N.W.A Americas Most Dangerous Group

1
N.W.A Americas Most Dangerous Group

• By Michael, Ryan, John, Brandon, and Megan

2
Progression of Rap in the 80s
From Party Rap
To Gangsta Rap
3
NWA Group Members

• DJ Yella

• Dr. Dre

• Ice Cube

• Eazy-E

• MC Ren

4

• Emerged in the late 1980s
• Popularized gangsta rap with Straight Outta
  Compton(1989) album
• Celebrated the violence and hedonism of the
  criminal life, with blunt harsh language

5

• Ice Cubes Departure in 1989
• Clashing egos prevented the recording of a third
  album
• Dr. Dre left for solo career in 1992
• Funky, bass-driven beats to their exaggerated
  lyrics still influence rap today

6
The Situationists and the N.W.A

• If many people did what we wrote, the
  Situationists wrote on last time, it was because
  we wrote the negative we had lived, and that had
  been live by so many others before us (Marcus,
  354)
• N.W.A sang about what they had experienced in
  their own lives just like the situationists wrote
  about what they had experienced.

7

• Situationist writing was a form of criticism,
  and it was a form of noise, directed with equal
  force against all forms of social and political
  organization. (Marcus, 355)
• NWA Fuck The Police Fuck tha police Comin
  straight from the underground Young nigga got it
  bad cuz I'm brown And not the other color so
  police think They have the authority to kill a
  minority

8
The Backlash

• N.W.A received a formal letter from the FBI
  cease and desist performing Fuck Tha Police
  live.
• One of the first groups to receive Parental
  Advisory Sticker on their albums.

9
Strait Outta Compton Lyrics

• Depicts violent environment of Compton.
• Weapons are directly mentioned six times.
• gat, sawed off, AK-47 is the tool.

• Creates an identity for the rappers.
• Hardcore personality traits are mentioned seven
  times.
• crazy motherfuckers, crazy as fuck, crazy
  ass nigga, I dont give a fuck.

10
Ways of Seeing NWA

• Bergers discussion of reproduction applies to
  music.
• When music is mass produced, it changes the
  musics message.
• John Berger Quotes
• Reproduction isolates a detail of a painting
  from the whole (Berger 25).
• In the age of pictorial reproduction the meaning
  of paintings is no longer attached to them
  (Berger 24).
• The uniqueness of every painting was once part
  of the uniqueness of the place where it resided
  (Berger 19).

11
Conclusion

• NWA popularized gangsta rap and made it
  mainstream
• NWA rapped about the streets and way of life in
  the ghetto
• Lipstick Traces shows us that NWA is an important
  part of the hidden history of culture.
• NWAs views can relate to situationists
  doctrine.
• Ways Of Seeing offers up a different perspective
  on how to view NWAs messages in their lyrics.