N.W.A |Straight Outta Compton| vs. Dr. Dre |The Chronic| - Which is the better album?

Which is the better album?

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Chose to do my Sophmore College English report on that NWA "music" after hearing about it from that internet inventor guy's wife, Tipper Gore. Bought the CD, listened to the entire thing a handful of times to prepare my report. Couldn't believe how many times they cursed and used the N word (147 times total IIRC).
The main song totally slammed on in the media was "F The Police"...it rocked
both musically and while giving their angry and violent thoughts on police.

My report was titled "Does life imitate art or does art imitate life" with my purpose to describe the thought process of the guys that made the music. In addition to hearing the CD countless times, I read articles about some gangs in Oakland (Oaktown) and looked at as many articles as I could find. My conclusion was Art imitated life because NWA said they wrote what they lived - and life imitated Art because people were into the music and wanted to act like the rappers.

Got an A on my 20 minute spoken report in front of a room with students and teachers of all races present. Explained I wound up really enjoying the CD, which I never expected to - I was always a hard rockin' headbanger and metal head. NWA has some cool beats along with insane descriptive tales of a life that I never knew existed and I was glad I didn't live alongside and get affected from their violence.


Never heard Dre's "music" so I can't speak on it, but Straight Outta Compton and F the Police are 2 songs that still thump really loud occasionally on my 15's .

<GinJuice>​
 
nonoob said:
Chose to do my Sophmore College English report on that NWA "music" after hearing about it from that internet inventor guy's wife, Tipper Gore. Bought the CD, listened to the entire thing a handful of times to prepare my report. Couldn't believe how many times they cursed and used the N word (147 times total IIRC).
The main song totally slammed on in the media was "F The Police"...it rocked
both musically and while giving their angry and violent thoughts on police.

My report was titled "Does life imitate art or does art imitate life" with my purpose to describe the thought process of the guys that made the music. In addition to hearing the CD countless times, I read articles about some gangs in Oakland (Oaktown) and looked at as many articles as I could find. My conclusion was Art imitated life because NWA said they wrote what they lived - and life imitated Art because people were into the music and wanted to act like the rappers.

Got an A on my 20 minute spoken report in front of a room with students and teachers of all races present. Explained I wound up really enjoying the CD, which I never expected to - I was always a hard rockin' headbanger and metal head. NWA has some cool beats along with insane descriptive tales of a life that I never knew existed and I was glad I didn't live alongside and get affected from their violence.


Never heard Dre's "music" so I can't speak on it, but Straight Outta Compton and F the Police are 2 songs that still thump really loud occasionally on my 15's .

<GinJuice>​
Click to expand...

Straight Outta Compton is Dre's "music", he produced the whole album
 
There aren't many near perfect rap albums out there but The Chronic is one of them.
 
The production on The Chronic is more polished and advanced. Both great albums however. Chronic just holds up a bit better with time.

If you want to move past these more well known albums and dip into some lesser known top tier G-Funk I recommend these albums highly:



 
I'm going from memory, but as a musician I have to acknowledge that MUSICALLY speaking, I feel like Chronic is on a completely different level.

Dre is as good as they get when it comes to utilizing samples and because of that, he inherits the musical elements of the original songs, like some jazzy chords which create tension, modes, orchestration like pizzicato string sections and horns, timpani. That gave a lot of depth and legitimacy that really blows a lot of the other artists in the era out of the water since a lot of them were still using Casio type sounds and the 808, which is great but so so many tracks used the same sounds.


NWA, 2 Live Crew and Public Enemy really paved the way for SOOO much of the west coast hip hop, "gangster rap" scene, so as far as cultural impact I would edge Straight Out Of Compton. Even mainstream America was getting reports about NWA on the news, protests, censorship, etc.



Off memory I'm picking the Chronic.
I'll try to listen to some tracks tomorrow and if I feel different I'll come back and edit.
 
Straight outta Compton for me. Just so fucking aggressive.
 
HereticBD said:
I don't know, but they're WAY better than whatever garbage Kendrick Lamar or Drake are releasing these days.
Click to expand...

Seems kinda weird to lump Kendrick in there with Drake tbh.
 
jeff7b9 said:
I'm going from memory, but as a musician I have to acknowledge that MUSICALLY speaking, I feel like Chronic is on a completely different level.

Dre is as good as they get when it comes to utilizing samples and because of that, he inherits the musical elements of the original songs, like some jazzy chords which create tension, modes, orchestration like pizzicato string sections and horns, timpani. That gave a lot of depth and legitimacy that really blows a lot of the other artists in the era out of the water since a lot of them were still using Casio type sounds and the 808, which is great but so so many tracks used the same sounds.


NWA, 2 Live Crew and Public Enemy really paved the way for SOOO much of the west coast hip hop, "gangster rap" scene, so as far as cultural impact I would edge Straight Out Of Compton. Even mainstream America was getting reports about NWA on the news, protests, censorship, etc.



Off memory I'm picking the Chronic.
I'll try to listen to some tracks tomorrow and if I feel different I'll come back and edit.
Click to expand...

Well said post.
 
The chronic changed the game. Suddenly my friends were all talking about finding where those beats came from. Digging through the states looking at old music.
 
Like them both... But if I based it on replayability today... It's gotta be the chronic.

It's just aged better.
 
MXZT said:
Probably the two of the very best rap albums of all-time.

www.allmusic.com

Straight Outta Compton - N.W.A | Album | AllMusic

Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A released in 1988. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com

www.allmusic.com

The Chronic - Dr. Dre | Album | AllMusic

The Chronic by Dr. Dre released in 1992. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
www.allmusic.com www.allmusic.com



Click to expand...

Straight Outta Compton is one of the most important albums in the history of music & culture, it does have some really good production that is often overlooked as well.
It's basically war in music format, I'm not sure so many people have been reached by a musical message before this.

The Chronic is musically one of the most important albums in the history of music, it changed the direction of hip hop as no one else has done before or after.
Maybe 36th Chambers can come close to the influence, but The Chronic is massive.

Could never say which one is 'better' but I certainly prefer Straight Outta Compton.

Also worth noting that The Chronic propelled hip hop massively into the mainstream, despite it's lyrical content. But it resonated with so many people for different reasons that weren't bound by race (dope smokers, OG funk lovers, gang members, white kids rebelling etc). It's impact was incredible, and still stands up today. Will always be among the top 5 production in hip hop music history
 
HUGHPHUG said:
Straight Outta Compton is one of the most important albums in the history of music & culture, it does have some really good production that is often overlooked as well.
It's basically war in music format, I'm not sure so many people have been reached by a musical message before this.

The Chronic is musically one of the most important albums in the history of music, it changed the direction of hip hop as no one else has done before or after.
Maybe 36th Chambers can come close to the influence, but The Chronic is massive.

Could never say which one is 'better' but I certainly prefer Straight Outta Compton.

Also worth noting that The Chronic propelled hip hop massively into the mainstream, despite it's lyrical content. But it resonated with so many people for different reasons that weren't bound by race (dope smokers, OG funk lovers, gang members, white kids rebelling etc). It's impact was incredible, and still stands up today. Will always be among the top 5 production in hip hop music history
Click to expand...

Very well said, thank you.
 
As stated I was surprised how chronic became mainstream
 
I remember seeing it on MTV at a friend's house on rotation. Only one of my friends had cable in that time so it was big deal.
 
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