Hip-Hop Evolution (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - The Birth of Gangsta Rap - full transcript

["Hip Hop" by Dead Prez]

♪ Uh, uh, uh, 1, 2, 1, 2 ♪

♪ Uh, uh, 1, 2, 1, 2, uh, uh ♪

♪ One thing 'bout music
When it hit, you feel no pain ♪

♪ White folks say
it controls your brain ♪

♪ I know better than that, that's game ♪

♪ And we ready for that
Two soldiers, head of the pack ♪

♪ Matter of fact, who got the gat? ♪

♪ And where my army at? ♪

♪ Rather attack and not react ♪

♪ It's bigger than hip-hop
Hip-hop, hip-hop, hip ♪



♪ It's bigger than hip-hop
Hip-hop, hip-hop ♪

[sirens blaring]

[dance music]

♪

[Shad] New York City
is the undisputed

birthplace of hip hop.

♪

New York's pioneering
hip hop artists

created a sound and culture

that gave a voice to young
black urban America.

♪ Boom boom boom ♪

♪ Boom boom boom ♪

[Shad]
But on the West Coast,

it was a different story.



It's been said in Los Angeles

everybody's a star

but the stars of the early
'80s L.A. music scene

were the furthest thing from hip hop.

["And my beat goes boom"
by Egyptian Lover]

♪ Boom boom boom boom boom ♪

♪ I live in L.A. ♪

♪ There's lots of catch action there ♪

♪ Say freak menage a trois ♪

♪ Come closer, dear ♪

♪ Let's pretend you're a Ferrari ♪

♪ and I will drive ♪

♪ I'm gonna show you
why Egyptian Lover ♪

♪ Is so live ♪

♪ And my beat goes boom ♪

♪ Boom boom ♪

♪ Boom boom boom ♪

[MC Eiht]
At that time in L.A.,

we didn't have history of "rap."

We didn't have, like,

Grandmaster Flash
with "The Messages"

and-and the
Treacherous Three's,

you know, in the parks
with the light poles

and setting up in the
empty apartments

and the break dancing.

Our scene

for a long time was
strictly techno,

like, we didn't want to come
out of the Donna Summer,

KC & The Sunshine Band era.

[Arabian Prince]
You know, on the east coast

it was more about

poverty in the streets

and the government.

And on the west
coast we were, like,

party, women.

You know, party and
women, that was it.

[Lonzo Williams]
We were laid back

'cause we out in L.A., man, you know.

Shit, we by the beach.
We ten minutes from the beach.

What are we mad
about? Okay?

♪ Hey, Baby Doll ♪

♪ There's a new guy in town ♪

♪ I'm rockin', girl, I'm shockin ♪

♪ Every chick around ♪

[Arabian Prince]
Most of the parties back then

were either at roller skating rinks

or people would rent out little ballrooms

and have like these little things.

[DJ Yella]
The scene would be more like,

you know, you got a couple
of turntables, a mixer

you know, and you
just go do parties

and you didn't
make no money but

back then DJ'ing was like

being a star.

♪ Now it's time ♪

♪ To rock this place ♪

♪ Rock the party so hearty ♪

♪ See the sweat on your face ♪

[Lonzo Williams]
So it was about four or five promoters

at that time

that were

specializing in doing mobile parties.

[Greg Mack]
Groups like Uncle Jam's Army,

who was the biggest
concert promoter

in Los Angeles.

You also had, uh,

World Class Wreckin' Cru.

♪ Seven days a week ♪

♪ He's on call ♪

♪ To get the party
people up off the wall ♪

[MC Eiht] From The World Class
Wreckin' Cru you had

Dr. Dre,

DJ Yella,

Lonzo came up out of there.

♪ I'm Dr. Dre ♪

♪ Gorgeous hunk of a man ♪

♪ Doing tricks on the mix ♪

♪ Like no others can ♪

♪ The nurses say I'm cute ♪

♪ They say I'm fine ♪

♪ So you betta beware ♪

♪ Because I'll blow your mind ♪

The inspiration behind

Wreckin' Cru's image and sound

was pussy.

Straight out, okay.

Everybody was trying to sell sex

and we was trying to buy it, okay.

Bottom line.

Understand this, we were in
the middle of the Prince,

Morris Day, Vanity Six era, okay.

That's why we had the Jheri Curls

and the sequin suits 'cause

there were no tennis shoe,

t-shirt, jean groups
out there at this time.

So World Class Records had
to come up with an image

that was gonna be sexy
enough to get laid

after the show.

Dr. Dre to surgery,
Dr. Dre to surgery.

[B-Real]
Kids out here in Los Angeles

would be fucking
waiting every Friday night

to hear that shit that
they were gonna play.

[vinyl scratching]

[B-Real] And then they'd go fucking
pop, lock and break

and battle each other out.

[vinyl scratching]

[Arabian Prince]
Uncle Jam had already moved up

and they were doing like,

the Sports Arena and,

and doing, you know,

like the Convention Center,

five, ten thousand people.

No MC's, only DJ'S.

So people would come

just to see the DJ's perform.

They would have a hundred speakers

stacked up like it was a concert.

It was a party scene, man.

It's what started that thing.

It was the, that west coast party.

[heavy drum machine beats]

♪

♪

[Shad]
L.A.'s music scene was all about the party

and Dr. Dre might have been on the mic

but the World Class Wreckin' Cru

had more in common with
Prince and Funkadelic

than Run-D.M.C.

But there was one
dancer that was popping

and locking on the pier

who would eventually
put L.A. rap

on the map.

