N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton LP

"Straight Outta Compton" was certified platinum almost a year after its release — no small feat for a group possessed of such deliberately brutal iconography in an era when controversial hip-hop was met with corporeal political and community backlash. Its significance as West Coast hip-hop and gangsta rap's breakthrough album cannot be understated. There were many gangsta rap groups before N.W.A; Boogie Down Productions, Ice-T and Schoolly D were all early adopters, but they lacked a certain severity of image and the support of "Yo! MTV Raps" to broadcast it to the suburbs. There were many more afterward, but few rode the axis between the political and the profane, between senseless brutality and pointed outrage, between street grit and pop pleasantry, as well as N.W.A did with "Straight Outta Compton." And none of their successors would be here if Dre and company hadn't kicked the door down first. -- Billboard

Tracks:

Fuck Tha Police

Gangsta Gangsta

If it Ain't Ruff

Parental Discretion Iz Advised

8 Ball

Something Like That

Express Yourself

Compton's N the House (remix)

I Ain't tha 1

Dopeman

Quiet on tha Set

Something 2 Dance 2