Straight Outta Compton was one of the first records to receive a Parental Advisory Label (PAL), the ubiquitous black-and-white stickers that warn parents of explicit content. “Gangsta rap forced America to confront the issues in its ghettos, and its realities were shocking when presented so explicitly on a recording that white suburban teenagers coveted,” Kot suggests. It was the crossover into mainstream white American culture that provoked concern among the US establishment, parent groups and the religious right – and caught the attention of law-enforcement agencies. “With their urban-canyon echoing drums and casual descriptions of explosive violence,” he wrote, “the new myths of crack, guns and gangs sounded a lot larger than life.” For a new generation, these sounds held an enthralling appeal. Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, called it “the new Blues”. “The Dr Dre production was lean, driving, and funky, with rhymes dropping like nails atop the beats.” “Straight Outta Compton defined the West Coast sound,” explains the Chicago Tribune music critic and writer Greg Kot, who reviewed the LP when it was released in 1989.
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