OT: Straight Outta Compton...

[Xenomorph]

Watched it tonight with a theatre full of college kids who weren't even alive when Eazy E died... Much less when NWA hit the scene in 1988. I wish they could understand what the world was like then. No internet... No iTunes.. Not even a peer to peer cloud.. If you wanted that **** you had to walk into a music store (in a town where you probably didn't live) and lay down cash on the counter.

Straight Outta Compton spread like wild fire. It was controversial big time. I always wondered if it was similar to how the establishment felt about Elvis in '58. As a teenager it was omnipresent.... Everywhere. At every party and in everybody's car. But you didn't let your parents know you even knew who NWA was much less that you had a cassette in your console! My folks would've been aghast to know I owned it.. But hell I turned out ok (my language here withstanding). Listening to Ice Cube's son say their music was a reflection of their reality... He's probably telling the truth.

Small town Mississippi might as well have been on Mars for as closely related as it was to Compton, but that didn't matter. Everybody was cruisin down the street in their six-fo.

Damn.. Eazy E. I haven't listened to any of that in 25 years. I'm not much of a rap fan now and I probably never really was, but I would love to know what else he, Dre and Ice Cube would have recorded.

 

[esplanade91]

The 2Pac double was identical. Was a great film.

 

[Wicked Pissah]

And Dre is now a billionaire. Or was before this morning....

 

[dogfan96]

Not quite.. the numbers didn't come out as initially expected.. his net worth (before today) was estimated at about $800M

 

[Seagoat]

2Pac played himself

 

[THE Bruce Dickinson]

I have a hard time supporting a group that's main message for the early part of their career was "17 the Police". A lot of the civil unrest that we have today was influenced by **** like this in the 80's.

I bet Dre would be singing a different tune about the cops if someone was breaking into his 15 million dollar mansion now.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

I always laughed hysterically when I saw pasty-faced white boys riding around in their Honda Civic blasting gangsta-rap.

 

[dogfan96]

That was their life.. if you constantly got harrassed by the cops and lots of times for no reason, that might be your message too.

 

[os62]

I have a hard time supporting a group that's main message for the early part of their career was "17 the Police". A lot of the civil unrest that we have today was influenced by **** like this in the 80's.

I bet Dre would be singing a different tune about the cops if someone was breaking into his 15 million dollar mansion now.

I feel the exact same way. I don't know why everyone is glorifying NWA. Their message was garbage. Then, some people praise them and claim that NWA is standing up for themselves and sharing their culture. 17 that. The gangster culture should not be glorified. I don't care what people say, just because you HAVE a voice does not mean you should always scream as loudly as possible. For any good that NWA could have possibly had on people standing up and speaking their minds, they caused waaaaaaay more harm in ushering in the gangster rap era and the crap brought along with it...

Ok, done venting and am going to step off my soapbox now...

 

[os62]

That was their life.. if you constantly got harrassed by the cops and lots of times for no reason, that might be your message too.

That's where you lost me. As a teacher, I've heard too many times from a student that "the teacher just doesn't like me and gets me in trouble for no reason!" However, I have ALWAYS found out that couldn't be further from the truth. I like to remind them that it is much more work for teachers to write a kid up and have to punish them and follow through with it than it is to just let them be. The easy thing for teachers to allow it and not do anything about a students behavior/actions.

 

[dogfan96]

Their message was speaking on what they went through in their everyday lives.. and blaming music for anything is horseshit.. not any more than rock music has anything to do with rampant drug use, which was/is a staple of that culture.

 

[dogfan96]

Just bc you haven't lived something doesn't make it less valid. And yes young black men get harrassed by the police for no reason. Regardless of education level or anything else. It's a shame that I actually have to say that but I guess most people here wouldn't know anything about that.

 

[rem101]

You weren't complaining when it was bumpin in your ride on the way to Orange Beach last month.

 

[esplanade91]

Your also comparing adolescents with some of the greatest artists (whether you like them or not is irrelevant) in modern American history. Ice Cube and Dr. Dre went to DECENT high schools and were never involved in gangs. Snoop Dogg went to a prodomintatly white school and hung out in the suburbs before he set out on his rap career. 2Pac's poetry book made up 2 weeks of curriculum in my predominately white high school's 11th grade English class. These "gangsters" aren't any different than Mick Jagger or any other 60's/70's rock idol except one could make the argument that Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Tupac might be smarter.

