The album that started it all.

Unapologetically frightening, N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton is one of the most seminal albums in the history of rap and greatly influenced countless gangster rappers. N.W.A didn't invent gangster rap -- Ice-T and Schoolly D had already embraced first-person narratives focusing on the harsh realities of ghetto life -- but the L.A. group made it even more violent. Portraying gangmembers and other felons, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren and Eazy-E take listeners on an arresting journey through L.A.'s tough Compton ghetto. Critics of this highly controversial album contended that N.W.A was glamorizing Black-on-Black crime -- the rappers countered that they weren't encouraging violence, but rather, were presenting an audio-documentary of life as they knew it growing up in Compton. Subsequently, gangster rap would be plagued by numerous soundalike MCs who lacked even a fraction of N.W.A or Ice-T's originality. But in the innovative hands of N.W.A, it was bold, inspired and arresting.