Although it's pretty obvious who N.W.A. influenced with their ground-breaking, super fucking cool album Straight Outta Compton, Capitol/Priority plan on giving us an audio reminder that collects a couple of the "family heirlooms." On September 30 (near my birthday, hint hint), N.W.A. And Their Family Tree will be released on CD and digitally. The collection brings together a few of N.W.A.'s signature tracks, as well as a couple "joints" that continued in the style of such modern gems as "Fuck Tha Police" and "Straight Outta Compton" (suspiciously missing are key tracks from Dr. Dre's The Chronic, as well as the Death Row output of 2Pac and Snoop Doggy Dogg -- so this is by no means comprehensive).
In addition to the compilation, VH1 is set to premiere N.W.A.: The World's Most Dangerous Group, a 90-minute documentary to air October 3. It features new interviews with Ice Cube, DJ Yella, Eazy-E's widow Tomica Woods-Wright, former manager Jerry Heller, Ice-T, journalist Cheo Coker, and director John Singleton. Beyond the interviews, it also features rarely seen photos and footage from the group's early days.
Almost single-handedly creating what would become known as Gangsta Rap, N.W.A. took the blueprint of old-skool hip-hop and tempered it with their harsh "Ghetto CNN" rhymes and unrelenting, funkdafied beats. "The World's Most Dangerous Group" also added to the lexicon of hip-hop imagery, replacing the b-boys and graffiti-covered subway trains with hardcore Gz and hydraulic modified low-riders, so that when you hit the switch, of course, you could make the ass drop.
N.W.A And Their Family Tree tracklist:
1. "Straight Outta Compton" - N.W.A
2. "Boyz-N-The Hood" - N.W.A featuring Eazy-E
3. "Dopeman" - N.W.A
4. "Fuck Tha Police" - N.W.A
5. "We Want Eazy" - Eazy-E
6. "Express Yourself" - N.W.A
7. "It Was A Good Day" - Ice Cube
8. "V.S.O.P." - Above The Law
9. "You Can't Play With My Yo-Yo" - Yo-Yo featuring Ice Cube
10. "Foe Life" - Mack 10
11. "It's Funky Enough" - The D.O.C
12. "Final Frontier" - MC Ren
13. "Regulate" - Warren G. "& Nate Dogg
14. "Bow Down" - Westside Connection
15. "Bitch Please - Snoop Dogg featuring Xzibit
16. "Gangstas Make The World Go ?Round" - Westside Connection
17. "Lay Low - Snoop Dogg featuring Master P, Nate Dogg, Butch Cassidy & The Eastsidaz
18. "We Be Puttin' It Down" - Bad Azz featuring Snoop Dogg