[dance beats]

♪

[Ice T]
Hey-hey, Coco?

Oh, that's you, I thought
that was the dog.

Oh, you over there
squeaking that shit.

Hey-hey Max,
Max, Coco?

Did she leave?

[Shad]
She left. It's okay.

[Ice-T] Uh, King Max, you
can't-- You gotta chill.

This motherfucker right here,

he'll go away.

He'll go away.

[Shad] So let's talk about the
early L.A. scene.

You've described the,

what the west coast
added sonic,

some more musicality.

Well, we didn't have a sound.

We didn't have a sound

because our sound was techno.

I used to call it aerobic music.

Lots of breathing.

[inhaling and exhaling]

[Ice-T]
You know, we were dressed kind of crazy.

It was all pastel colors and shit.

Fila sweat suits, K-Swiss.

You know, I had a perm.

Niggas was wearing perms,

trying to look like, looking sharp.

Everybody looked goofy back then.

You know, that was the time,

that was the era.

But I look at it today,

I kinda cringe.

We were pop locking and breaking

and doing all that kind of stuff too

but L.A.'s musical scene was secondary

to the gang scene,

the hustling scene.

[heavy drum machine beats]

♪

[Ice-T]
The stars of L.A.

were drug dealers and gangsters

and hustlers.

Where I came up you had the

Rollin' 60s Crips,

the Hoover Crips,

the 30s which are called
the Harlem Crips.

Then you had the Family,

which was the Inglewood Brims.

Pirus, Athens Park Boys,
Denver Lane.

I basically was in

the Crips side of the gang thing

'cause that's what's surrounding Crenshaw.

But I was never

jumped into a gang.

I was what would be considered

a gang affiliate.

A gang affiliate will wear the colors

but you're not

a hardcore gang member.

But if you get yourself
connected to players,

the world flips backwards.

Doing what's right is for suckers

and you're living in a world

with all these villains,

fiends and scoundrels and

you take pride in that.

It's really strange.

It's really strange.

[laughs]

The world actually becomes backwards.

♪

[Ice-T]
It was a turning point in my life,

you know, I had one foot in the graveyard,

the other one on a banana peel.

The streets are pulling me this way,

you know, I already got a Porsche,

I got jewelry,

I look like a rapper

but I'm stealin' and robbin' and

doing what

street niggas do.

Hip hop was just starting to happen and

it just gave me a chance to kinda

sit back and realize, like,

I can't just live the game,

I gotta document the game.

So I stated making Crip rhymes

and a Crip rhyme would go like,

"Rollin' through the city
in the middle of the night,

niggas on my left

and niggas on my right,

yelling Ca-Ca-Career
to every nigga I see.

If you bad enough come fuck with me.

I seen another nigga,
I say Crip again.

He say fuck a Crip nigga,

this is Brim.

So we pulled out the Roscoe's,

Roscoe say crack.

I look again, nigga was shooting back.

So we fell to the ground,

aimed for his head,

one more shot,

that nigga was dead.

Walked over to him,

took his gun,

spit in his face and began to run.

So if you see another nigga
laying dead in the street

in a puddle of blood from
his head to his feet,

hope it's time all you busters get hip,

that it's fuck a Brim nigga,

this is west side, Ca-rip."

You know, 'cause being
a Crip affiliate,

sometimes if you keep these wild
motherfuckers entertained,

they like you, you know.

Even gangs have their
entertainment divisions,

you know what I'm saying?

So I just had to figure out

how to put that content

to a beat

and that's where
"6 'n the Mornin'" came from.

♪ 6 'n the mornin'
police at my door ♪

♪ Fresh adidas squeaking
across the bathroom floor ♪

♪ Out my back window
I make my escape ♪

♪ Didn't even get a chance
to grab my old school tape ♪

♪ Mad with no music ♪

♪ But happy 'cause I'm free ♪

♪ And the streets to a
player is the place to be ♪

♪ Gotta knot in my pocket
weighin' at least a grand ♪

♪ Gold on my neck
My pistol's close at hand ♪

[MC Eiht]
When I first heard "6 'n the Mornin'"

I basically was like,

"Oh, this is the
gangbanger's anthem.

This is the drug
dealer's anthem."

It was so like,

"Can he do that?

Like, can he say

they were selling dope?"

Because niggas was doing that.

Like, them was ballers
who did that.

♪ The batter rams rollin' ♪

♪ Rocks are the thing ♪

♪ Life has no meaning ♪

♪ And money is king ♪

So they hear a cat on record
talking about drug dealers,

I was amazed
because it was like

a street anthem

and we didn't have that type of music.

And so just to hear somebody

come into the
forefront to speak about

shit we were seeing every day.

♪ Looked in the mirror ♪

♪ What did we see? ♪

♪ Fuckin' blue lights, L.A.P.D. ♪

Oh, man, I loved Ice-T
for that song,

you know, he was
representing.

That song to me was

our version of what a

day in the life of Los Angeles is like.

[Shad] So when you made
"6 'n the Mornin',"

the term "gangster rap" didn't exist.

You would have probably called,
I read you would have

called that reality rap
or something like that.

I didn't know what it was.

It was reality rap but it really wasn't

because it was just my reality rap.

It wasn't everybody's reality.

I was inspired by a
guy named Schoolly D.

He actually should be

noted with the first gangster rhyme,

you know, Park Side Killers.

When I heard P.S.K.

I was in a club and the beat came on

and I-I said
that shit is,

I called it
dust music.

