50 Fun Facts About N.W.A

What does the abbreviation N.W.A stand for?

The group formed in Compton in 1987 and was active for just four years.

Which member co-founded Ruthless Records with manager Jerry Heller and assembled the group?

He is often called the Godfather of Gangsta Rap.

Which member joined last, in mid-1988, as the sixth man?

He was a childhood friend of Eazy-E and had already written much of Eazy-Duz-It.

What was the group's first release, a 1987 compilation that reached number 39 on the R&B chart?

Their official debut, Straight Outta Compton, followed the next year.

Roughly how much did it cost to record Straight Outta Compton at Audio Achievements in Torrance?

Dre said he threw it together in six weeks so they would have something to sell out of the trunk.

How many copies had Straight Outta Compton sold when it was certified triple platinum in 2015?

It got there with almost no radio play and an MTV ban on the title track's video.

Which song prompted an FBI warning letter to Ruthless and Priority Records in 1989?

Milt Ahlerich's letter cited 78 officers slain in the line of duty in 1988; it now hangs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The FBI-baiting track is structured as a mock trial. Who plays the judge?

Australia's Triple J was the only station in the world to play it, for six months, before management pulled it.

Which station was the only one in the world to play that track in 1989 before being forced to stop?

ABC management banned it after political pressure.

Which member left in January 1989, just before Straight Outta Compton, over royalties?

He had produced J.J. Fad's hit 'Supersonic' and was left out of the 2015 biopic entirely.

Which pop-rap hit did the departed member produce for the group J.J. Fad?

Its success on Ruthless helped fund the label's early days.

Why did Ice Cube leave N.W.A in late 1989?

He had written almost half the lyrics on Straight Outta Compton.

Which Eazy-E track, written by Ice Cube and produced by Dre, helped establish gangsta rap in California?

Cube wrote it while studying architectural drafting at the Phoenix Institute of Technology.

Ice Cube recorded his 1990 solo debut AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted in New York with which production team?

They were Public Enemy's producers.

What was the title of Ice Cube's 1991 diss track answering N.W.A's insults?

It responded to the 100 Miles and Runnin' EP and Niggaz4Life calling him a traitor.

The video for the group's 1990 single '100 Miles and Runnin'' showed the remaining members where?

It was Dr. Dre's last uptempo production before he turned to the slower G-funk sound.

What chart milestone did the group's 1991 release Niggaz4Life achieve?

It debuted at number two and hit number one in its second week, allegedly on 954,000 first-week sales.

How is the title of Niggaz4Life printed on its cover?

That is why it is often listed as Efil4zaggin.

How long did a British jury take to clear N.W.A of obscenity charges over Niggaz4Life?

Thousands of copies had been seized under the Obscene Publications Act.

Which label did Dr. Dre help found after leaving Ruthless in 1991?

Suge Knight got Eazy-E to release Dre from his contract; Aftermath came later, in 1996.

Which 1992 Death Row release, Dre's solo debut, opened the feud with Eazy-E?

Its single 'Fuck Wit Dre Day' fired the first shot; Eazy answered with It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa.

Before N.W.A, Dr. Dre and DJ Yella were members of which electro group?

They released a debut album on Kru-Cut in 1985.

How much did Apple pay for Dr. Dre's Beats brand in 2014?

Jimmy Iovine had earlier persuaded Dre to sign a white rapper from Detroit named Eminem.

In March 1991 Eazy-E controversially attended a lunch hosted by which US president?

It was a benefit for the Republican Senatorial Inner Circle.

How long after his AIDS diagnosis did Eazy-E die, on March 26, 1995?

He was 30; he and MC Ren had patched up their feud shortly before on the duet 'Tha Muthaphukkin' Real'.

According to Jerry Heller, how many children did Eazy-E have?

He also mentored Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, who dedicated 'Tha Crossroads' to him.

Which Ruthless group, mentored by Eazy-E, dedicated the single 'Tha Crossroads' to his memory?

