N.W.A. became one of the most influential hip-hop artists of all time and became one of the first rap groups to reach platinum status with their debut album Straight Outta Compton. In 1989, they took the stage in front of a crowd of over 20,000 fans in Detroit, Michigan. But the group had been forbidden from performing one of their most controversial songs ... Show More
Nov 4
Broken: The Black Dahlia Murder - Part Three: City of Broken Dreams
<p>In 1946, Elizabeth Short – the young woman the world would later know as <em>The Black Dahlia</em> – returned to California chasing love, glamour, and a new beginning. Instead, she found herself drifting through a postwar Los Angeles filled with promise, danger, and people who ... Show More
27m 37s
Apr 2023
MC5: Dope, Guns, and F***ing in the Streets
MC5 embodied revolution in a way most bands only pay lip service to. The Detroit cops sent riot squads and even a tank to break up their shows, and even raided their house. They were the only band to play at the infamous protest outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Th ... Show More
37m 59s
Sep 2019
N.W.A Pt. 1: Street Hustle, Reality Rap and Culture-Shifting Violence
N.W.A, the self proclaimed “most dangerous group in America,” were seen as violent, thuggish, profanity-spewing criminals, but they had nothing on those who were sworn to serve and protect them in South Central Los Angeles. The group’s hard hitting beats and reality rhymes launch ... Show More
41m 47s
Oct 2020
Felicia Angeja Viator, "To Live and Defy in LA: How Gangsta Rap Changed America" (Harvard UP, 2020)
In 1985, Greg Mack, a DJ working for Los Angeles radio station KDAY, played a song that sounded like nothing else on West Coast airwaves: Toddy Tee’s “The Batteram,” a hip hop track that reflected the experiences of a young man growing up in 1980s Compton. The song tells about th ... Show More
1h 17m
Jan 2017
Ben Westhhoff, “Original Gangtas: The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap” (Hachette, 2016)
The real story behind the origin of gangsta rap is difficult to discern. Between the bombastic rhetoric and imagery, the larger-than-life characters, and the subsequent success of many of the individuals, it is hard to know exactly what to believe.
Ben Westhoff’s new book, Origi ... Show More
46m 28s
Sep 2019
N.W.A Pt. 2: Beatdowns, Band Beef, Death Row and LA on Fire
Part two of the N.W.A story finds the group dead center in America’s crosshairs, due in part to their own violent behavior, and at a crossroads creatively. Death Row’s Suge Knight, Public Enemy’s Chuck D., and a young hustler from the east coast all ride shotgun to Dre, E, Cube, ... Show More
40m 12s
Jul 2024
P DIDDIT? DID SEAN "DIDDY" COMBS ORDER MILLION DOLLAR HIT ON TUPAC SHAKUR?
<p>In addition to lawsuits, raids, federal investigations, and a secret grand jury, the only living suspect in Tupac Shakur’s murder now implicates Puff Daddy, Sean Combs, in the September 7, 1996, drive-by shooting.</p> <p>A recent court filing for Duane “Keefe D” Davis’ upcomin ... Show More
40m 50s