A little history here. Back in 1988, I was a freshman, going into my first year in college. To say I was a little green about things, was a mild understatement. Up until that point, my musical history consisted of either Top 40 or Country. Those were basically the major two types of music in Spokane.

Little did I know, that I was about to get a major education in a field that I had no clue I would be taking. My freshman roommate was a 6'3" 230-pound African-American football player, specifically the fullback. His name was Henry, and he had a great affinity for rap, soul and R&B. But first and foremost... hardcore rap. Ironically enough, two weeks before school started was the debut of the now classic, N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton", and when he purchased it after a couple weeks in school, it began my schooling into the finer points of hardcore rap.

That year, I received an intensive daily lecture on rap music, and if it was popular, it was sure to be playing on our stereo system. N.W.A., Too Short, Public Enemy... if it was out there, Henry had the CD and was cycling through it. By the end of that year, I could literally recite word for word all of the major songs off of 'Straight Outta Compton', and since Henry and I were good friends through the remainder of college, whenever I would pop over to his house, you can bet that some of the time, N.W.A. was on his music system.

So yes, Straight Outta Compton and I go waaaaaaaay back. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'll probably catch it this weekend. I already knew the story behind all of the members from hearing them in college. But it'll be nice to have a story to go along with it. And this was a little of mine. ^_^

Original artwork of course, by the awesome  bng