He is often called the Godfather of Gangsta Rap.

MC Ren's 1992 solo EP went platinum within two months without radio play. What was it called?

The next year he joined the Nation of Islam as Lorenzo X.

After his music career, DJ Yella says he produced more than 300 of what?

His only studio album, One Mo Nigga ta Go (1996), was dedicated to Eazy-E.

Which member is described as the least vocal but longest-lasting member of the group?

He reportedly got along with Eazy-E better than anyone else in the group.

In which year was N.W.A inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

It followed three previous nominations, and Kendrick Lamar did the honours.

At which festival did the surviving members reunite in April 2016 after a 27-year hiatus?

Ice Cube, MC Ren, Dr. Dre and DJ Yella took the stage on the second weekend.

In 2024 N.W.A became the fourth hip-hop act to receive which honour?

Straight Outta Compton had already become the first rap album in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Which magazine gave Straight Outta Compton five stars on first review, a first for a rap album?

The album was placed 70th on its 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums.

In 2017 Straight Outta Compton was selected for preservation in what?

The Library of Congress picks recordings that are culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.

Who directed the 2015 biopic Straight Outta Compton?

He was picked in August 2012, and Universal came aboard the next year.

Who plays the young Ice Cube in the biopic?

Hawkins is Dre, Mitchell is Eazy-E, Hodge is MC Ren and Neil Brown Jr. is DJ Yella.

Which actor plays manager Jerry Heller in the film?

The film earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

How much did the biopic gross worldwide?

By August 27, 2015 it had passed Walk the Line to become the highest-grossing music biopic in the US.

Which biopic did Straight Outta Compton overtake in 2015 as the top-grossing US musical biopic?

It passed the Johnny Cash film's $119.5 million with $120.9 million.

Straight Outta Compton was one of the first albums to carry which then-new warning scheme?

The early version simply read 'WARNING: Moderate impact coarse language and/or themes'. Radio bans meant media coverage did the promotion, and the album went double platinum.

Before journalists coined 'gangsta rap', what did the members call their own music, per Ice Cube?

Journalist David Mills pushed back in 1990, arguing the violent lyrics were less reflection than marketing. The label stuck anyway.

Which Ruthless rapper was the only non-member to rap on Straight Outta Compton?

His vocals appear on 'Parental Discretion Iz Advised'. He also co-wrote lyrics across the album and followed Dre to Death Row when the group fractured.

N.W.A toured nationally in winter 1988-89 alongside Ice-T and which East Coast group?

The short tour ran from December 1988 to January 1989, and by the time it ended one of the original producers had quietly quit the group.

'Express Yourself' samples a 1970 funk hit of the same name by which Los Angeles outfit?

The lyrics attack radio censorship while ironically riding a radio-friendly pop sample. Labrinth interpolated it for a UK top-20 hit in 2012.

How much did the 2015 biopic earn in its opening weekend, topping the US box office?

It beat The Man from U.N.C.L.E. across 2,757 theaters, the fifth-best August opening ever at the time.

Which October 1993 EP paired 'Real Muthaphuckkin G's' with old photos of Dre in lace and makeup?

The photos dated from Dre's World Class Wreckin' Cru days. The EP answered 'Fuck wit Dre Day' and branded Dre and Snoop 'studio gangsters'.

Before founding Ruthless Records in 1987, Eric Wright belonged to which Compton gang?

His father was a postal worker and his mother a grade-school administrator. He recruited Ice Cube, then rapping with the group C.I.A., to write for the new label.

Dre had a word cut from the title of 1987's 'Panic Zone' fearing it would hinder sales. Which?

Mexican rapper Krazy-Dee co-wrote the track, which appears on N.W.A. and the Posse alongside '8-Ball' and 'Dopeman', the first collaboration of the core four.

During a 1990 staff strike, an Australian station looped 'Express Yourself' how many times in a row?

Staff were protesting the suspension of news director Nick Franklin. The station repeated the stunt in 2014 to launch its digital sister Double J.