[beatboxing]

♪

[Shad]
Ice-T may have put L.A. rap on the map

but the roots of gangster
rap go even deeper.

According to Ice himself,

it was a Philly rapper,
Schoolly D,

who birthed gangster rap.

Now Schoolly rarely does interviews

but he made himself available

on one condition.

[knocking]

[Schoolly D]
What's up, brother?

[Shad]
What's going on man?

[Schoolly D]
I'm good, you know.

[Shad]
I got your cake, as requested.

[Schoolly D]
As motherfucking requested.

Let me see what you got.

Alright, motherfucker.

That's what the fuck I'm
talking about, nigga.

Come the fuck over here.

This is awesome, yo.
This is beautiful.

[Shad]
Where does this rate in your

top cakes you've received?

I've got to taste it.

Well, who did this.

[Shad]
No interview if it's not good, right?

Oh, it's actually pretty
fucking good, yo.

[Shad]
We don't mess around.

Alright, let's do the interview.

[P.S.K. 'What Does It Mean?'
by Schoolly D]

♪ PSK, we're makin' that green ♪

♪ People always say ♪

♪ "What the hell
does that mean?" ♪

[Shad]
"P.S.K." was obviously a seminal song.

What inspired that?

It was so fucking amazing

to have the sound of Philadelphia,

to have James Brown come through.

We broke Isaac Hayes,

Earth, Wind & Fire,

we broke Parliament-Funkadelic.

♪ S for the way we scream and shout ♪

♪ One by one I'm knockin’ you out ♪

[Schoolly D]
That sound inspired us

but we had to have our own voice.

We had to be rebellious.

P.S.K., that was the
song where I was like,

I want to make a new way,

a new sound,
a new voice.

And um, my homies was like,

"Well, why don't you just talk about us

'cause that's what you talk about like,

all the time any goddam way,

and finally, and like,

Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx

and Wild Man Steve,

so why don't you just be like that".

[Shad]
What about the sound of "P.S.K."?

How did that
come about?

[Schoolly D]
We went to the studio.

We was high as shit, man.

We were smoking tons of weed.

That's how you got that
goddamn sound, man.

The speakers was being sucked,

it just sucking like, back and forth

and this-and the cat was like,

"Man, these motherfuckers, man,

they gonna fire me tomorrow."

I'm like, "Fuck that bullshit, man,

you're going to keep that shit going."

♪ Drivin’ in my car
down the avenue ♪

♪ Towin’ on a J, sippin’
on some brew ♪

♪ Turn around, see
the fly young lady ♪

♪ Pull to the curb and
park my Mercedes ♪

♪ Sayin’, "Fly lady, now
you're lookin’ real nice ♪

♪ Sweeter than honey
sugar and spice" ♪

♪ Told her my name
was MC Schoolly D ♪

♪ All about makin'
that cash money ♪

♪ She said, "Schoolly D
I know your game ♪

We took it home and I
woke up and I played it.

I was...

I was like, "Man...

how high? What? What the fuck?

I was-I was about to take
some of that reverb out

and this is... this is true shit."

My homies made a bunch of copies

and passed it around the neighborhood.

I walked out the house, man,
and it was just like

the whole neighborhood was just like,

standing there

and just like, goddamn.

They gave me an ovation

and I was on my way to the
studio to change that shit.

I told my boy, Len.

He was like, "Motherfucker,
you change that shit

we gonna shoot your
motherfucking ass.

This shit is the shit.

It's the fucking shit."

♪ A thought ran across
my educated mind ♪

♪ Said, "Man, Schoolly D
ain't doin’ no time" ♪

♪ Grabbed the microphone
and I started to talk ♪

♪ Sucker-ass nigga, man
He started to walk ♪

[Kurupt]
Schoolly D was one of the first

original gangster rappers.

Ice-T said,

"This is where I got this record from.

'P.S.K. we making that green,

people always sa, 'What
the hell does that mean?''"

I said, "What record
did you get from there?"

"6'n the mornin', police at my door,

fresh Adidas squeaking
across the bathroom floor."

♪ Out my back window
I make my escape ♪

[Ice-T]
"6 'n the Mornin',"

same cadence as Schoolly D,

you know, same laid back approach,

"6 'n the mornin'," it's basically

inspired by him

but I just got a little more graphic.

♪ Gold on my neck
My pistol's close at hand ♪

[Ice-T]
Instead of the yelling that we were doing,

kind of gave you that laid back vibe

of reality.

[Intro to "Colors" by Ice-T]

♪

♪ Colors, colors, colors ♪

[Shad] Ice-T may have taken his
musical cues from Schoolly

but Ice's real inspiration

came from his immediate environment,

the streets of South Central L.A.

And these streets were
becoming more dangerous

and more violent

with the arrival of crack.

♪ Colors, colors ♪

♪ I am a nightmare walking ♪

♪ Psychopath talking ♪

♪ King of my jungle just
a gangster stalking ♪

♪ Living life like a firecracker
quick is my fuse ♪

♪ Vendetta's a death pact
the colors I choose ♪

[reporter] Police estimate that there are
now as many as 600 street gangs

in Los Angeles County

and 70,000 gang members.

Thanks to cocaine,

L.A.'s so-called "homeboys"

have become entrepreneurs
extraordinaire,

selling it has enabled the
gangs to become richer,

armed and better organized.

♪ We gangs of L.A. will never die ♪

♪ Just multiply ♪

♪ Colors ♪

[Ice-T]
Prior to crack,

you know, what did the gangs do?

They low ride.