Whether you choose to believe it or not, police brutality was and continues to be a real thing, especially in these prodomintatly poor/African American neighborhoods. The fact that they choose to write a song called "17 the Police" probably wasn't just because a policeman ripped up their homework. Claiming that the song made any kind of difference in violence or willingness to commit crimes is ludacrous.

Perhaps it's just a generational thing. I don't listen to NWA and hear a proponent of violence or degrading women, although that's exactly what they're talking about.

 

[os62]

You weren't complaining when it was bumpin in your ride on the way to Orange Beach last month.

Funny thing is that WASNT my choice...I just figured I'd let yall play your fancy hippity-hop rap muzik instead of listening to my preference: sports radio. Needless to say, there was NO rap on the way back home...

 

[Sutterkane]

Breaking news: Ole Miss fans hate free speech

 

[muddawgs]

Just bc you haven't lived something doesn't make it less valid. And yes young black men get harrassed by the police for no reason. Regardless of education level or anything else. It's a shame that I actually have to say that but I guess most people here wouldn't know anything about that.

That's so much ********. If you live in a gang infested, crime ridden neighborhood, you aren't getting harassed for no good reason.

 

[NWADog]

It was an amazing movie. It was entertaining throughout. I didn't even realize how many hits they put out. The soundtrack to this film is great. Seeing Snoop and Tupac was icing on the cake!

 

[Xenomorph]

As a pasty-faced white boy with a few kids and a good income living in the 'burbs.. I gotta ask.. What was their main message supposed to be? Should they have written a mission statement as though they were some charitable government entity?

They were a few guys who grew up poor and got together making music they liked and wrote lyrics about the way they saw the world. That story is hardly rare when it comes to music icons throughout history. I can think of one in particular that has gotten some love around here recently.

 

[THE Bruce Dickinson]

Your also comparing adolescents with some of the greatest artists (whether you like them or not is irrelevant) in modern American history. Ice Cube and Dr. Dre went to DECENT high schools and were never involved in gangs. Snoop Dogg went to a prodomintatly white school and hung out in the suburbs before he set out on his rap career. 2Pac's poetry book made up 2 weeks of curriculum in my predominately white high school's 11th grade English class. These "gangsters" aren't any different than Mick Jagger or any other 60's/70's rock idol except one could make the argument that Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Tupac might be smarter.

Whether you choose to believe it or not, police brutality was and continues to be a real thing, especially in these prodomintatly poor/African American neighborhoods. The fact that they choose to write a song called "17 the Police" probably wasn't just because a policeman ripped up their homework. Claiming that the song made any kind of difference in violence or willingness to commit crimes is ludacrous.

Perhaps it's just a generational thing. I don't listen to NWA and hear a proponent of violence or degrading women, although that's exactly what they're talking about.

Last month in South Carolina, there was a protest to take down the confederate flag over the state capital. Just to be on the record I think the flag should be removed. At this rally there was a group protesting white supremacy, and carrying a banner reading "Screw the Klan, The Confederacy, and the Cops". Does one of those not seem to fit in that statement? Music like NWA's made a whole generation feel like the police are part of the bad guys which couldn't be further from the truth.

I understand that the members of NWA had some run-ins with the police (maybe for no reason, maybe not. You have to remember that only one side of the story is getting told in their music). Even if they had some bad experiences with the police they demonized every police department across the country with their lyrics. It is similar if a white man got robbed by a black youth and automatically thought from that point on that all African American youth were criminals. This line of thinking is incorrect and so was NWA's. I wont support that.

 

[esplanade91]

It's important to add context to this though. 1988-1994 was the peak of "The War on Drugs."

Hindsight is 20/20 of course, and I'm sure at the time in which Reagan and GHWB put this at the forefront of their agenda they thought it would do great things for the people it ended up hurting the most, but it's impossible to compare 2015 to 1988 in regards to police force. They were overwhelmed by drugs and gangs and were given seemingly unlimited power and armed with military surplus.

I worked for a pretty powerful government figure in college, and we were riding around and witnessed some cops doing some appalling things. He didn't think anything of it, so I brought it up. He said "Do you know what kind of people you went to high school go on to be cops?" Which is the problem. Not all cops are bad, not all cops are dumb, but just like teachers we have not made their success a priority, instead relying on #'s and keeping salaries down, and the bad guys have become the face instead of the majority being the example.

I read an interview with the former police chief of NYC, now a PhD and professor in criminology, and he's a proponent of requiring educational standards, requiring athletic standards, raising salaries, and cutting the number of active police officers in over half.

