Our Art is a Reflection of our Reality

“Our art is a reflection of our reality”, was a line used in the screen play Straight Outta Compton. Because N.W.A.’s brutally honest lyrics used many “unacceptable” words or phrases, people started to retaliate to the groups messages that they were sending, especially law enforcement. Although the growing popularity of N.W.A. was noticeable all over the country, they still caused massive controversy will the questionable language and type of music that was being performed by the newfound group. The moment that Ice Cube used the phrase stated in the first sentence, I knew that the music N.W.A. was publishing back in the day changed Compton and the whole country forever.

The group came to popularity through a song sung by Eric Wright Jr. aka Easy-E, rapping about how the life in the hood is, what people act like and do in the hood, and how the police treat the individuals in the hood. American people in the Midwest and East coast had no idea how rough times had gotten on the west coast. N.W.A. came at a perfect time because they brought the events that happened on a daily basis in the streets of Compton into the public eye at a national level. These five artists rapped about truth in the hood and eventually they became public figures and gave the average people the courage to start retaliation towards law enforcement that abuses the power that they have.

The Los Angeles riots were sparked by the incident involving ex-convict Rodney King in a high speed chase ending with police brutality caught on video after the arrest of the high speed chase. Even though King was intoxicated and uncooperative, he resisted arrest and was brutally beaten by police officers Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno, and Timothy Wind. Although these events were unnecessary and massively uncalled for, if King would have just given himself up right away instead of being uncooperative and resisting arrest he could have saved himself a lot of time and he most likely would not have been beaten as badly as he was. Because the incident was causing such a controversy in the midst of the city, the trial of the police officers was moved to a neutral location to make sure no bias was being used. The trial caused even more controversy throughout the Los Angeles area because the despite the best effort of the justice system, the jury consisted of ten white individuals and zero African Americans. The police officers were issued verdicts of not guilty on all counts except for one assault charge placed upon Powell.

After these events took place some of the worst riots in Los Angeles history broke lose. The acquittals sparked the rioting and looting in Los Angeles that became the most destructive United States civil disturbance of the twentieth century. During these riots dozens of people were attacked including a white truck driver, who was pulled out of his vehicle and nearly beaten to death by three African American men, by the name of Reginald Denny. By the time the sun rose, over a dozen people had been killed, hundreds of people were injured, and fires were burning by the hundreds all across the city. You may ask why are these events important to the members of N.W.A.? With all of the police brutality incidents occurring in the Los Angeles area, experienced first-hand by the members of N.W.A., the group felt the push to write and produce a song known as F___ Tha Police, because of the events that were occurring in their own backyard. It brought national attention to Compton and eventually it was the phrase used during the Los Angeles riots and other protests or riots throughout the country.

N.W.A. had their moment in the sun for a brief amount of time and eventually split due to controversy over money. When N.W.A. split up it is not like each individual just rode off into the sunset, all of them stayed in the music industry but were never as popular as they were as a group. People wish that they would have stayed together to meet there full musical potential. Although these men were extremely talented in the music world, but they were twice as important in the racism fight in Los Angeles giving people a voice at a national level and showing people even in high city, state, and country offices the way that the citizens of Compton feel about the way they are treated and abused by the law enforcement.

N.W.A. brought a voice to the people that believed that their opinion did not matter. They gave the highly populated African American community of Compton the voice that they had not had for years. N.W.A. showed people the way that some cops were abusing the power that they had been granted. The City of Compton was in a vicious cycle, the cops were making them feel like criminals and druggies so eventually the people act like criminals. Then the new cops come and do the same thing to the next generation and it becomes almost impossible to break that chain. “Our art is a reflection of our reality”, is the way all people should look at life. If you take a step back and wrote lyrics to how your life is and what kind of things you have seen or done. What kind of song would it be? Would it be worth listening to? If you stepped out of your body and listened to it without bias would you enjoy it or would it be boring? N.W.A. did not realize the influence that had for the people around them and individuals all around the country. They did not realize that they had an effect on the nation, they just took what they had and ran with it. They were pioneers for their generation, community, and race. Although the group eventually split, the small amount of time that N.W.A. had as a group left a lasting imprint on all Americans.