You know, they start
to sell some weed,

maybe a little bit, a little
hustling here and there,

you know, and you had
different degrees.

You had the robbers,

you had the, the hustlers,

the slick cats, the pick pockets,

the dippers,

just like any other city.

But once you put this product
into the neighborhood

that can make thousands
and thousands of dollars,

it releases a lot
of savage individuals.

♪ My life is violent
but violent is life ♪

♪ Peace is a dream
Reality is a knife ♪

I mean, I got friends
that were making like,

close to ten million dollars a week.

I've had friends

that had so much money
rats were eating it.

Part of the dope game is, you know,

you got the hustlers
and you got the wolves

so you going to sell the dope,

I'm going to wait until you sell
it and I'm going to take it.

It creates an ill dynamic
in the neighborhood.

♪ My homeboy got jacked ♪

♪ My mother's on crack ♪

♪ My sister can't work
'cause her arms show tracks ♪

[MC Eiht]
It would be nerve-racking

just to stand out on the
corner in front of the house

and smoke a cigarette

because there was a
fifty percent chance

somebody's fittin' to come
through here shooting.

There's a chance you could be
sitting at the light in the car

and the car behind you
knows who you are

and they start shooting
at you, you know.

You can't stop at
particular liquor stores,

you gotta make sure
you're in a neutral zone

to get gas,

you know,

because it's a war zone.

Even for the innocent.

You don't know who's
fitting to shoot.

You don't know where the
shots is coming from

and it's a blessing just
to make it back home

and get in your bed at
one o'clock at night

to go, "Man, I got to do all
this shit all over tomorrow."

♪ Give me a break ♪

♪ What world do you live in? ♪

♪ Death is my sect ♪

♪ Guess my religion ♪

♪ Colors ♪

It got in the territories where

you can't come here no more.

"What? But we're here every day."

"Nah, but you can't
come here no more.

We sell dope here now."

And these cats was like,

"I'm taking off my pop locking
clothes and my thing.

Here's the shotgun,

you're going to go throw
down for the family now."

The streets weren't
free no more.

And the music wasn't
so happy no more.

[sirens and heavy beats]

[reporter]
Another night,

another siren
in South Central Los Angeles.

[reporter]
Tonight in Los Angeles

there are some 200 cops
working the streets,

trying somehow to control the gangs.

[Shad]
As the streets of L.A. grew more dangerous

electro DJ's like Dr. Dre,

Arabian Prince

and DJ Yella

would respond to
their new reality,

joining forces with a local hustler

and two prolific lyricists,

they formed the world's
most dangerous group.

♪

[Shad]
So can you tell me,

how did N.W.A. come together?

Well, the N.W.A.
crew came together,

we had Yella and Dre over
with the Wreckin' Cru.

I was doing my thing producing

and me and Dre used to kick it,

like real tight, hang out,

and we were like, "Man, we
want to do something else."

And we were all
talking about that

'cause we were young

and we had records

but we weren't really
getting that money.

♪ Let it rip ♪

[vinyl scratching]

[Brian Cross]
Dre is still making

electro music at the club

and then at the studio he's

starting to work on this new music

which is slower,

which is more menacing,

which is more story-driven.

[heavy beats]

♪

[Cheo H. Coker]
Yella and Dre start thinking,

"What we really should do

is basically make a record about

life in South Central L.A.

Maybe we should recruit
some of the best MC's

in L.A. to be a part
of this super group."

[Arabian Prince]
Dre had met Eazy.

Eazy was a gangster.

And that was one you
don't mess with.

I mean Eazy was like a little

Napoleon dictator kinda like.

He's crazy.

Eazy was straight
crazy from the hood.

But I remember, I think
we were at Eazy's garage,

he had like a little
garage in the back

and we were just
talking about it

He was like, "I got
some money, you know,

I can put some money up,

get some equipment."

Ren's like, "Yeah, let's
just do this record,

put some stuff together
and see if it works."

And Ren actually lived
around the corner from Eazy

so that was
Eazy's homeboy.

Ice Cube used to live
down the street from Dre.

[Ice Cube]
Eazy and Dre picked me up one day.

They just say,

"Yeah, we got the perfect
name for the group.

N.W.A.

And I was like,

"Initials?"

You know what I mean?

The only initials I knew was Run-D.M.C.,

you know what
I'm saying?

So I was like, "N.W.A.,

what dat mean?"

And he said,

"Niggaz Wit Attitudes."

And I was like, "Damn!"

[Arabian Prince]
Cube was like a prolific writer.

I mean, all he would do is sit
down and write all the time,

write, write, write.

"Boyz-N-The Hood,"

that's the one that blew up.

That's what started it all.

♪ Cruising down the
street in my 6-4 ♪

♪ Jockin' the freaks, clockin' the door ♪

[Ice Cube]
I wrote "Boyz-N-The Hood"

in 11th grade, in class,

writing it.

You know, it's like

"6 'n the Mornin'" part two.

I wanted to tell my version
of what L.A. feels like

and then Dre just convinced Eazy

that he should do it.

[Arabian Prince]
At that time,

Eazy wasn't even
thinking about rapping

so it was hard for him
to get the rhythm of it

and Dre would have to

have him do a part,

stop it, punch it,

do another part, stop it, punch it.

But eventually you pieced
it together over hours.

It would get done.

And it just came out like it came out.

And it was dope once it sounded done

'cause he had such a unique voice.

