better, and it's actually something relatable. It's like a "fuck you" song to the haters, and how you're ill. What's Babushka Boi about? Some corny song about being funky and hating police? And now Rocky is wearing skirts?

I was never that into NWA besides those few songs like Straight Outta Compton. You're right about the performative aspect. It's more about the image that's marketed rather than the quality of the music and over the years there are even more archetypes/images for rappers to take on and pretty much perform and market nowadays. (Fake positivity, savior of hiphop, etc) Especially the savior of hiphop marketing image. Those "Bars" rappers

How do you feel about the song Supa Star by Group Home?

I feel like a lot of people don’t know how performative 99 percent of NWA is and was. Literally the “realest” one in that group ironically enough is the only one who’s dead

NWA taught us the game of life of reality!! They just turned it up a notch

I liked nwa years ago. I don't listen to them like that anymore. Their beats were pretty cutting edge and influential

The text and cut off at 23:48 is the most editing I have ever seen in a tochiRTA vid.

You made a video about west coast watering down hip hip a while ago…I immediately thought of that when Special Ed made his statement. I never got into NWA but I always liked Ice Cubes storytelling on Amerikkkas most wanted.

I’d rather listen to ATCQ, de La, OutKast, Mobb deep, wu, public enemy, gang Starr, Eric b and Rakim over NWA.

I never really cared for NWA. They’re featured in every video of the “Best hip hop song of each year” genre. I listened to their album for the first time a couple months ago, remember the subject matter more than the songs themselves. Aside from F*** The Police and Straight Outta Compton, and some songs about money hungry bitches, literally couldn’t tell you anything I can remember off of one listen for something so “revolutionary”. I too enjoyed Boyz-N-The-Hood and it makes sense Megan thee Stallion replicated that with her Girls in the Hood song. I always see fan pages bashing people for listening to other rappers and they many corny edits on popular songs like Still Dre, Straight Outta Compton, Hit Em Up and Stan. They clutch their “Real Hip Hop” like a white lady clutching her purse from a “thug”.

Being younger and from the suburbs I can say this is 100% facts lol. Fantastic content as usual, I do like some songs from that album tho haha

I think we need to be aware of something else that has shaped music. Those Parental Advisory stickers. I actually think they contributed to the over-emphasis on profanity in music especially with rap. I remember back in the early 90s when the use of those stickers were starting to become more common. I used to hear people ask, "well if you put a sticker on an album won't that cause more people to buy that album"? Basically yeah. Those stickers actually helped to sell the albums with the "bad words" on them by highlighting those albums. So more people bought them out of curiosity. This then led to an over-emphasis on cussing because getting a sticker on an album could lead to more sales. So I wonder how much cussing and profanity there would be in music today had those stickers never came into use?

Older video here, but I thought I'd add that your thoughts on how hip hop has changed reminds me of how I've felt about punk music, in that the shock value of it was just too much for the genre's own good, and was what killed the artistry of the movement so quickly.

With the performative aspect I think it’s funny they tried to sweep world class wreckin cru under the rug, Dre’s cred would’ve been gone quick😂

I figure you were going to talk about this. I notice a lot of the people who put Dr. Dre and NWA on a pedestal are usually casuals (no disrespect to the west coast heads). I agree with you on their music not being all that great. I listen Too Short’s first album more than any NWA album.

NWA actually enhanced hip hop by giving freedom of speech and say real stuff with real emotion unlike 80s Ny rappers who were afraid to be themselves and had to dance around issues to be accepted. The impact NWA made is why although they made 2 albums are in the rock n roll hall of fame.. Impact! The exact reason why you don't see Rakim there. NWA opened the lane for the Legends that came after. Jay Z Biggie Pack Em Luda Wu Tang TI ... Them cursing and telling stories of real life made them all millionaires!!! They all came off the NWA blueprint

I couldn’t really get into most of NWA’s music either. Even outside of the point Special Ed was making, I respect what they did bringing light to what was going on in their neighborhood, but a lot of the songs didn’t age very well. I think Cube and Dre made much better music outside of NWA.

