More than 30 music critics wrote to the magazine’s editor, protesting the article 'made seem gigantically more violent, obscene and confrontational than it is. Journalists scrapped over provocative articles like The Rap Attitude by Newsweek’s Jerry Adler. Gangsta rap remained a political hot potato into the 1990s, with politicians such as Bill Clinton admonishing Sister Souljah and Dan Quayle criticising Ice-T’s Cop Killer – in what some would call cynical attempts to garner easy votes with conservatives. But later, after pressure from the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), the FBI backed down. The police rushed the stage and the band scattered. At a show in Detroit, while the crowd chanted ‘Fuck tha Police’, Ice Cube attempted to start the song. The group’s promoters tried to encourage them not to perform the offending number. The letter arrived while NWA were on tour, where police were showing up at each concert. This prompted FBI assistant director Milt Ahlerich to issue a letter to NWA’s record label, which stated, “Music plays a significant role in society”, and claimed the song “encourages violence against and disrespect for the law enforcement officer.” A newsletter called Focus on the Family Citizen ran the headline: “Rap Group NWA says ‘Kill Police’”. They called themselves ‘the world’s most dangerous group’ and on their most notorious song, Fuck tha Police, told a story of police brutality and discrimination in a retribution fantasy in which Ice Cube raps that “police think they have the authority to kill a minority”.īy the summer of 1989, a right-wing backlash against the group was in full force. The negative attention only gave NWA further fame and with it, album sales.

There was however a distinct shift towards rap hip hop in the early ‘90s, which brought about an additional racial issue, especially because the black music of hip hop had a wide appeal and crossed over into white markets.” Sociology professor Mathieu Deflem explains how the issue of race came into the debate: “Initially, the PMRC was focused mostly on heavy metal, which was very popular in the ‘80s, and thus on white people’s music. Some songs were deleted from albums altogether and retail chains such as Walmart refused to stock PAL-stickered records in an attempt to brand themselves ‘family-friendly’. To avoid losing sales, record companies had artists re-record songs and albums with ‘clean’ versions that could be sold alongside those bearing a PAL. Their considerable political clout enabled them to bring a senate hearing debate on “porn rock” and, along with the National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), encourage the Recording Industry Association of America to introduce the PAL. In addition to Gore, the PMRC also included Susan Baker, wife of Secretary of the Treasury James Baker, and other prominent women who were referred to as the ‘Washington Wives’. The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was a committee formed in 1985, after its co-founder, Mary ‘Tipper’ Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice President Al Gore, recognised references to masturbation in a song her daughter was listening to: Prince’s Darling Nikki.

The emergence of the Parental Advisory Label sheds light on the atmosphere of the decade – one in which music was the subject of rigorous cultural and even political debate. Straight Outta Compton was one of the first records to receive a Parental Advisory Label (PAL), the ubiquitous black-and-white stickers that warn parents of explicit content. “Gangsta rap forced America to confront the issues in its ghettos, and its realities were shocking when presented so explicitly on a recording that white suburban teenagers coveted,” Kot suggests. It was the crossover into mainstream white American culture that provoked concern among the US establishment, parent groups and the religious right – and caught the attention of law-enforcement agencies. “With their urban-canyon echoing drums and casual descriptions of explosive violence,” he wrote, “the new myths of crack, guns and gangs sounded a lot larger than life.” For a new generation, these sounds held an enthralling appeal. Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, called it “the new Blues”.

“The Dr Dre production was lean, driving, and funky, with rhymes dropping like nails atop the beats.” “Straight Outta Compton defined the West Coast sound,” explains the Chicago Tribune music critic and writer Greg Kot, who reviewed the LP when it was released in 1989.

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