♪ Motherfucker say what? ♪

♪ Dolla b'z in the place
to give me the pace ♪

♪ He said my man JB
is on freebase ♪

♪ The boy JB was
a friend of mine ♪

♪ Till I caught him in my car
tryin' to steal a Alpine ♪

[Brian Cross] Eazy-E sounds like he just
came into the studio

after selling some
weed or crack.

It has that immediacy.

He's not a reporter,
he's not a narrator.

He's a participant.

♪ 'Cuz the boyz in the
hood are always hard ♪

♪ You come talkin' that trash
We'll pull your card ♪

[Ice Cube]
"Boyz-N-The Hood"

is a great introduction

to what we would
eventually develop into

and so many things have

sparked from that one
song, you know.

[DJ Yella]
When we did the "Boyz-N-The Hood,"

you know, that was it.

This is the direction
we're going, right there.

No more techno whatever
you want to call it.

Electric died in L.A. that day.

It was like a page in
the book just turned.

That was over.

We didn't look back. Nothing.

♪ You are now about to
witness the strength ♪

♪ Of street knowledge ♪

♪

♪

♪ Straight outta Compton ♪

♪ Crazy motherfucker
named Ice Cube ♪

♪ From the gang called
Niggaz Wit Attitudes ♪

[B-Real]
When N.W.A. came,

that shit hit the block,

it was bananas.

We were like, "What the fuck is this?"

♪ That's how
I'm goin' out ♪

♪ For the punk
motherfuckers ♪

♪ That's showin' out
Niggaz start to mumble ♪

What was it like hearing
that first N.W.A. record?

Oh, man, let me see.

How can I say it?

Like a out of mother
fucking body experience.

♪ Mix 'em and cook 'em
in a pot like gumbo ♪

♪ Goin' off on the
motherfucker like that ♪

[Ice-T]
When N.W.A. hit,

they hit like
a ton of bricks.

When Cube said, you know,

"From a gang called,
Niggaz Wit Attitudes",

not a group, we're a gang.

♪ AK-47 is the tool ♪

♪ Don't make me act the
motherfuckin' fool ♪

[Kid Frost]
"Straight Outta Compton"

was a testimony of the repression

that the streets of

south central L.A. had been feeling

for a long, long time.

[Eazy E] Yo, Ren
[MC Ren] Whassup?

[Eazy E]
Tell 'em where you from!

♪ Straight outta Compton ♪

♪ Another crazy-ass nigga ♪

♪ More punks I smoke ♪

♪ Yo, my rep gets bigger ♪

♪ I'm a bad motherfucker
and you know this ♪

♪ But the pussy-ass
niggas won't show this ♪

[MC Eiht] It was just some brothers
telling the truth

about where they came from.

Not everybody was able to see

the reality of what gang life was.

It's about

the police brutality.

It's about the poverty.

It's about homeboys being killed.

N.W.A. showed the world

this is how we are on the west coast.

This is how we grew up.

This is what we go through

and now everybody can
experience our world.

♪ Straight outta Compton ♪

♪

♪ City of Compton ♪

♪ City of Compton ♪

[reporter]
Before we get into our next story,

we do have a warning
for you tonight.

What you are about to see and hear

may not be suitable for everyone.

Not all music stars, as you know,

are model citizens

but now a few musicians
have taken that

to new heights.

You may have never heard
of some of these stars,

but your kids have.

They're heroes to a
whole new generation.

[Arabian Prince]
It became big news,

I remember

on TV

they were talking about it.

That's when I knew it was serious like,

taking our records
and bulldozing them

or burning them or whatever
they were talking about doing

it was, like, crazy.

[woman]
Gangster means

one who engages in
criminal activities

and that's what gangster rap

is doing to our children,

turning them into gangsters.

We now propose one
generic warning label

to inform consumers

in the marketplace

about lyric content.

[Arabian Prince]
That's what scared Tipper Gore

and those kind of
people in the government,

it was the fact that

here's a type of music

that's now transcended

into regular America.

The young kids in the
suburbs across the country,

in the white neighborhoods,

they was like,

"Oh, yeah, my mamma don't
want me to hear this."

Any time your parents said no,

you're gonna go get that.

Hey, Mom!

[MC Eiht]
When white America was like,

"Oh, my kids are putting on

Raiders hats and they're going out

striking up walls and, you know,

being somebody that they're not."

They scared.
That shit'll scare you.

♪

♪ City of Compton
City of Compton ♪

[Shad] N.W.A. had sparked the
fear in suburban America

and hip hop was a new menace,

threatening living rooms across the nation.

And one N.W.A. song would
have the highest level

of U.S. national security

knocking on their studio door.

♪

♪ Fuck the police coming
straight from the underground ♪

♪ A young nigga got it
bad cause I'm brown ♪

♪ And not the other
color so police think ♪

♪ They have the authority
to kill a minority ♪

♪ Fuck that shit, 'cause
I ain't the one ♪

♪ For a punk motherfucker
with a badge and a gun ♪

♪ To be beating on
And thrown in jail ♪

♪ We can go toe to toe in
the middle of a cell ♪

♪ Fucking with me
'cause I'm a teenager ♪

♪ With a little bit of
gold and a pager ♪

♪ Searching my car
Looking for the product ♪

♪ Thinking every nigga
is selling narcotics ♪

[Shad]
I wanted to ask you,

do you remember coming
up with the concept

for "Fuck Tha Police"?

Yeah, I remember
coming up with it.

Um, the-the issue was Dre

had, you know,

he was always getting tickets.

He was always getting arrested.

He was always, you know,

having issues with the police.