I think if you took the best tracks of Straight Outta Compton, Eazy Duz It, NWA and the Posse and put them together, you'd have a solid album. Instead with Straight Outta Compton it felt more half-solid, half-filler and kind of inconsistent overall. I can get why it was seen as a landmark though. At its best it does paint a vivid picture of Compton at the time and the formative beginnings of Ice Cube's conscious creativity even if he's not reached full maturity as an artist yet. I don't know if I have a problem with the performative aspect per se, as I can certainly respect the creativity that went into Ice Cube's Gangsta persona and his gift for storytelling, and how Eazy E did it with a sense of gonzo fun. I think the problem is once Ice Cube left, the group were clearly far less than the sum of their parts and had less of a good sense of how to articulate what they should be about. They had inherited the reputation of being "The World's Most Dangerous Group", but it's like they didn't get how to keep getting that across without just resorting to desperate shock or being clueless of where the line is where it stops being entertaining. In Gangsta Gangsta they were dangerous in a way that made sense in the context of a hardening environment that was well conveyed by Ice Cube's lyrics. In One Less B**** they're just being frankly sick in their misogynistic murder fantasies for the sake of it. No reason for it, and so their final album just ends up being everything ugly and nasty that people hated about Rap and nothing more. The pioneers are suddenly way behind those they inspired. Frustratingly, as with Straight Outta Compton, the individual singles "Alwayz Into Something", "Appetite for Destruction" and especially "Dayz of Wayback" are brilliant and really feel like they should belong on a better album. But where Straight Outta Compton had crude filler, Efil4Zaggin was just deranged and sick. Was it success and the need to live up to that reputation that made them worse, and made them go off the rails? To my mind, Compton's Most Wanted was a Gangsta Rap group that did the reality rap stuff NWA were praised for, far better. They got it across what Compton was like and how hard and confrontational you often had to be there, and did it consistently well and better at their craft, album to album. But if they'd gotten the mantle NWA did of being the first ones who had to live up to the dangerous, controversial image, would it have ruined their craft the same way? I think there was certainly a place for Gangsta rap of the kind NWA, CMW, the Geto Boys, Notorious BIG and Snoop Dogg did, but when it's done to excess and dominates the genre it just feels like a wrong turn overall, really.

Love your take on hip-hop, i used to be a big Griselda advocate. But now I could not care less.

Do you like Cube’s solo catalog? What about the chronic?

During his appearance on Drink Champs, Ed was critical of NWA's message. "N.W.A. brought the age of destruction to our children and our culture. I respect all of them as men, but as the art form ... that's where it started. That's where the agenda started, and that's where the destruction began," he said. Xzibit called him out for his words in the comments. "Man, that’s my family tree right there. I don’t go out of my way to discourage people from expressing their opinions about hip hop, but f*ck this sh*t. Special Ed you outta pocket. Don’t make it hard for yourself. We still active bro," Xzibit, 49, typed. Did Xzibit prove Special Ed's point?

First off hats off this video and the talking points were constructed great. I have a friend me and him build a lot and I was telling musically as black folks we’re stuck in a matrix. If you speak out or try to escape it’s like na don’t do that. And I think they weaponized hip hop to make us think we’re winning. The conditions in many of neighborhoods are the same. We really have the same subject matters and same archetypes. I think what’s more devious is they know we get tired of the same bullshit. So they said fuck it y’all want consciousness and truth we’ll control that too and make y’all fit in the box.

Never fail to keep it real tochi. Most honest RU-vidr keep it up .

You're not the first person I know who doesn't enjoy NWA/early ruthless. I've personally heard somebody say he prefers deathrow over ruthless

I've always wondered what NWA's second album would have been like had Ice Cube still been with the group? Ice Cube did a lot of the writing on Straight Outta Compton. So maybe the second album would have had a different focus had Cube been on it contributing to the writing.

GKMC is one of the worst albums ever created. And you’re 100% spot on that white oriole are the ones that cater to that album the most. Y’all can keep those alien penguin sounding voices.