 

[futaba.79]

here in Starkville.............

my teenage son got pulled over quite a bit when riding around with his black friends. With one buddy of his in particular, a great kid and one of his best friends, they got stopped and searched three times in a six month period their junior year of HS. They never got a ticket. It really pissed me off, but it was certainly eye opening.

 

[Tin Cup Cowboy]

I can't take it any longer. You are so full of **** you can't help yourself.

In one post you let us know you read 2Pac's poetry book in 11th grade yet you get on here after that and lecture those of us who grew up at the time about a decade you were still shitting in your pants. Just like when you lectured us about how you would bet a large sum of money you were the only person to ever step foot in a mosque - after which you misspell Quran.

 

[jakldawg]

And speaking of "well-played"

nice one.

Now back to the culture-war posturing.

 

[BeardoMSU]

Haha. I immediately thought of this...

 

[BossDawg78]

That was their life.. if you constantly got harrassed by the cops and lots of times for no reason, that might be your message too.

If they would, you know, act halfway civilized sometimes they might not get "harassed" by the cops as much. It's kind of strange because I used to get "harassed" by cops quite a bit myself. As I got older and stopped flying up and down the road drunk off my ***, the cops quit messing with me. It's so strange.

I'm almost positive it didn't have anything to do with my skin color either. Rather, it's probably because I quit acting like a jackass and doing anything to attract the attention of the police in the first place.

 

[ShrubDog]

These "gangsters" aren't any different than Mick Jagger or any other 60's/70's rock idol except one could make the argument that Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Tupac might be smarter.

This is the stupidest comparison I have ever heard in my life.

I actually had the chance to go to Compton and Watts in 1999. We got lost bigger than **** that day.

 

[kired]

But dude, we were so hard core - I could spell blood with my fingers. I still have to get my rap fix on Pandora once or twice a year. My wife's Hyundai bumps harder than the $500 kicker system I used to have...

My favorite pasty-white boy gangsta memory was riding in a church van with our youth group while being lost in the ghetto of Atlanta. The oldest kid in the group was this 17 year old thug that made sure we all knew just how far into the "gang life" he was. He was pointing out the meaning of all the graffiti, and at one point he said he could "get out, throw down some signs, and wouldn't nobody mess with him". We go a few more blocks and he's covering up with a blanket because he says the gang in this area would kill him if they saw his tats... 2 years later he became a rodeo / bull-riding junkie. Thug-4-Life

 

[esplanade91]

I'm not lecturing anyone, but growing up in the 90's in peckerwood USA doesn't give you perspective just like being a conservative and reading Fox News doesn't or being a liberal and reading CNN doesn't.

Quran can be spelled Koran and about 1000 other ways, by the way.

 

[KurtRambis4]

That's

not bad. Imagine if we had a Commander in Chief that did this. Oh wait....

 

[THE Bruce Dickinson]

I think policemen are under paid as well. They do a very dangerous job in an increasingly dangerous world and they do not get compensated enough for it.

However, you did not address my point. My point was about how stereotyping of any kind is wrong and you pretty much just stereotyped the police again with that " "Do you know what kind of people you went to high school go on to be cops?"" line from above. Fact of the matter is that you have no idea what people are cops and neither do I, but to demonize the whole organization (especially an organization whose main job is to protect you from anarchy) is a completely unfounded statement.

Maybe the cops had the right to harrass the members of NWA back in the late 80's. I mean they are from Compton, and I'm not saying all people from Compton are bad, but "Do you know what kind of people live in Compton, right?" ***

See my point ?

 

[mstateglfr]

Your also comparing adolescents with some of the greatest artists (whether you like them or not is irrelevant) in modern American history. Ice Cube and Dr. Dre went to DECENT high schools and were never involved in gangs. Snoop Dogg went to a prodomintatly white school and hung out in the suburbs before he set out on his rap career. 2Pac's poetry book made up 2 weeks of curriculum in my predominately white high school's 11th grade English class. These "gangsters" aren't any different than Mick Jagger or any other 60's/70's rock idol except one could make the argument that Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Tupac might be smarter.

Whether you choose to believe it or not, police brutality was and continues to be a real thing, especially in these prodomintatly poor/African American neighborhoods. The fact that they choose to write a song called "17 the Police" probably wasn't just because a policeman ripped up their homework. Claiming that the song made any kind of difference in violence or willingness to commit crimes is ludacrous.

Perhaps it's just a generational thing. I don't listen to NWA and hear a proponent of violence or degrading women, although that's exactly what they're talking about.

