N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton, 1988
4th grade. N.W.A. releases Straight Outta Compton with the protest anthem F*ck tha Police adding fuel to the current media firestorm about censorship. Among other things, racism and police brutality are considered explicit content in Reagan’s America. At my Catholic School, I had one of the best teachers of my life that year, Mrs. Kincannon. She was tall and wore a lot of cowl neck sweaters, she had big, fluffy hair and huge glasses. The Social Studies teacher for the upper grades, she was passionate about the subject and interested in critical thinking from her students. She really ignited my interest in history and winning arguments. Every Friday in her class, we had to bring in a “current event” and talk about it. This consisted of cutting out an article from the newspaper and then summarizing it in front of the class and telling them why it was important. I loved this assignment.
Every week I would comb the newspapers at home and in the library looking for something interesting to talk about and also something I hoped no one else would have. N.W.A. was in the news for their new album and I was following the controversy on MTV and in the news.
On one glorious Friday, I brought in my article about F*ck Tha Police. Considering my audience, it felt like a risky topic. Actually, the article didn’t mention the song name or the album, but if you were following the news AT ALL you knew that it was the subtext. Ice-T was quoted and the article mentions N.W.A. and Larry Flint’s supreme court censorship case. N.W.A. and some of their contemporaries were talking about a lot of things that, thanks to my privilege and generally sheltered upbringing, I was only beginning to think deeply on - racism, censorship, police brutality, California (which I took to be practically a different country) to name a few.
Walking up to the podium that Friday I felt a surge of adrenaline and a bit sick to my stomach. I could feel this long thin strip of newsprint almost vibrating in my hands. I was struggling with the complicated context of it all, but one thing was clear to me, Ice-T, N.W.A & Larry Flint did NOT seem like chumps to me… and Rondal Reagan did. After my presentation there was no round of applause or any small acknowledgment that anything out of the ordinary had happened. I don’t know what I expected, to be honest.
After class we had a short break and I asked one of my friends if she thought Ice-T was cool. She said, “I prefer lemonade, but with sugar it’s not too bad.”
I didn’t hear the complete album until 5 years later.
On one glorious Friday, I brought in my article about F*ck Tha Police. Considering my audience, it felt like a risky topic. Actually, the article didn’t mention the song name or the album, but if you were following the news AT ALL you knew that it was the subtext. Ice-T was quoted and the article mentions N.W.A. and Larry Flint’s supreme court censorship case. N.W.A. and some of their contemporaries were talking about a lot of things that, thanks to my privilege and generally sheltered upbringing, I was only beginning to think deeply on - racism, censorship, police brutality, California (which I took to be practically a different country) to name a few.
After class we had a short break and I asked one of my friends if she thought Ice-T was cool. She said, “I prefer lemonade, but with sugar it’s not too bad.”
I didn’t hear the complete album until 5 years later.
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