23:46 Keep a lookout! I think this is one of your best videos yet. Great discussion throughout. I read a book called Original Gangstas about the rise of west coast Hip Hop. Ice Cube definitely brought the substance to Ni***s With Additude but after he left they lost their additude, at least their political additude. It's interesting how when the G-Funk wave began Cube went back to the gangsta ish. I remember listening to the song Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It in wich he explained his belief that N.W.A's music was used as a scapegoat to societies problems, "I heard n***a back in 1971" but the point still remains that N.W.A set Hip Hop on a one-dimentonal path. The book broke down how when The Chronic came out the dominance of gangsta rap was solidified and how the song Mr Officer was cut from the album and Dre answered by saying something like "My money is more important". Chuck D and Public Enemy where the real rebellious Hip Hop but The Chronic definitely put gangsta shit as the mainstream Hip Hop model. Kid Frost stated in a interview several years earlier about how before N.W.A there weren't a lot of people on that gang-gang with guns and if you had a problem with someone you had to use your fists. In his opinion, gangbangers increase after N.W.A started making noise in L.A. I liked the mention of the Kensington Market lady. I live in a mostly white area so most people don't get Hip Hop. A lot of them listen to commercial 'rap' so it's the same performative subject matter. EDIT: If they do listen to rap as most like country or pop. There where two avid Hip Hop fans at my school (both black kids) but they have since graduated. One of them told me about how he loved Common's be album and GO! was his favorite off the LP. The other rapped Still D.R.E at a talent show with me. He was a Eminem fan but he still messed with a lot of real Hip Hop. As for the quality of N.W.A's music, I never listened to a full album from them but the trio of Straight Outta Compton, Gangsta Gangsta, and F**k The Police helped get me into Hip Hop but I only listen to those songs every now and then. Did the sex, drugs, and rock and roll help get me into Hip Hop? Maybe a bit but I already liked K'NAAN's music before I heard any hardcore Hip Hop and I also listed to the De La and Public Enemy my Mom had around the same time l heard F The Police, And if I only cared about the lifestyle wouldn't I just listen to Lil Yachty or something? I doubt I would care for a Hell Razah or a Immortal Technique if that's all I cared about.

22:18 that reminded of a very valid point that melle mel brought up in his Vlad interview when he said "when u made it u made it, forget the street act, ur not a street guy no more, and that's why i think alot of these are overrated cuz they think they still have a product to sell, when it's already done", also about the point of white people going crazy over nwa songs, that is SUPER FACTS, i think it was even showcased in a movie which i don't remember its name name and for good reasons cuz its forgettable but i remember this one scene where 2 white doing driving the car and going crazy over "straight outta Compton", and also i can't disagree with ur take on the quality of the music cuz i tried Nwa music before and lotta of it was skippable, i never thought any of their albums are classic or whatever, the wu tang vs nwa comparaison is laughable asf.

tochidamus 🤣🤣🤣 I just saw the headline about what special ed said. "Tochi is probably going to post a video saying he was right."

I feel that at the begging NWA was an effort where they were trying to make a documentary of what you see in the ghetto in a theatrical/performative way, look at a 16 year old Ice cube doing Dope Man, Gangsta Gangsta, read the lyrics on Fuck the police, it's pretty obvious if you ask me, they weren't trying to front how gangster they are, they were roleplaying, and not in a way where they was trying to make you believe they were criminals like the people after them, they just played different roles depending the content of the song but after Cube left that conscious effort disappeared, they just became a parody after that! Songs like Bird in the hand are exactly what I'm talking about ice cube wasn't a dropout or a teen dad or whatever but he rapped from that perspective to prove a point

just curious wheres your order as far as siblings, are you the eldest, middle, or the youngest

The West Coast gang culture's infusion into rap most certainly brought Real Violence heavily into the picture. Recall, however, that East Coast mega-groups like BDP, at around the same (and even slightly before), had rapped about similar gun violence (Scot La Rock, of course, was actually shot to death - many years before East Coast Godfather/Legend Jam Master Jay's own shooting death). NWA's music took off because it was great, new, and exciting: Dr. Dre making beats, Ice Cube writing rhymes and rapping, Eazy and Ren spitting fire as well. It was not dance-club music - never meant to be. It was actually Hit music - heard on KDAY in Los Angeles (the world's First all-rap station), alongside Classics coming out of New York. Mainly, though, it was blasted out of boomboxes and bazooka speakers in cars. It was music designed to stand up next to LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys. But late-80s L.A. gang violence was out of control - reaching a never-before-seen peak - and it brought the entire Gang Culture of L.A. (and Oakland) to the forefront of rap and even pop culture in general, becoming ubiquitous in fashion, movies, etc. The world became fascinated by it. But it was, and is still, an ugly scene - rife with senseless, heartless brutality. And NWA's fine music notwithstanding, the negativity they introduced (though certainly only as young artists commenting on life as they knew it) Did have a spoiling effect on a Golden Age rap scene that was just breaking through to the mainstream and was a seriously special time in music.

