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Original Gangstas: The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap
"Raw, authoritative, and unflinching ... An elaborately detailed, darkly surprising, definitive history of the LA gangsta rap era." -- Kirkus, starred reviewA monumental, revealing narrative history about the legendary group of artists at the forefront of West Coast Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac Shakur. Amid rising gang violence, the crack epidemic, and police brutality, a group of unlikely voices cut through the chaos of late 1980s Los N.W.A. Led by a drug dealer, a glammed-up producer, and a high school kid, N.W.A gave voice to disenfranchised African Americans across the country. And they quickly redefined pop culture across the world. Their names remain as popular as ever -- Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube. Dre soon joined forces with Suge Knight to create the combustible Death Row Records, which in turn transformed Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur into superstars. Ben Westhoff explores how this group of artists shifted the balance of hip-hop from New York to Los Angeles. He shows how N.W.A.'s shocking success lead to rivalries between members, record labels, and eventually a war between East Coast and West Coast factions. In the process, hip-hop burst into mainstream America at a time of immense social change, and became the most dominant musical movement of the last thirty years. At gangsta rap's peak, two of its biggest names -- Tupac and Biggie Smalls -- were murdered, leaving the surviving artists to forge peace before the genre annihilated itself. Featuring extensive investigative reporting, interviews with the principal players, and dozens of never-before-told stories, Original Gangstas is a groundbreaking addition to the history of popular music.
433 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 13, 2016
265 people are currently reading
3836 people want to read
About the author
Ben Westhoff
10 books188 followersBen Westhoff's new book Little Brother: Love, Tragedy, and My Search For the Truth (May 24, 2022, Hachette Books) is a true crime memoir detailing his investigation into the unsolved killing of Jorell Cleveland, Westhoff's mentee in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program for 11 years. His previous book Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic (Grove Atlantic) is the highly-acclaimed, bombshell first book about fentanyl, which is causing the worst drug crisis in American history. It has received glowing reviews, was included on many year-end best lists, and Westhoff was featured on NPR's Fresh Air and Joe Rogan's podcast. He now speaks around the country about the fentanyl crisis, and has advised top government officials on the problem, including from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and the U.S. State Department.
Westhoff's previous book Original Gangstas: Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and the Birth of West Coast Rap is one of the best-selling hip-hop books of all time and has been translated into multiple languages, receiving top reviews from Rolling Stone, People, Kirkus, and others. S. Leigh Savidge, Academy Award nominee and co-writer of Straight Outta Compton said it "may be the best book ever written about the hip hop world."
Westhoff is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, the Library of Congress, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Rolling Stone, Vice, and others. His 2011 book on southern hip-hop, Dirty South: OutKast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop was a Library Journal best seller.
Subscribe to Westhoff's newsletter at benwesthoff.substack.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 187 reviews
November 11, 2016
Original Gangstas by Ben Westhoff is raw, entertaining, fun & unflinching at the same time. Ben Westhoff gives the definitive account of the birth of West Coast rap & the rise of Gangsta Rap. From Dr. Dre's transformation from sequins wearing dancing DJ to rap royalty and billionaire. It also covers the much discussed East Coast/West Coast rap rivalry & the deaths of Biggie & Tupac. I grow up listen to rappers like Jayz & Nas but I didn't discover NWA until adulthood. In the times we live in "Reality Rap" is more needed than ever. I recommend this book to hardcore hip hop lovers or those who want to learn about the origins of this great art form.
September 11, 2019
A few months ago I listened to When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin by Mick Wall, which I didn't really enjoy nearly as much as I had hoped I would. I found that, despite having grown up listening to Led Zeppelin (the music) I didn't love learning about Led Zeppelin (the people behind it). I had complaints about that book - not least of which was the weird 2nd person narrative chapter intros - and ended up coming out of that book with the opinion that the music was enough, and that knowing the origins and the humans behind it didn't really add anything of value for me.
