N.W.A. "Straight Outta Compton" [1988]

Apparently eager to undo all the social consciousness from relatively intelligent East Coast rappers like Chuck D. and KRS-One, the self-named Niggas With Attitude (hey, don't fucking blame me), aka N.W.A., released its insipid, vulgar debut "Straight Outta Compton" celebrating the most violent and misogynistic fringes of ghetto life. As a result, progress for African-Americans was set back at least 30 years. Figures LA would go this route for contemporary black music; Hollywood had been stereotyping black people as criminals, thugs and pimps for decades. While white people were starting to dig The Fresh Prince, this album was a gangsta rap ambush; it's less a sub-genre than a plague akin to ebola, and helped spill blood in the projects for more than a decade, past when Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. got tooken out. As offensive as pretty much every second of this album is -- even Dr. Dre offends with his monotonous use of the 808 machine and the infinitely ripped off "Funky Drummer" --from Ice Cube to whoever the fuck else, it's squeaky voiced Eazy-E who most clearly, cartoonishly represents the self-deprecation and female disrespect that so deeply permeates the black lower class -- he's Alvin the Chipmunk with a life sentence. Not that the Reagan/Bush people paid this crap any mind -- to everyone's detriment. Had they, perhaps we could've seen the LA riots coming, maybe even OJ's bloody rampage. Basically, ignoring the warning signs of this album ruined everything about the 90s that grunge music failed to affect.