I listened to Dre, IceT, Ice Cube 2Pac, Snoop, etc growing up. As a privileged white kid, how could I not?
But then I got older and learned context. I learned history.

And I realized these guys were all just aggressive little bitches. They beat women. They were actual pimps. They were actual drug dealers. They were actual thieves. They were part of actual gangs.
Hitting women, prostituting women, dealing drugs, robbing jewelry stores, violent gang feuds- They were bad people.



Yet here you are, saying they were harassed for being black. Yes, racial harassment by authorities is an issue that needs to end. But nope, these guys weren't innocently standing on a street corner waiting for the crosswalk to flash WALK. They were doing everything but that on street corners. <---that's a metaphor, don't take it literally. don't claim 'ice cube was never arrested on a street corner.

 

[mstateglfr]

I'm not lecturing anyone, but growing up in the 90's in peckerwood USA doesn't give you perspective just like being a conservative and reading Fox News doesn't or being a liberal and reading CNN doesn't.

Quran can be spelled Koran and about 1000 other ways, by the way.

I don't think google recognized your way. Google must cap out at 1002 ways and yours was the 1003rd way.

 

[muddawgs]

high school kids get pulled over all the time

my teenage son got pulled over quite a bit when riding around with his black friends. With one buddy of his in particular, a great kid and one of his best friends, they got stopped and searched three times in a six month period their junior year of HS. They never got a ticket. It really pissed me off, but it was certainly eye opening.

and searched, because high school kids do drugs. I'm sorry it pissed you off, but as a dad myself, I would be happy to know there's a good chance my son and his friends don't use illegal narcotics. I'm not saying some cops don't racially profile. I know some that do, and I don't agree with it. But there is a very small amount compared to officers that risk their lives every day doing the right thing.

And truth be told, Hispanics are the most racially profiled race, so good thing your son wasn't riding with Hispanics.

 

[johnson86-1]

I'm not lecturing anyone, but growing up in the 90's in peckerwood USA doesn't give you perspective just like being a conservative and reading Fox News doesn't or being a liberal and reading CNN doesn't.

But stepping into a mosque once certainly does.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

my teenage son got pulled over quite a bit when riding around with his black friends. With one buddy of his in particular, a great kid and one of his best friends, they got stopped and searched three times in a six month period their junior year of HS. They never got a ticket. It really pissed me off, but it was certainly eye opening.

My guess is that they were respectful of authority & complied with the officers. Just a hunch, though.

While this doesn't necessarily make the stop valid, it sure helps deescalate things.

I was pulled over & searched on 285, the bypass/loop, around Atlanta amid a group of vehicles all speeding simply because I made eye contact with the driver of a random white SUV parked on the side of the road. It turned out he was a K9 officer. He said my vehicle had a funny smell. He called for back up, had me step on the other side of the guard rail, searched my person, & then he & the dog searched the vehicle.

All I got was a warning ticket...& he took my fake ID that I'd had for 3 years without incident, it was a few moons ago & a few months before I turned 21, damnit, I let him search my wallet. It's amazing what a little civility, compliance, & respect can do.

Side note to you whippersnappers: William Wallace is not a good fake ID pseudonym, whether you're "from Kentucky" or not.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

+1. Sorry, esplanade. You contribute a lot to the board in my opinion, but lately you've been painting with broad strokes from your soap box to educate us inbred yokels who aren't as cultured as you are.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

I always laughed hysterically when I saw pasty-faced white boys riding around in their Honda Civic blasting gangsta-rap.

Guilty as charged. I went through a rap phase as well. Showing my age here, or youth, depending on your perspective. I was a No Limit pasty-face honky. I remember getting stares when I had to drive my mom's red Mazda Protege, in which I used my Discman & that corded tape deck accessory thing, to blare C- Murder & Mystikal (albums I had to hide from the parental units).

Yet, I grew up. That said, to this day, I can still rap along to TRU's "Torcher Chamber" without missing a beat. No, I don't know if the misspelling was intentional or not.

DMX's "Flesh of my Flesh" is still a good album as a complete body of work. Repercussions & ramifications of "thug life" are addressed. Clearly, he didn't take any of those "songs" to heart in his personal life.

Would I claim Master P, et al or DMX were just products of the time with a poignant message that holds true to all generations? No, but they sold a **** ton of albums & even I, not their target demographic, shelled out cash for them. Yet, I grew up.

I'll leave you with this:

 

[Shamoan]

bump