Still, when I saw this on Audible in a 2-for-1 sale, I picked it up, because my hubs is a huge fan of this kind of music, and had actually lived in LA during the late 80s-early 90s, and so I thought that he would like it. (And he did. We listened to it in the car during a trip out of town, and he was really into it. It was pure nostalgia for him, even little things like recognizing a certain intersection or neighborhood mentioned. Very much a successful selection for him.)
Anyway, I wasn't sure whether I would like it as much though, because, I figured I would have the same issue with this book as I did with the Led Zeppelin one, which was that I don't necessarily need or want to know the people behind the music - the music itself is what matters. I was wrong. While I still think that's true for Zeppelin, I would NOT say that it's true for this book, which actually came as something of a surprise to me. And so I have been trying to figure out why THIS book worked so well, and I enjoyed it so much, despite essentially being the same type of book.
And, I think it comes down to a couple things.
1) This book was just better written. There was not a single 2nd person, cockney accented narrative section to be found. WIN.
2) This book was less interested in shock value and sensationalism. The Zeppelin book really focused on all of the partying and "extracurricular" aspects of the band's rise to fame, and I just wasn't really interested in that. While there was some of that in this book, it was not overly repetitious or anywhere near the main focus. It was mentioned, understood, and then we moved on. This book covered a LOT of ground though, so there wasn't a lot of room for glorifying party culture unless this was going to be 900 pages long.
3) Most importantly, the key reason that this worked so much more for me was the fact that the sociopolitical environment that these guys grew up in is so much more relevant and intrinsic to the music that they made. This is a topic that I am very interested in and continue to read and learn about, and this book shined a light on how that environment played a role in the formation of these groups and artists, and it just seemed... real. Because it was, and continues to be, real.
Led Zeppelin has an almost mythical place in my mind. They don't need to be explained. They existed before I did, so they've always existed, and always will. No further questions. But NWA and the origins of gangsta rap, the origins of the East vs West feud, the way that rap and hip hop were forever changed because of their roles in it? That happened in my lifetime, I was witness to it, even though I didn't really understand it then, and so getting the full story about it now very much interests me. I absolutely loved learning about the history and impact this new genre of music, and these artists, made on the world.
I was actually sad when the book ended because I felt like I had gotten to know these guys in a way that I had never even thought about before. I grew up listening to a lot of these artists, but given the fact that I was very young, pretty much all of the nuance and meaning of the music went right over my head. It didn't really register to me how the art was imitating life. It was just music to naive me. I don't think that I regret that much though, because it's almost like I get to rediscover it now.
I did love the music though, and especially loved Tupac. I spent my pre and early teens crushing on him HARD via MTV. (Remember that scene in 'Friday After Next' when Damon is thirsting over Tupac?
That's how I spent my early teen years.) I was heartbroken when he was murdered and I listened to Don Killuminati about 50 thousand times afterward... but I didn't understand him, or his music, or his activism, his troubles with the law, or anything about him, really. And reading this book, that kind of breaks my heart, because that feeling of being misunderstood was one of the things that he struggled with the most during his short life. He was a flawed man, but in such a short time on this earth, he became an icon and a legend. That's impressive.
Anyway, I don't really know that I could do much justice to the actual content of the book in my review. It was really well researched, well presented, especially in the context of the political situation during these years, as well as the more local gang affiliation factions, and didn't pull any punches with any of it. Despite Westhoff being a white guy, he talked the talk and didn't condescend or insult or belittle or feel fake or pretentious about it. It just felt like he was simply the conduit for the story to flow through, which is ultimately the best compliment that I can give. I got the impression that he was a fan of the genre and the artists, and wanted to tell the story of how it came to be honestly and fairly, and I think he did so.
He showed that these artists, these famous rappers, were real people, and how their lives and environments influenced their music and personas. These artists were young men, teenagers really, who were just trying to figure it all out as they went, and somehow making it work. They were and are real people who just had a desire to do something... and then they fucking did it. And that's awesome.
This book covers the foundation of both the Ruthless and Death Row record labels, and later, Aftermath, and how each of them impacted the artists that they worked with, and the music industry as a whole.