You know, Dre go to jail three,
four weekends in a row

and I'm like, "Man,

fuck these police, man,"
you know what I mean?

They just arresting good
dudes and letting criminals,

I'm looking at all these
criminal dope-dealing

dudes everywhere and,
you know,

so I'm-I'm just frustrated.

I'm mad

and I wrote the song and uh,

everybody was like, "Yo,
whoa, wait a minute, man.

Are you ready to grapple with these

sheriffs and LAPD around here?
You ready to do that?"

And I'm like, "Man,
we got to do something."

♪ A young nigga
on the war path ♪

♪ And when I finish ♪

♪ It's gonna be
a blood bath ♪

[DJ Yella]
People always wanted to say it,

they just wouldn't say it in public.

But once we finally did it

everybody was just like,

"I always wanted to say that."

When they came out with

"Fuck Tha Police",

everybody's like "Oh, oh,"

but all of us black
guys, we were like,

"You know what?
Fuck the police!"

'Cause we were living it

and we were getting pulled over.

If I went to dinner with a white lady

uh, I would get pulled over

'cause they thought I was pimping her.

[officer] You know what would make
me feel real good today?

Putting you in jail.

It's almost like somebody's
got to hit you in the head

with a brick, you know?

[B-Real]
They were cold blooded, man.

If you looked a certain way,

they were, you know,

profiling you right off the bat.

[officer]
Spread 'em.

[B-Real]
Throwing you up against the whip,

roughing you up.

They were as much of a gang

as the gangs were.

You know, just
more organized.

[crowd yelling]

We had a police chief

that considered us the
gorillas in the mist.

They considered every day was war.

L.A. has got more aggressive police.

You know, they're like robots.

They're all in the gym,
they got their vests on.

When you see them coming

they're not coming to say
anything nice to you.

They was fucking with us.

[crowd yelling]

[crowd yelling]

[Ice-T] "Fuck Tha Police"
came right after the

big gang sweeps that happened

where they was jacking
everybody in L.A.,

bringing us to the L.A. Coliseum

and fingerprinting

the whole fucking neighborhood.

I mean, I'm talking about
all of South Central.

It's documented.

[Ras Kass]
They constantly target you.

Sometimes, you know,

there's the responsibility

that we all got to say,

"Man, that shit is fucked up."

You know, nobody tells you

there's something wrong
with being black,

you just start feeling it.

They make you feel
that fucking way.

♪ Without a gun and a badge
What do ya got? ♪

♪ A sucker in a uniform
waitin’ to get shot ♪

♪ By me, or another nigga ♪

I think it kind of caught
the police off guard

to where they just
didn't think like,

they would be that bold

but freedom of speech, man,

you know what I'm saying?

I mean, I kind of figured

it would catch them
some bad press.

I had no idea it would
be that extreme.

♪ But take off the gun so
you can see what's up ♪

♪ And we'll go at it punk
And I'ma fuck you up! ♪

[reporter]
The group's name itself is controversial.

Niggaz Wit Attitude,

known as N.W.A.,

has taunted law enforcement

with its lyrics urging
violence against police.

♪ I'm a sniper with
a hell of a scope ♪

♪ Taking out a cop or two ♪

♪ They can't
cope with me ♪

♪ The motherfucking
villain that's mad ♪

[Eazy-E]
Put the dot on your target,

then you blow the shit
out of the motherfucker.

♪ Fuck Tha Police ♪

[Arabian Prince]
I just remember,

our manager at the time,

Jerry Heller, talking
about it but it was

pretty much the FBI going,

"You can't rap this.

You can't say this."

Yeah, we can.

Like, "You going to stop us?"

[Ice Cube]
Yo, can y'all hear?

[cheering]

[Ice Cube]
Hey, sound man,

pump that shit up.

[Arabian Prince]
I remember we did a big show in Detroit.

We got off the airplane,

the police were waiting
for us at the airport

and I remember Dre talking
back to the police

and they tried to,
you know, take him,

didn't arrest him, they just
kind of harassed him,

took him away for a while.

They said, "You can't
sing that song."

They were like,

"Not in our city."

Like, "We run this right here.

We're the police.

We ain't gonna allow it."

Since we been doing
these records and shit,

we been getting a lot of flack.

[DJ Yella]
Detroit was packed,

you know, twelve,
fifteen thousand people

and for some reason,

I don't know who
came up with it,

I heard it come on
and I'm just like,

"We ain't supposed to
be playing this song."

♪ Fuck the police, coming
straight from the underground ♪

♪ A young nigga got it
bad 'cause I'm brown ♪

[DJ Yella]
When that song came on,

every cop from that place
came rushing the stage.

We left the stage.

We just left everything there.

We didn't get paid that night for that.

[Arabian Prince]
That Detroit thing was crazy, man.

They stormed the
freaking stage.

You know, that's crazy.

Who was the gang there?

[police radio chatter]

[Ice-T]
That concert was just

totally out of control.

It's a lot of tension with the cops.

Thank God for videotape
recorder, you know,

'cause they-they felt
they was a gang.

[helicopter buzzing]

[foreboding music]

♪

[Ice Cube]
On April 29th,

a guy came in and was like,

"Cube, you know, I know that
you probably don't know now

but, man, none of the
officers were found guilty".

[Jury Foreman]
We the jury,

in the above entitled action,

find the defendant, Laurence M. Powell,

not guilty of the crime of assault.

[man]
Congratulations.

I just kind of went into a fog.

I was like, "Damn."

[reporter]
Hundreds of people came by

just to try to get in the courtroom but

only about seventeen seats in there

so they couldn't get in

but here's the reaction afterwards.

