[LEMONS] 4.15.2002
"Then One Day Along Comes Eazy"
I've seen the Dead, and Pink Floyd and James Brown. I've seen Jane's Addiction (the real thing, not the lollapalooza show or a reunion tour) and Suicidal Tendencies and Nirvana. I've been to ska shows and skinhead stomps. I've suffered through art rock, math rock, and avant-pop shows. I've listened to people setting things on fire and I've been to underground raves and seen big bands pretend to be little ones just to play at that itsy-bitsy club under an assumed name. I've been to shows with Satanism (remember the 80s!) Buddhism, Daoism, Communism and Christianity. But only once in my life have I ever been to see a revolution. That was in 1989, when I saw NWA touring in support of Straight Outta Compton.Seeing NWA was like talking to Trotsky. They opened the floodgates of rage that consumed music in the late 80s and early 90s. They were rage against the machine. They were hip-hop's high water mark, before it spilled over into the commercial drek that it is today. Just as their contemporaries The Pixies and Nirvana and Jane's Addiction elevated post-punk to its highest form so that it could be debased by MTV. So too did NWA pave the way for Snoop and Puffy.
NWA was the only band I've ever seen where I was scared. NWA made me feel like Whitey, like The Man (it didn't help that I was one of the lone white kids in the audience), even as it made me want to go out and destroy the instuments of The Man. When I saw Suicidal Tendencies, I was worried about getting roughed up. When I saw NWA, I was worried I might get killed. It remains one of the top three or so shows I've ever seen, and will stand out forever as one of the the great experiences of my life. NWA was a riot. NWA was a revolution.
But the only revolutionaries who accomplish anything are those who are two-thirds guerilla and one-third marketer. This amazing article on the history of NWA shows that the band was just that. Furthermore, it follows hip-hop from New York to LA, and shows the role NWA--particularly Dr. Dre and Eazy--played in taking it from a largely underground form of music and culture to one that has completely dominated the mainstream, and in the process become a corporate behemoth. It's a fascinating read, and if you can't read the whole thing in one sitting, you should download it and come back later. Great stuff. (thanks Dave!)
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