It also covers the lives of so many foundational members of West Coast rap that there's no way I would talk about them all. I already mentioned Tupac (RIP), but I do want to talk about Eazy-E briefly, because he's one I knew and liked the least going into this book. I was never a huge NWA fan (though I liked some of the songs and both Dr. Dre and Ice Cube individually), but Eazy-E always had this really negative connotation in my mind for some reason. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but this book gave me a new appreciation for him... as well as valid reasons to dislike him, should I choose to. His vision and his investment in forming NWA and Ruthless was crucial, and though he wasn't really a musician at first, he worked hard at it and made himself one. He was a generous father, but wasn't a great friend to his label-mates, taking advantage of their work and shorting them on the proceeds, eventually causing the split that led to Death Row's formation. But one thing that really made me sad was his death. I knew he had died of AIDS, but I never knew how quickly it happened. I just find that really sad, especially for his kids.
This book also goes into the feud between East and West coast rappers, and specifically the breakdown of Tupac and Biggie's friendship, which is so frustratingly stupid and such a waste of two really talented men. The book ends on a more positive note though, with the Chicago meeting to commit to ending the violence and antagonism between the coasts, which seems to have succeeded pretty well.
Overall, this was fantastic. If I had one complaint (and I do, only one), it would be with the reader. He sometimes had a weird inflection and pronounced things... wrong. For instance, "nihilist". Usually that's "Nye-ill-ist", but he pronounced it "knee-ill-ist". Or "ideology" with an "id" sound rather than "eye" sound. Which is probably fine... if you pronounce "idea" as "id-ee-uh" and not "eye-dee-uh".
Nitpicky, I know. But those things were the only things I had to complain about, so there you go. I will say though that he was REALLY great at not doing the voices, but still managing to capture the sound and style and tone of famous people that we're all really familiar with - even sometimes rapping their lyrics - without it feeling like imitation. So, that was impressive.
Anyway, I really loved this book and can't recommend it highly enough if you're a fan of these artists, or rap, or nostalgia for the 80s/90s West Coast culture. It's all there.
Still, when I saw this on Audible in a 2-for-1 sale, I picked it up, because my hubs is a huge fan of this kind of music, and had actually lived in LA during the late 80s-early 90s, and so I thought that he would like it. (And he did. We listened to it in the car during a trip out of town, and he was really into it. It was pure nostalgia for him, even little things like recognizing a certain intersection or neighborhood mentioned. Very much a successful selection for him.)
Anyway, I wasn't sure whether I would like it as much though, because, I figured I would have the same issue with this book as I did with the Led Zeppelin one, which was that I don't necessarily need or want to know the people behind the music - the music itself is what matters. I was wrong. While I still think that's true for Zeppelin, I would NOT say that it's true for this book, which actually came as something of a surprise to me. And so I have been trying to figure out why THIS book worked so well, and I enjoyed it so much, despite essentially being the same type of book.
And, I think it comes down to a couple things.
1) This book was just better written. There was not a single 2nd person, cockney accented narrative section to be found. WIN.
2) This book was less interested in shock value and sensationalism. The Zeppelin book really focused on all of the partying and "extracurricular" aspects of the band's rise to fame, and I just wasn't really interested in that. While there was some of that in this book, it was not overly repetitious or anywhere near the main focus. It was mentioned, understood, and then we moved on. This book covered a LOT of ground though, so there wasn't a lot of room for glorifying party culture unless this was going to be 900 pages long.
3) Most importantly, the key reason that this worked so much more for me was the fact that the sociopolitical environment that these guys grew up in is so much more relevant and intrinsic to the music that they made. This is a topic that I am very interested in and continue to read and learn about, and this book shined a light on how that environment played a role in the formation of these groups and artists, and it just seemed... real. Because it was, and continues to be, real.
Led Zeppelin has an almost mythical place in my mind. They don't need to be explained. They existed before I did, so they've always existed, and always will. No further questions. But NWA and the origins of gangsta rap, the origins of the East vs West feud, the way that rap and hip hop were forever changed because of their roles in it? That happened in my lifetime, I was witness to it, even though I didn't really understand it then, and so getting the full story about it now very much interests me. I absolutely loved learning about the history and impact this new genre of music, and these artists, made on the world.
