N.W.A were the audio-documentarians of their time. They were trying to shock people with the violence of their language and the subjects they were talking about. The fact that they dressed in guerilla outfits like the Black Panthers made them shocking by their appearance as well.
The only thing intimidating about Cube is that he's the father of gangsta' rap. You just worry about getting your lines right, or he might shoot you.
The vibe on 'Starboy' comes from that hip-hop culture of braggadocio, from Wu-Tang and 50 Cent, the kind of music I listened to as a kid.
I'm usually bored with both gangsta rappers and underground ones, too.
I grew up listening to a lot of 2Pac and a lot of East Coast, West Coast rap; Bad Boy, Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, Biggie, 2Pac. Super hip-hop, super listening to that raw era of music.
Where I'm from is like 'Hustle & Flow' versus '8 Mile.' It's that really grimy, box-Chevy, dope-boy, working-class music.
'Going Back to Cali' is one of my favorite songs because of all the East Coast - West Coast rivalry.
I was listening to Young Jeezy and Shawty Red, and to me, the trap music they had was something special.
I feel like the D.C. streets just love Gucci Mane. He's like a hood pastor.
People forget how dominant Public Enemy became in the mid '80s. No one talks about how transformative they were. And then that led to the '90s and the sort of East Coast v. West Coast stuff, which is kinda when I came of age.
Dre is someone I've looked up to since 1985 when he came to my college and performed with The Wrecking Crew.
Tupac, Biggie, Jay. Your usual suspects. These were the people that was played in my household.
When Dre and I started making the 'Straight Outta Compton' record, every day on our way to the studio, we would listen to the 'It Takes A Nation' album.
As I got older, I really got into Tupac's poetry, his books and just learning about his life and what he was into.
I grew up listening to a lot of Snoop Dogg and the Wu-Tang Clan. Actually, I was a huge Wu-Tang fan.
Every ten years, we get a new old school. In 1987, we thought 1977 was the best era in hip-hop. Here we are in 2007, and we're discussing '97/'98, when 50 Cent just started.
Ghostface, catch the blast of a hype verse, My glock bursts, leave in a hearse, I did worse. I come rough, tough like an elephant tusk, Ya head rush, fly like Egyptian musk.
As long as there's a demand for gangsta rap, it will be supplied.
I've been in the game a long time. I've done all sorts of different types of music. From mob music to the G-Funk era.
I was a huge Wu-Tang fan, along with Crucial Conflict, along with Do or Die along with Mobb Deep.
I'm just disillusioned with the hip-hop sound right now. It's too materialistic. You know, I'm the kind of guy ... I can't do that. If you track my movement, you'll never see a picture of me with any girl that wasn't mine, or my own car. My jewelry, my clothes. What kind of gangsta rapper has a stylist? A stylist?!
I grew up on N.W.A., Geto Boys. My dad was listening to that.
Yeah, I like Three Six Mafia and stuff like that.
'Straight Outta Compton' was such a great movie, and obviously, I'm in the music business, so getting to see that piece of history was amazing, and it was an incredible movie.
Gangsta rap was the most important movement since the beginning of rock n' roll.