How can we be calm

with all of this technical,
political nonsense?

[crowd chanting in protest]

And I'm hearing that the uprising started.

[dramatic music]

♪

[crowd chanting] No justice, no peace!

♪

[sirens blaring]

[reporter] Good evening. Los Angeles
is a city under curfew as fires,

looting and street violence continue.

All this a reaction to the acquittal

of four white police officers

in the beating of black
motorist, Rodney King.

[man]
Rodney King!

[officer]
No part in the city is safe.

We're stretched so thin.

They know it.

They're playing everything
they can against us.

[Ice Cube]
All the homies were out there

so I drove down to see them

and you got everything
burning all around us and

it's going crazy and
they saying, you know,

"Cube, man, get the
hell out of here, man.

You don't have to be down
here, man, don't do that."

You know, and I'm like,

"I need to see what's going on."

[man]
What's taking place right now is revenge

for the Rodney King trial,
the verdicts.

Unjust.

[Eazy-E]
I think that somebody should come out

and do a song called,
"Fuck Tha Police".

[female reporter]
Somebody did do that.

Is that right?

[female reporter]
Yeah.

Two years ago before this
even happened, you did that.

That's because we
foreseen the future.

See, a lot of people
didn't like the song

but now

they understand.

[Kid Frost]
When I heard "Fuck Tha Police"

it was, "Wow, they had enough.

You pushed us to the brink.

You pushed us to the edge."

They're telling you the anger of

thousands of kids that didn't
get the chance.

That got in a police car

and got handcuffed in the back of it

and got sweated for no reason.

It's still, you know,

using our voice as a
weapon against oppression.

Um, and that's why
that song holds up.

I think it voiced the angst

and the frustration
and the anger we had.

It made everything
we were saying valid

and, you know, it wasn't like
we went and said

"I told you so" to
America, but you know?

Fuck it. We told you so.

[Shad]
For the many critics of hip hop,

the L.A. rebellion

rearranged the perception
of gangster rap.

Their rhymes were no
longer viewed as a menace.

They were now dispatches
from the front line.

The west coast had America's attention

and in this post-rebellion climate

of fear and anticipation,

the newly solo Dr. Dre

recorded an album

that would reshape
the future of hip hop

and American popular culture.

♪ This is your chronic doc
radio station ♪

♪ So you gots to be listening to
The chronic ♪

♪ Creepin' down the
back street on deez ♪

♪ I got my glock cocked
'cuz niggas want these ♪

♪ Now soon as I said it
Seems I got sweated ♪

♪ By some nigga with a
tech 9 tryin' to take mine ♪

♪ Ya wanna make noise
Make noise ♪

♪ I make a phone
call my niggas ♪

♪ Comin' like the
Gotti boys ♪

[Arabian Prince]
I remember right after Dre, he left

Ruthless,

you know, and N.W.A. to go
do his thing,

me, Yella and Dre had
a meeting at my house

and I had, like, a little studio
in my house at the time and

Dre was talking about,
man, you know,

"I'm about to go do my thing,"

and that's when he had
first hooked up with Suge,

that whole thing.

Like, Death Row was
just about to happen

and I remember
going down to um,

S.O.L.A.R. Records
building at the time,

they had a studio and Dre
was in there doing some stuff

in the studio just and
Suge had set it up.

[Snoop Dogg]
Put it on.

I got my natural.
I'm an effect for the nine-trey.

Ah, fuck a bald head, really,
though, I'm with the afro.

So you don't know, so
we don't love them hoes.

[man]
Dr. Gin and juice.

[background chatter]

[Arabian Prince]
I remember going down there.

I'm sitting in that studio,
I knew nobody.

I'm like, I knew Dre,

and I kinda knew Suge,

but everybody else,
real gangsters.

You know what I mean?

I think Dre needed those kind of people

to give him that, uh, justification

to do that Chronic album.

♪ There's a lot of people out
there be talking all that ♪

♪ But I could kick a fat
fat type of known rap ♪

♪ See when talk all that
You know I like to show up ♪

♪ Niggas think they cocaine
Knowin' that they blow up ♪

We came up with the name, The Chronic,

which was the name
on the streets for orange bud

'cause it was just so bomb,

it was indica,

see, and it was something that
nobody else had

but California

so Snoop said you need
to name your album

"The Chronic" because
it's the bomb.

♪

Snoop, kick it.

♪ If you're wicked now
kick it, slick it, ♪

♪ Not with them condom
hoes, coochie ones ♪

♪ I don't need them hoes
'cause I'm just so smooth ♪

♪ Break the beat
out for me ♪

♪ I'm the fucking Dr. Dre's
on the piano ♪

The Chronic was not just about, uh,

what was going on, but more about

how we felt about what's going on.

Dr. Dre was like,

"You got to rap about something
people can relate to, man."

♪ Just another
motherfuckin day for Dre ♪

♪ So I begin like this ♪

♪ No medallions, dreadlocks
Or black fists ♪

♪ It's just that gangster glare ♪

♪ With gangster raps ♪

♪ That gangster shit ♪

♪ Makes the gangs snaps, uhh ♪

♪ Word to the
motherfuckin streets ♪

♪ And word to these hyped-ass
lyrics and dope beats ♪

♪ That I hit ya with
That I, get ya with ♪

♪ As I groove in my four on deez
Hittin’ the switches ♪

♪ Bitches relax while I
get my proper swerve on ♪

♪ Bumpin’ like a motherfucker
ready to get my serve on ♪

♪ But before I hit
the dope spot ♪

♪ I gotta get the chronic, the
Rémy Martin and my soda pop ♪

♪ Now I'm smellin’
like Indo-nesia ♪

♪ Bus stop full of fly
bitches and skeezers ♪

♪ On my dick, 'cause
my four on hit ♪

♪ Pancake front and back, side
to side and all that shit ♪

You know, you could feel how
dangerous the times are

in that record.