I was actually sad when the book ended because I felt like I had gotten to know these guys in a way that I had never even thought about before. I grew up listening to a lot of these artists, but given the fact that I was very young, pretty much all of the nuance and meaning of the music went right over my head. It didn't really register to me how the art was imitating life. It was just music to naive me. I don't think that I regret that much though, because it's almost like I get to rediscover it now.
I did love the music though, and especially loved Tupac. I spent my pre and early teens crushing on him HARD via MTV. (Remember that scene in 'Friday After Next' when Damon is thirsting over Tupac?
That's how I spent my early teen years.) I was heartbroken when he was murdered and I listened to Don Killuminati about 50 thousand times afterward... but I didn't understand him, or his music, or his activism, his troubles with the law, or anything about him, really. And reading this book, that kind of breaks my heart, because that feeling of being misunderstood was one of the things that he struggled with the most during his short life. He was a flawed man, but in such a short time on this earth, he became an icon and a legend. That's impressive.
Anyway, I don't really know that I could do much justice to the actual content of the book in my review. It was really well researched, well presented, especially in the context of the political situation during these years, as well as the more local gang affiliation factions, and didn't pull any punches with any of it. Despite Westhoff being a white guy, he talked the talk and didn't condescend or insult or belittle or feel fake or pretentious about it. It just felt like he was simply the conduit for the story to flow through, which is ultimately the best compliment that I can give. I got the impression that he was a fan of the genre and the artists, and wanted to tell the story of how it came to be honestly and fairly, and I think he did so.
He showed that these artists, these famous rappers, were real people, and how their lives and environments influenced their music and personas. These artists were young men, teenagers really, who were just trying to figure it all out as they went, and somehow making it work. They were and are real people who just had a desire to do something... and then they fucking did it. And that's awesome.
This book covers the foundation of both the Ruthless and Death Row record labels, and later, Aftermath, and how each of them impacted the artists that they worked with, and the music industry as a whole.
It also covers the lives of so many foundational members of West Coast rap that there's no way I would talk about them all. I already mentioned Tupac (RIP), but I do want to talk about Eazy-E briefly, because he's one I knew and liked the least going into this book. I was never a huge NWA fan (though I liked some of the songs and both Dr. Dre and Ice Cube individually), but Eazy-E always had this really negative connotation in my mind for some reason. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but this book gave me a new appreciation for him... as well as valid reasons to dislike him, should I choose to. His vision and his investment in forming NWA and Ruthless was crucial, and though he wasn't really a musician at first, he worked hard at it and made himself one. He was a generous father, but wasn't a great friend to his label-mates, taking advantage of their work and shorting them on the proceeds, eventually causing the split that led to Death Row's formation. But one thing that really made me sad was his death. I knew he had died of AIDS, but I never knew how quickly it happened. I just find that really sad, especially for his kids.
This book also goes into the feud between East and West coast rappers, and specifically the breakdown of Tupac and Biggie's friendship, which is so frustratingly stupid and such a waste of two really talented men. The book ends on a more positive note though, with the Chicago meeting to commit to ending the violence and antagonism between the coasts, which seems to have succeeded pretty well.
Overall, this was fantastic. If I had one complaint (and I do, only one), it would be with the reader. He sometimes had a weird inflection and pronounced things... wrong. For instance, "nihilist". Usually that's "Nye-ill-ist", but he pronounced it "knee-ill-ist". Or "ideology" with an "id" sound rather than "eye" sound. Which is probably fine... if you pronounce "idea" as "id-ee-uh" and not "eye-dee-uh".
Nitpicky, I know. But those things were the only things I had to complain about, so there you go. I will say though that he was REALLY great at not doing the voices, but still managing to capture the sound and style and tone of famous people that we're all really familiar with - even sometimes rapping their lyrics - without it feeling like imitation. So, that was impressive.
