Straight Outta Compton  by N.W.A.

The N.W.A. album could have stopped at its first three songs and still would have been decisive for what would happen in the immediate following years on the West Coast of the USA in the hip hop scene. Straight Outta Compton sparked as intense discussions as few albums have caused in the entire history of pop & rock music. On the other hand, the production of the album was simple and sparse, but at the same time, the songs indicated that it was from another era that was on the way.

What was inconceivable was that N.W.A. spoke through their songs about social injustice, drugs and guns, about police violence against the black community of Los Angeles, and about what they thought of the police forces as if they were talking among their friends. Straight Outta Compton as an album was among the albums that established the term gangsta rap.

The album reached No.4 on the Billboard chart, and its sales reached and exceeded 3,000,000 copies in the United States alone. Among its contributors were Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Easy E, who would have their own personal careers and play an extremely decisive role in shaping what was called "West Coast hip-hop."