♪ It's the motherfucking D-R-E ♪

[Ice Cube]
It was less about

rage or pinpointing these

different issues that we
dealing with in the hood

and it was more about

you still can have fun no matter

what obstacles you facing.

♪ Rollin in my six-fo' ♪

♪ With all the niggas saying ♪

♪ Swing down, sweet chariot
Stop and, let me ride ♪

[Ice Cube]
You know, it captured the house party feel

that we grew up with, you know?

Just hanging, partying,

drinking, smoking, girls,

forget about your problems,
you know what I mean?

It just was the perfect
record at the perfect time.

To me the record really
helped L.A. heal.

♪ Swing down, sweet chariot
Stop and, let me ride ♪

♪ Hell yeah ♪

♪ Swing down, sweet
chariot stop ♪

[Ice-T]
If you say

L.A. sound,

that's Dre.

Initially, we kind of
like stole New York sounds

with a kind of a
west coast influence

and then Dre came
with the G funk.

It's like, doodadada,
you know,

it's to low ride, to ride
with me, you know.

♪ One, two, three
and to the fo' ♪

♪ Snoop Doggy Dogg and
Dr. Dre is at the do' ♪

♪ Ready to make an entrance
So back on up ♪

♪ Cause you know we
'bout to rip shit up ♪

[Cold 187um]
A very hard-edged record

but it's got grooves
on it, you know,

and that's just because
of how in Cali

we're brought
up on grooves.

We're brought up on a
lot of funky stuff,

you know what
I'm saying?

From L.A. to the Bay,
you know,

we're brought up on
real funky music.

You got to move
people, man.

♪ Ain't nothin' but a
G thang, baby! ♪

♪ Two loc'ed out niggas
so we're crazy! ♪

♪ Death Row is the
label that pays me! ♪

♪ Unfadable, so please
don't try to fade this ♪

It was a record that was,

for the first time, not using samples

as it's main base.

It was replayed.

It was instruments.

It was the first time,

you know, hip hop had
accepted melodies

and, and singing
and-and the-the merge,

the true merge with

hip hop and R&B.

♪ Well, I'm peepin', and I'm
creepin', and I'm creep-in' ♪

♪ But I damn near got caught
'cause my beeper kept beepin' ♪

♪ Now it's time for me to
make my impression felt ♪

♪ So sit back, relax, and
strap on your seat belt ♪

♪ You never been on a
ride like this befo' ♪

♪ With a producer who can rap
and control the maestro ♪

♪ At the same time with the
dope rhyme that I kick ♪

♪ You know, and I know, I
flow some ol' funky shit ♪

[Brian Cross]
Nobody was really prepared

for a hip hop record at that moment

that was that hardcore

and that was going to sell

on the level that it did

and have the kind of mainstream

appeal that that record did.

This is about the power
of Dre and Dre's music.

When I heard that I was like,

"Oh, yeah, there it is,"
you know, I mean like,

about time somebody
did this right here

'cause I'm a big funk fan.

I'm a big Parliament-Funkadelic
P-Funk fan

and that album,

that's pretty much what it was.

It was just gangster

Parliament-Funkadelic,
you know?

And I'm like, "Oh they
finally reached the top."

That's it, like,

this is the biggest
thing on planet Earth.

And they were selling
more records than like,

pop music at that time.

♪

[LL Cool J]
It really blew the doors off

the suburbs.

The melodies, the funk,
the grooves.

It was like, yo, it's like he said,

"I'm gonna make a
record for the projects, period,"

and then every suburban kid

got to be a fly on the wall

so they were all in the
window like "Ooh, look at them."

♪ No one can do it
better like this ♪

♪ That and this and uh
It's like that ♪

The mainstream finally
accepted hip hop all the way

and just pulled it on over and
wasn't afraid of it anymore.

♪ It's the capital S, oh yes
I'm fresh, N-double O-P ♪

♪ D-O-double G-Y
D-O-double G ya' see ♪

♪ Showin' much flex when
it's time to wreck a mic ♪

♪ Pimpin' ho's and clockin' a
grip like my name was Dolomite ♪

♪ Yeah, and it don't quit ♪

♪ I think they in a mood for
some motherfucking G shit ♪

♪ So Dre. (What up Dogg?) ♪

♪ We gotta give 'em what they
want (What's that, G?) ♪

♪ We gotta break 'em off
somethin' (Hell yeah) ♪

♪ And it's gotta be bumpin'
(City of Compton!) ♪

♪ It's where it takes place
so I'm a ask your attention ♪

[Shad] In the twenty years between
Dr. Dre's world wide cookout

and Kool Herc's rec room party,

hip hop has been a lot of things.

Sometimes it's lyrically
dexterous and socially aware,

other times raucous
and comedic.

It's mind-exploring poetry,

raw biography

and intelligent rebellions.

But The Chronic made hip hop

the one thing it had never been.

It made it pop music

and made rappers the new pop stars.

And it did it by completely
rewriting the rules

of what a pop star meant.

Hip hop turned the underground

into the mainstream

and the world hasn't
been the same since.

[funky break beats playing]