Anyway, I really loved this book and can't recommend it highly enough if you're a fan of these artists, or rap, or nostalgia for the 80s/90s West Coast culture. It's all there.
February 20, 2021
A well-written, thoroughly researched, impressively in-depth account of the origins of West Coast gangsta rap. Decidedly not a hagiography, and thank god for that. For instance, I was quite surprised to read what Eazy-E had to say on the subject of black power:
And then it was rather nauseating to read about Dr. Dre's shall we say robust history of abuse toward women, although, if you've ever listened to his lyrics, you probably won't be all that surprised to learn that he essentially practiced what he preached. This was, however, entirely glossed over in Straight Outta Compton; that glaring omission is but one of the problems I have with the film.
Another issue I have with it has to do with the origin of the legendary "Fuck tha Police." Never trust Hollywood to give you the whole picture. Thankfully the book provided a bit more context:
Which is not to suggest that they didn't face a tremendous amount of blatant racial discrimination from the police. They had to deal with hardcore police brutality on a very regular basis, but if that is indeed the incident which inspired the iconic protest song, well, they were also being total dicks with those paintball guns.
So overall, while these guys were perhaps a little less likable than I was expecting them to be, they came across as far more human than they're usually portrayed, and I'd rather have the unvarnished truth than a more palatable prevarication any day. It was also quite refreshing in this era of fairly dogmatic political correctness to read about a time when things were more raw and unfiltered, less "safe" and homogeneous and bland. These guys may have had their flaws, but blandness definitely wasn't one of them.
"Chuck D gets involved in all that black stuff, we don't. Fuck that black power shit: we don't give a fuck. Free South Africa: we don't give a fuck. I bet there ain't anybody in South Africa wearing a button saying 'Free Compton.'"
And then it was rather nauseating to read about Dr. Dre's shall we say robust history of abuse toward women, although, if you've ever listened to his lyrics, you probably won't be all that surprised to learn that he essentially practiced what he preached. This was, however, entirely glossed over in Straight Outta Compton; that glaring omission is but one of the problems I have with the film.
Another issue I have with it has to do with the origin of the legendary "Fuck tha Police." Never trust Hollywood to give you the whole picture. Thankfully the book provided a bit more context:
"In his book Jerry Heller wrote that in the fall of 1987, the group members were standing outside Audio Achievements Studios in Torrance when, apropos of nothing, police pulled up and without explanation put the artists on their knees, and demanded to see their IDs. A similar scene is portrayed in the Straight Outta Compton film, which then inspires Cube to pen a draft of "Fuck tha Police."
Alonzo Williams suspects a different incident helped shape the song. He recalled hearing about a pre–"Fuck tha Police" joyride taken by Eazy, Dre, and others, in which they shot people's cars with paintball guns on the Harbor Freeway. They were pulled over, had guns put to their heads, and handcuffed before police let them go. "They come back to my house shaking like leaves on a tree on a windy day, damn near crying," Lonzo wrote in his memoir. "'Man, fuck the police!'" Eazy may have been referencing this incident when he gave an account of police harassment, telling a television interviewer he was once "snatched out of my car, guns to my head, on the freeway laid down.""
Which is not to suggest that they didn't face a tremendous amount of blatant racial discrimination from the police. They had to deal with hardcore police brutality on a very regular basis, but if that is indeed the incident which inspired the iconic protest song, well, they were also being total dicks with those paintball guns.
So overall, while these guys were perhaps a little less likable than I was expecting them to be, they came across as far more human than they're usually portrayed, and I'd rather have the unvarnished truth than a more palatable prevarication any day. It was also quite refreshing in this era of fairly dogmatic political correctness to read about a time when things were more raw and unfiltered, less "safe" and homogeneous and bland. These guys may have had their flaws, but blandness definitely wasn't one of them.
November 6, 2019
very interesting book. I learned a lot from this that I didn't know before despite growing up listening to these guys. it focuses on n. w. a and beyond. obviously alot of controversy and it's influence on American culture is undeniable but hearing it now it really sounds like talented youths crying out in pain. this message has somehow gotten lost since then but honestly I wonder how anyone can be upset about the music when they should be upset these things are actually happening.
