Niggaz4Life
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Efil4zaggin | |||||
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Studio album by N.W.A. | |||||
Released | May 28, 1991 | ||||
Recorded | July 1990-March 1991 | ||||
Genre | Old school hip hop, West Coast hip hop, Gangsta rap | ||||
Length | 76:13 (2003 re-release) | ||||
Label | Ruthless/Priority | ||||
Producer | Dr. Dre, DJ Yella | ||||
Professional reviews | |||||
N.W.A. chronology | |||||
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Efil4zaggin (Niggaz4life spelled backwards), was the 4th and final studio album by Gangsta rap group N.W.A., released in 1991. It was their final album, as the group disbanded later the same year after the departure of Dr. Dre and songwriter The D.O.C. for Death Row Records; the album features only four members of the original line-up, as Ice Cube had already left the group in 1989. Efil4zaggin debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, but in its second week reached number one. The only other artists to do this are Michael Jackson and Michael Bublé.
In 1992, several months after the release of the album, N.W.A. released a video entitled Niggaz4Life: The Only Home Video, which chronicled the making of the album and its three music videos, "Alwayz Into Somethin'", "Appetite for Destruction" and "Approach To Danger".
In 2003, the CD was re-released in two formats. Both had the EP 100 Miles and Runnin' appended to the end of the original track-listing, but one was available with a DVD featuring music videos and live appearances.
Contents |
[edit] The title
On the cover the title appears as a mirror-image of the text "NIGGAZ4LIFE". The name of the new album had been revealed in "Kamurshul" from N.W.A.'s previous release 100 Miles and Runnin', but only by playing a vinyl copy backwards could the otherwise unintelligible sound be deciphered as "niggaz for life". Since the album contained the word "Nigga" in it, on some publications it has to be edited out as Straight Outta Compton 2.
While "Niggaz 4 Life" was the original title, it was likely changed on the cover to its reversed form due to political (and financial) considerations. The corruption of the word "nigger" as used in the album title was perhaps influenced by censorship measures in the US music industry introduced at the time. Controversy surrounding the content of heavy metal and hip hop music groups in general, and N.W.A. in particular, had been directed by Tipper Gore's Parents Music Resource Center had resulted in the adoption of self-censorhip measures in the US music industry, including the Parental Advisory sticker. Straight Outta Compton, N.W.A.'s previous full-length, which also contained the song "Parental Discretion Iz Advised", was one of the first to be branded. By obfuscating the "offensive" word, the group were able to lever a small measure of artistic freedom. At the time of release, the album was removed from music stores in the United Kingdom. It was also rumoured - yet never confirmed - that the album cover was an actual murder scene.
It was the first album to top the Billboard charts with the word "nigga" in its title since Richard Pryor's Bicentennial Nigger in 1976.
