Question: When did it become possible for a Hip Hop Artist or Group to sell 500,000 units without radio airplay?
This feat was successfully done by west cost Hip Hop group N.W.A. with their LP entitled “Straight Outta Compton” which they led up to with their self titles LP “N.W.A. And The Posse.” Let’s realize when this was done too. This was done in the late 1980s. Downloading music was not a concept yet and vinyl and cassette tape were the mediums in which music was produced and sold to the masses. All throughout the music world, getting radio play was a sure way to sell records. If the song got played on radio, then it would sell. Therefore Hip Hop artists made their songs radio friendly for just that purpose. I’m not just talking about clean lyrics… music production was a little more polished and hooks and choruses were very catchy. N.W.A. did the very opposite. In fact their name N.W.A. stands for N****s With Attitudes and they really meant that. They cursed, berated women and made sure they said extremely negative things about the public law enforcement agencies. To be honest they just didn’t give a f**k!! Most radio stations have “Family Value” images to uphold and playing a song from N.W.A. would not be appropriate. Even though N.W.A. made a conscious effort to make radio friendly versions of their songs none of them really got radio play.
Some might say that N.W.A. Did get radio play when Dr. Dre did the remix for “Express Yourself” but they were gold before that single released. That remix just made the LP sell more even though that remix version was only on the 12” single.
The shock value and unapologetic attitude of their music of their spread throughout the Hip Hop underground.
Now you are wondering how Hip Hop changed… Well artists decided to get a little, if not a lot harder with their lyrics since getting radio play was apparently not needed to sell their music. More artists from the west coast came just as hard and went gold. East cost Hip Hop artists followed suite as well. Parental Advisory Warning logos had to be put in albums with extreme language.
This also is in my humble opinion…the start of the end of Hip Hop artists needing radio airplay to sell records. Everyone still wants to be on radio but if you did not get on radio… so what! Going hard and going “Underground” was a proven method to selling records.
To bring this to a point…before N.W.A., radio play was a necessary tool to sell records and potentially go gold. After N.W.A. put out “Straight Outta Compton” and went platinum, the need for radio play to sell records decreased and Hip Hop artists were not hindered by trying to make radio friendly music and this is how N.W.A. “Changed The Game.”
If you have any discrepancies to what you just heard, comments on what you just heard or have new ideas on who or what changed hip hop and I will challenge your ideas too then send an email to patrick@patrickscientific.com
Until next time peace
Audio Verison as done originally on Strictly Hip Hop on WEAA 88.9 FM below.
Note:
Some of you might be thinking of the 2 Live Crew who went double gold and their sexually explicit lyrics. However, they actually got radio play. Their radio versions somehow got on air. I remember hearing “Throw That D” on the radio stations in Baltimore. However, N.W.A. got no airplay.
Additional Notes:
N.W.A. members at the time of “Straight Outta Compton” were Easy E, Ice Cube, MC Ren, Dre. Dre, DJ Yella and Arabian Prince. There were additional people involved with the N.W.A. and The Posse LP.