Gangster rap had been around before N.W.A. But when the Compton, California rap group and its visionary Eazy-E released its Straight Outta Compton and Eazy-Duz-It albums in 1988, the genre shifted, thanks in large part to N.W.A’s song “_ _ _ _ Tha Police.”
“That was a breakthrough,” Triple OG T. Rodgers, a crisis management consultant who helped squash the beef between The Game and Young Thug and who was a Bloods gang founder, says during an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. “That was a time of bucking the system. It was a time that turned the music industry on its ass. It was a time where the indy record labels were a spit away.”
T. Rodgers was in the Los Angeles area streets that Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren and DJ Yella discussed in their music. The Chicago native says that the group’s material helped lead to the popularization of the Los Angeles street lifestyle, which is being chronicled in the Straight Outta Compton biopic on the group, which is slated to arrive in theaters August 14.
“It spread across the word through, quote unquote, ‘Gangster Rap,’” he says. “The word ‘gangster’ is synonymous with ‘thug,’ which is synonymous with ‘nigga’ or ‘Negro.’”
N.W.A’s success and status as an independent rap group also changed the way rap was treated within the music industry.
“It was a time when we broke away and we started to go North to freedom because we could do this on our own,” T. Rodgers says. “Don’t give me no Newports and Puma sweats.
“That was a time when brothers had a supreme understanding of what they were supposed to do on the streets,” he adds. “There was a code, an unwritten code.”
One of the most significant parts of N.W.A’s success, T. Rodgers says, is that Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, who are among the producers of the film, have a hand in making the Straight Outta Compton movie.
“Those that were part of that are in a position to tell their story,” T. Rodgers says, “as opposed to someone else telling his story.”
For additional Ice Cube, Eazy-E and Dr. Dre coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
Why give a motherfucker like him the time of day. Scumbags like him are the reason dumb niggas kill each other over colors.
You don’t know the history of the gangs obviously or that the gangs may be part of the reason we haven’t been completely wiped out yet. The man doesn’t respect good negroes. The man respects power and violence. You can see that with how they deal with the rest of the world when they want something from them. You can yessah boss all day and the only thing it’s gonna get you is a foot up your ass. Take a look around. Listen to MLK’s speeches AFTER I have a dream and get your head out of the sand. They didn’t kill MLK for his dream, they killed him for shining some light after he came to his senses. He was more leaning toward Malcolm’s words at the end of his life.
Triple OG’s like him wasn’t part of the problem. His generation of was about trying to heal a already problem going on in impoverished neighborhood with the police before gangsta rap ever existed. Not all black gangs in the 60’s and 70’s from Los Angeles to Chicago wasn’t about killing one another, but to put a end police harassment and utilize ways to create jobs and independence for our families. But the sad sorry behind the Golden plan was ruined by the government to spread more drugs and deadly diseases to break down the any plans of improvement.
That is so true but you have dumb white people in gangs, dumb Hispanics in gangs and dumb other races in gangs. People got mad cause the dumb niggas started making a lot of money.
Please be respectful of Mr. ROdgers . He means a lot to some people.. B kareful when in public voicing those comments. . On line or in the world b the same person. Thanx
Mr. Rogers Ain’t a O.G, he’s a B.G (Baby Gangsta)