[edit] Track listing
- "Prelude" (featuring Above the Law) (Dr. Dre/MC Ren) – 2:27
- "Real Niggaz Don't Die" (The D.O.C./Dr. Dre/Eazy-E/MC Ren/DJ Yella) – 3:40
- "Niggaz 4 Life" (The D.O.C./Dr. Dre/MC Ren) – 4:58
- "Protest" – 0:53
- "Appetite for Destruction" (The D.O.C./Dr. Dre/Kokane/MC Ren) – 3:22
- "Don't Drink That Wine" – 1:07
- "Alwayz Into Somethin'" (featuring Admiral Dancehall) (The D.O.C./Dr. Dre/MC Ren) – 4:25
- "Message to B.A." (diss to Ice Cube) – 0:48
- "Real Niggaz" (DJ Yella/Dr. Dre/Eazy-E/MC Ren) – 4:27
- "To Kill a Hooker" – 0:50
- "One Less Bitch" (The D.O.C./Dr. Dre) – 4:47
- "Findum, Fuckum, and Flee" (Dr. Dre/Eazy-E/MC Ren/DJ Yella) – 3:55
- "Automobile" (Eazy-E) – 3:15
- "She Swallowed It" (MC Ren) – 4:13
- "I'd Rather Fuck You" (featuring CPO) (Dr. Dre/Eazy-E/DJ Yella) – 3:57
- "Approach to Danger" (The D.O.C./Dr. Dre/MC Ren/DJ Yella) – 2:45
- "1-900-2-Compton" – 1:27
- "The Dayz of Wayback"(featuring Admiral Dancehall) (The D.O.C./Dr. Dre/MC Ren) – 4:15
[edit] Samples
Prelude
- "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" by Isaac Hayes
Real Niggaz Don't Die
- "UFO" by ESG
- "Different Strokes" by Syl Johnson
- "Die Nigger!!!" by The Last Poets
- "Long Red" by Mountain
- "I Just Want to Celebrate" by Rare Earth
- "Synthetic Substitution" by Melvin Bliss
- "Hook and Sling" by Eddie Bo
Niggaz 4 Life
- "Sir Nose d'Voidoffunk" by Parliament
- "N.T." by Kool & the Gang
- "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Gonna Go" by Curtis Mayfield
- "Cissy Strut" by The Meters
- "Fool Yourself" by Little Feat
Appetite For Destruction
- "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins
- "Funky Stuff" by Kool and the Gang
- "Niggers vs. the Police" by Richard Pryor
Don't Drink That Wine
- "I've Been Watching You (Move Your Sexy Body)" by Parliament
Alwayz Into Somethin
- "Stoned to the Bone" by James Brown
- "Storm King" by Bob James
- "Sneakin' in the Back" by Tom Scott
- "Remember" by Jimi Hendrix
- "Synthetic Substitution" by Melvin Bliss
Real Niggaz
- "Give it Up" by Kool & the Gang
- "Got to Be Real" by Cheryl Lynn
To Kill a Hooker
- "Can't Stay Away" by Bootsy Collins
- "Zimba Ku" by Black Heat
One Less Bitch
- "Funkin' 4 Jamaica" by Tom Browne
- "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More, Babe" by Barry White
Findum, Fuckum and Flee
- "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang
Automobile
- "My Automobile" by Parliament
She Swallowed It
- "Cardova" by The Meters
- "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More, Babe" by Barry White
I'd Rather Fuck You
- "I'd Rather Be with You" by Bootsy Collins
Approach to Danger
- "Get up & Get Down" by The Dramatics
- "Get Me Back on Time, Engine No. 9" by Wilson Pickett
- "God Made Me Funky" by The Headhunters
- "Scorpio" by Lalo Schifrin
1-900-2-COMPTON
- "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" by Parliament
The Dayz of Wayback
- "Troglodyte" by Jimmy Castor Bunch
- "Impeach the President" by The Honeydrippers
- "Players Balling (Players Doin' Their Own Thing)" by Ohio Players
[edit] Chart Positions
[edit] Album
Year | Chart | Chart positions |
1991 | Billboard 200 | #1 |
1991 | Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums | #2 |
[edit] Singles
Year | Song | Chart positions | |||
Billboard Hot 100 | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Chart | Hot Rap Tracks | |||
1990 | "Appetite for Destruction" | - | #45 | #2 | |
1991 | "Alwayz Into Somethin'" | - | #37 | #1 |
[edit] Billboard 200 Chronology
U.S. Billboard 200 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Week | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | |
Position (from 15/06/1991) | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 18 | 19 | 23 | 33 | 35 | 39 | 48 | 58 | 65 | 66 | 74 | 80 | 104 | 112 | 111 | 138 | 138 | |
Week | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | |||||||||||||||
Position (from 04/01/1992) | 148 | 93 | 109 | 132 | 120 | 128 | 124 | 128 | 165 | 161 | 172 | 172 | 186 | 196 | 185 |
Preceded by Spellbound by Paula Abdul |
Billboard 200 number-one album June 22 - June 28, 1991 |
Succeeded by Slave to the Grind by Skid Row |
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