Youre on the money about NWA influence on whites. Im from Australia and the first rap i heard was Ice Cube's Predator album after which I also got into NWA. It was more about this door that opened on something new - black gangsta culture in the US. It was dope sonically, but the themes, the edginess and the not giving a fuck criminal attitude, etc, was part of the draw for sure. Id say the same for the Boyz N The Hood movie as well. First real ghetto film Id seen and I loved it cause it was this revelation on black culture and how people live in the ghetto, the everyday danger and how easily dudes were ready to throw down, actually shoot and kill instead of a fist fight. All of that. The shit used to hype us up when we drove around or hung out, even though the streets here are super tame compared to Compton lol. But the mad hype you get from music is the draw. Much like what I used to get listening to Pantera. Its music for the young and hormonal who are ready for there for there be something adventurous (even if violent) around every corner instead of boring reality.

NWA is pretty lackluster musically, agreed Question still remains … was NWA parody and/or satire?

3:50 tHEY HAVE LIKE ONE JOINT LIKE "EXPRESS YOURSELF" LOL

The west coast los Angeles California gangsta rap music nwa is so very intensely and when i listen to those straight outta Compton, niggaz4life, and eazy e duz it back in the ultimately 1980's and early 90's. It's wasn't even the top notches until. It reached up the billboard 200. Facts

i loved westside connection but when i heard of wu tang i opened my eyes to the culture of hip hop globally .4 elements.

Its a shame NWA gets a movie before ATCQ does. When they clearly better

Yeah you made a video about this before with reality rap. You called it a long time ago

The only time I've heard Shock value rap done well was Lord Finesse and Big L and that's cause they can do more than just shock value raps.

I WAS around when NWA where popular and they NEVER where a "hip hop" band. They were a rap band -- there IS a diference.

We gotta be careful not to over simplify white listeners. A lot of whites listened to Public Enemy. They also listen to underground rappers like the Hieroglyphics Crew.

The production on that 2nd album was good and early showing of what Dre was gonna do with the chronic. The problem with that album is that it’s just too much dumb shit, like you can’t listen to it that much because it’s like wtf are they saying 😂

Spot on.💯

This is old news from people who were actually there. We knew the agenda and which groups and artists who were used to do it. There was a financial reason and also a social reason for why this was done. The top heads in the music industry, prison systems and government departments were all involved and remunerated accordingly for setting up a system that is still alive and kicking today. There are many of us 'commentators' and reactors who know this and also who were about it in the late 80s and early 90s. Ask any legitimate Old School hip hop heads and you will be surprised.

Its different if you grew up on it -got it when it first came out totally different sound

www.BloodworldTV.com cotdamn it! 😆🔥

Tochi, how you make a special Ed video but not play any special Ed beats 🤦🏾‍♂️😭😭😭

hell nah, u just said i always thought lmaoooo

Where did these rappers get their ideas and skits from? The movies. Snoop Dogg’s debut literally mimicked a scene from the Mack. Ice Cube was right and there was nothing ‘tired’ about his argument.

I hear more max b out in different countries than NWA

NWA are like the older relatives that you have a lot of love and appreciation for but you know they weren’t exactly the big superheroes that everyone makes it seem like. As solo artists they were so much better and in terms of comparison they aren’t up there with Wu-Tang but their fan base is so loud like Raider fans it doesn’t matter. They do have great unpopular records but that line between “gangsta funk” and corny is extremely paper thin.

My first NWA album was the greatest hits lol that was all I needed tbh because I wasn’t really feeling their catalog when I went through it lol. Also really liked Eazy-E’s diss album “It’s On”. If it’s worth your time I’d love to see a “why Rick Ross Sucks” video soon 😂

tochi I just skimmed Special Ed's last record 2004's "Still Got It Made" on youtube. I never heard it before, would be surprised if you did. The record before that was 1995. It's mediocre but not all bad. it would be timely for you to do a review of all Special Ed's albums. He has 4. I always thought he had an original style but just knew his 3 or 4 famous songs. His first album is good maybe he has a few more songs that are good (??). But his delivery kind of lacks energy to me sometimes (but I haven't heard much of his) Lyrics were clever

tochirta you spot on and so is special ed, nwa were overatted how can you put them in the top 5 hip hop groups of all time when they only made 2 albums, there were 6 in members only 2 were dope that was cube and ren, some of their tracks was something a 5 year old kid would do, and ive said this before... take out the swearing and they very weak.