July 23, 2017
This should be read by anyone who's even remotely interested in Hip Hop, Rap, L.A. in the 90s, L.A. nowadays, Gang life, and things like that. It's seriously an amazing read, not to mention a pageturner. It even reignited my love for reading.
March 27, 2024
Elite book. Top tier. I recently rewatched straight outta Compton and obviously the movie didn’t have everything (it can’t be forever long you know). Afterwards I was like hmmm, let me go ahead and try to learn more about this. This novel painted such a complete and thorough picture, Exploring the importance of west coast hip hop/rap and the unique role it played in putting Black stories in mainstream media. Particularly the development of reality rap as a means of portraying a side of Black life the media paid no mind to. The story also paints an accurate picture of the often rampant misogyny, violence, and governmental pushback prevalent in the early stages of hip-hop and rap. This is all you’d ever want to know about Snoop, Dre, NWA, Biggie, and the origin of what has proven to be an incredibly influential style of music.
September 19, 2016
Ben Westhoff's new book is probably the best book yet written about the history of Hip Hop music in Los Angeles. I can't say that I agree with all of Ben's conclusions in the book, but he did a lot of research and is a very good writer. Because Ben is so competent a writer, Original Gangstas will be interesting not just to Hip Hop fans, but also to any readers who love history. Anyone who grew up on West Coast Hip Hop - Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, N.W.A., Ice Cube, Eazy-E, The D.O.C., 2Pac, Death Row Records, etc., in particular - will really enjoy reading this book. I highly recommend it. It belongs on the shelf of any Hip Hop fan.
September 11, 2016
If you are interested in getting a true behind the scenes look as to why "gangsta rap, more than any art form, made black life a permanent part of the American conversation," then this is the book for you. Full review to come!
January 26, 2017
Reads like an exhaustive research paper that's hell bent on getting an A.
January 6, 2022
Incredibly well-researched and well-written. It really blew me away. An even handed telling of such a pivotal era of music. I would recommend this to anyone.
July 19, 2018
I was a teenager in the 90s, and this book is the soundtrack of my coming-of-age. I know exactly where I was when Tupac was killed, when Biggie was killed, when Ice Cube left NWA, when Snoop was arrested for murder, when Eazy-E died. All of these things were the background of my youth. Every time Ben Westhoff mentioned an artist or a specific song I had to hit up YouTube. I was feeling so nostalgic by the time I finished reading that I was wishing for a second go around, to go back to when I heard these artists for the first time. It's hard to understand now that they are such an ingrained part of our cultural conversation but when they first exploded on the music scene it was a revelation.
Ben is an extremely gifted writer. His narrative has an easy flow to it and it reads like a work of fiction instead of a history, which is very important in works of this type. Writers who rely on bare statements of fact tend to put out work that is dry and boring. Ben is clearly passionate about his subject (in fact he has written other books on rap/hip hop music, which I will absolutely be picking up) and his passion shines through his writing. He shares numerous personal stories about the impact the music had on him as a teenager. I was able to relate to him, as my friends and I had a similar experience. I was so pleasantly excited by this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who grew up during this time period and felt the universe shift the first time they heard that California beat. Love love love.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Ben is an extremely gifted writer. His narrative has an easy flow to it and it reads like a work of fiction instead of a history, which is very important in works of this type. Writers who rely on bare statements of fact tend to put out work that is dry and boring. Ben is clearly passionate about his subject (in fact he has written other books on rap/hip hop music, which I will absolutely be picking up) and his passion shines through his writing. He shares numerous personal stories about the impact the music had on him as a teenager. I was able to relate to him, as my friends and I had a similar experience. I was so pleasantly excited by this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who grew up during this time period and felt the universe shift the first time they heard that California beat. Love love love.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
June 7, 2020
Ben Westhoff’s look at the origins of gangsta rap says it all in the title: originals, creatives, visionaries, who were also criminals or dabbled in criminality. It will no doubt go down as the definitive look at the genre, with several never-before-told stories and a wealth of interviews from the b-list stars who saw it all unfold. I tore through this book, rabidly anticipating the rise and fall of the key players, but also enjoying the depth of detail and side stories that were new to me. As America continues to grapple with the issue of race and systemic prejudice, I can only hope that one of the side effects of this latest conflagration will be an art as powerful, dynamic, and contradictory as gangsta rap.
