Overview
"Straight Outta Compton" is a song by American hip hop group N.W.A. It was released on July 10, 1988 as the lead single from their debut album of the same name. It also appears on N.W.A's Greatest Hits with an extended mix and The Best of N.W.A: The Strength of Street Knowledge. The song samples "Funky Drummer" by James Brown, "You'll Like It Too" by Funkadelic, "West Coast Poplock" by Ronnie Hudson and the Street People, "Get Me Back on Time, Engine No. 9" by Wilson Pickett, "Amen, Brother" by The Winstons, and "One for the Treble" by Davy DMX. It was voted number 19 on About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs, and is ranked number 6 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.
In 2015, "Straight Outta Compton" debuted at number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the issue dated September 5, 2015 as a result of the recent releases of the group's film of the same name and Dr. Dres Compton; it was the highest debut on the chart that week. This became the group's first top 40 hit song, in large part due to lack of airplay since N.W.A was banned from many radio stations in the 1980s, charting 27 years after its initial release and 24 years since the group originally disbanded. In 2021, Rolling Stone listed the song at #248 on their updated list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Content
"Straight Outta Compton" is a hip hop song. The group N.W.A. comes from Compton in Southern California. The opening verse is rapped by Ice Cube. MC Ren delivers the second, and Eazy-E the third verse. Dr. Dre does the intro as well as introducing Eazy E's verse. Eazy-E also introduces MC Ren's verse.
Tributes
The song, especially Ice Cube's verse is referenced quite often by rappers, and not infrequently by Cube himself.
In the song "Compton" by The Game, he says "Nigga, I'ma keep on stompin', comin' straight outta Compton".
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).