NWA hardest record is Gangsta Gangsta to me that beat aged well too with the hi hats and bassline

in the interview 33:53 NORE: " you came out of 89 Special Ed: "correct yeah 89" NORE: "Then what what what year did NWA come out?" Special Ed: the same time and I think a single the single was 88 the album was 89.... then NWA came out and they sh!t was hardcore and I was like 'see they could say what they want right but the label didn't want to market me in that way and I had I had hard sh!t , I was a battle rapper on the streets so that's what I did and they didn't want that. They wanted commercial music. NORE: did you have the Jamaica belt ? Special Ed: I had a few I had a few Jamaican belts, the knife, the switchblade, everything , the ratchet "So Special Ed is saying "NWA brought the age of Destruction to our children and our culture" yet at the same time is saying he had his own hardcore sh!t but the label wouldn't let him do it because they wanted more commercial music. That's hypocrisy. East Coast rap had it's own violent drug dealer /gangster trend emerging and crack wars. In my opinion would have happened without NWA, the seeds were there, from Schooly D, to BDP Criminal minded, to Kool G Rap, Biggie, Mobb Deep. To these thuggish East Coast dudes NWA and their button up gray shirts, shades, jheri curls, low rider cars. All this was foreign to them, even a bit corny and except for Easy E, maybe Ren, NWA was never that convincing that they had even been real street hustlers. Maybe some of the groups that copied them had more real gangsters in them but starting 90s a lot rappers began to be actual street thugs and hustlers. NY and Philly had their own crack funded rappers, didn't need inspiration from NWA . People want to believe the West Coast invented these violent trends in Hip Hop but it was all part of the crack epidemic of the late 80s - mid 90s and record breaking murders in NY, not just drivebys in Cali. And dealers were making millions. That funded some rappers' studio time and payola to radio stations as well as plenty of violence mixed in , crack wars for territory

great vid tochi!

It's so many rap groups and artists that are about image with music as a backdrop it's pathetic. nobody has figured out that's what is really being sold.

I love your philosophy on hip-hop

I don't like it when people are separated by labels to define things. But it's true that several white people love eazy e. Especially in Latin America where many people are not of color and have some knowledge of rap, they put Eazy E in their top 5 along with Big L and I never understood it. I also agree when you say that nwa sought to provoke people over art itself, although for me elif4zaggin's production was ahead of its time.

He is everything was cool before they came out. The executives used them and made money off negativity. NWA got a song called APPETITE for DESTRUCTION ! After they came out self hate, genocide, ultra aggresion and every hateful thing became popular. They were used. They had cold ass music so stop that shit. But we were sold sin over great music.

I basically agree and understand your perspective, but this idea of what keeping it real means when it comes to artistic expression. The influence of environment that includes entertainment, movies, TV etc. as well as the society and American culture one that contradicts itself when it comes to violence, sex and drugs. Rap has always been performance based. You either like the performance theater as you put it of certain artist or you don't. I don't ever take any artist literally. You look at what the artist actually do beyond their music. The main difference between NWA's era and now is for NWA we had a Public Enemy. And White folks also gravitated to them, and bought their albums and went to their shows. Balance. When you have a topical pendulum that swings mostly in a superficial direction the perception of the art form is skewed. Being "performative" as an artist is what ALL artist do. There is just the question of what content they choose to get across.

You cancelled yourself out of the conversation by saying you wasn't old enough & it's not from your generation. I'm 45 yrs old and from South Central L.A. All NWA did Was Rap about what Was going on in these LA Streets and Were the Voices of some of the people That was living that Lifestyle out here Schooly D Was rapping about the Steetrs of Philly before NWA came out. He just didn't get Nation Wide exposure like NWA did. Special Ed just Made because Gangsta Rap Put Rappers like him on the Back Burner and He wasn't Creative Enough like Tribe and other New York Rappers Who keep it pushing during the rise of gangsta Rap.

Finally🔥

NWA laid the blueprint for independent artist. Their contribution was more than music.

I've never been a big NWA fan but Straight Outta Compton had some joints that I messed with such as the title track, fuck tha police, gangsta gangsta, express yourself, dopeman, something 2 dance 2 is decent. Boys in the Hood is a classic track even though I agree that white people get to hype about that song sometimes lol. 2nd album is unlistenable to me as the lyrics are so bad at trying to have shock value and are pause worthy.

If I Was Running With MLK Back In The Day, It Ain't My Place To Speak On With Malcolm X And The Nation Is Doing Down At The Temple , I'm A East Coast Person I Can't Talk About What They Seen Or Encounter On The West Coast

“TOdays Agenda….” - tony yayo

My brother said the same thing about nwa

First album was NWA and the posse then straight out of Compton then niggaz 4 life...

Rakim was/is the GLUE. NWA , and what was spawned from it, was/is the uncontainable, uncontrollable GUN.

Bro you don't know what you talking about 😭

I agree that NWA's music outside of a few songs aren't that great. The second album absolutely relies heavily on shock value.

How was Saudi back then? How is it seeing the attention it is getting now with all the big money transfers in football and the country investing in tourism?

Don’t comment then if their before your time and don’t even know their music. You only know one song which is straight out of Compton, like bruh cmon. NWA has classic albums.

NWA wasn’t the only rap group who influence the black neighborhoods with violence. But I could be wrong to say that special Ed had a lot of nerve . 1. How come you didn’t call this out when he first came out with his album Back Then? 2. he had no problem going on tour with these gangsta rappers back then. I’m not saying that he was wrong. But he was wrong saying this today and not back then.. so what I think he should do. Is called these other gangster rappers out, including himself..

you really think Noname is performative ?

good video on here to me too still as well

Calling it shock value is lazy. Cali especially la during that time was exactly what they were rhyming about.

I think you need to look at Crooked I’s response and educate yourself brother. I know there’s a lot of people and artist from New York and fans of New York hip-hop that have always hated the west, but this narrative like there was nothing going on in the streets until NWA came around is factually just not true. Crooked dropped a lot of knowledge and a lot of places where you can actually go find out for yourself the truth going back to the 60s and 70s for what laid the groundwork for what eventually ended up happening in Southern California. From the destruction of the Black Panthers, which burst the game culture. I’m sorry there wasn’t anything gangster going on in New York and those artists could wrap about Koss and breakdancing and everything that was happening. There doesn’t mean that’s what was happening in Southern California. And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with what New York artist for rapping about your supposed to be true to yourself. I’m not out here saying that the only kind of good rap is gangster rap by any means. I don’t care what an artist background is, but you can’t tell them they can’t about what they’ve seen. The police brutality that was going on in the 80s and southern California was real, they were making African-Americans walk down to the arena and were doing nothing more than checking paperwork in the 80s. It’s America not some crazy Third World country. Some of y’all really need to go educate yourselves before you start jumping out the window talking about something you know nothing about.

27:09 - 27:12 👏🏾 I mean the whole vid facts but yeah someone needs to say it

Ny hated on anything that wasn’t NY tell the D truth

BRO IS SPITTING 2:30

Why Noname? I remember she stopped performing when she only seen white people at her shows.

TOCHIRTA to prove my point watch nwa ,s straight outta compton, is overatted-influence vs quality by peter barker.

Just knew I was going to start stumbling accross these silly videos. Lol Gotta admit, these comments are even sillier.

Good try bro. You and Special Ed may not like Hip-Hop but it has not died and NWA didn’t bring the age of destruction to black culture it has simply evolved. You have an interesting but limited point of view which is typically seen coming from an East Coast perspective. Also, Special ED was not talking about the second album and no one talks about the 2nd album because NWA was no longer hot when Niggaz4Life was released. Cube had been long gone and people had moved on to other music and that record had little impact. When people talk about NWA impact on rap they are referring to: 1987 NWA and the Posse 1988 Straight outta Compton 1988 Eazy Duz it Not Niggaz4Life I could gone on but the reason why the east coast perspective on this topic has to be taken with a grain of salt are several reasons but one that stands out is NY and much of the East Coasts is the absence of the gang culture in the late 80s. You guys just simply didn’t understand what those records were about. Also we all know what brought destruction to Black folks at that time and it may have been white but it wasn’t a tape.