September 13, 2022
Recommended by The Last Podcast On The Left. This book took me longer than usual to read because I kept googling and watching you tube videos of events mentioned in the book. It's very well researched, a great read.
October 19, 2020
Ein gut geschriebenes Buch,vorallem für die heutige Generation die diese Anfangszeit von Hip Pop nicht erlebt hat und die Geschichte von Rap teilweise leider ignoriert.
Durch das Werk bekommt man die Möglichkeit zu verstehen das Rap nicht nur Musik zum entertainen ist/war sondern auch ein soziales Instrument für die Unterdrückten war und eine Plattform geboten hat um soziale Themen,Probleme,Unterdrückung anzusprechen.Rap ebenfalls eine Musikrichtung wie viele andere auch die von Schwarze erfunden wurde.
Das Band erläutert ebenfalls die verschiedene vorallem interne Konflikte und Probleme die es damals in Rap gab die dazu beigetragen haben das der politische Rap fast schon gestorben ist..Doch wer steckt hinter diese Konflikte und was war die Rolle der Politik und Medien bei diese interne Streitigkeiten im Rap?!Das sind die Fragen die wir uns stellen sollten.
Schade das im Buch nicht ausführlicher bzw expliziter erklärt wird wie wir vom Politischen zum Gangsta Rap gekommen sind und wie sehr die Gesellschaft vorallem die Schwarze Jugend aus den Ghettos beeinflusst wurde unteranderem die Attitüde und Denkweise.Rap wurde zwar von Schwarzen aus Amerika erfunden aber wer profitiert/e bis heute noch wirtschaftlich davon am meisten?!...
Trotzdem eines der beste Bücher die ich gelesen habe sehr einfach,verständlich und reflektierend geschrieben.
Durch das Werk bekommt man die Möglichkeit zu verstehen das Rap nicht nur Musik zum entertainen ist/war sondern auch ein soziales Instrument für die Unterdrückten war und eine Plattform geboten hat um soziale Themen,Probleme,Unterdrückung anzusprechen.Rap ebenfalls eine Musikrichtung wie viele andere auch die von Schwarze erfunden wurde.
Das Band erläutert ebenfalls die verschiedene vorallem interne Konflikte und Probleme die es damals in Rap gab die dazu beigetragen haben das der politische Rap fast schon gestorben ist..Doch wer steckt hinter diese Konflikte und was war die Rolle der Politik und Medien bei diese interne Streitigkeiten im Rap?!Das sind die Fragen die wir uns stellen sollten.
Schade das im Buch nicht ausführlicher bzw expliziter erklärt wird wie wir vom Politischen zum Gangsta Rap gekommen sind und wie sehr die Gesellschaft vorallem die Schwarze Jugend aus den Ghettos beeinflusst wurde unteranderem die Attitüde und Denkweise.Rap wurde zwar von Schwarzen aus Amerika erfunden aber wer profitiert/e bis heute noch wirtschaftlich davon am meisten?!...
Trotzdem eines der beste Bücher die ich gelesen habe sehr einfach,verständlich und reflektierend geschrieben.
May 6, 2020
Fantastic read. I had heard many news stories and blurbs and a little of the music growing up, but I never had a chance to fully understand and appreciate the origins, the talent, and the intertwined storylines of West Coast hip hop. This book clarified a topic that has always fascinated me and allowed me to broaden my musical appreciation. It is a brisk, well-written read. And I felt the author organized the various stories and timelines in a way that made things easy to understand. All in all, I really enjoyed this one.
January 3, 2021
Sehr interessantes, sehr lesbares, gut recherchiertes Buch über die Geburt des Gangsta-Raps.
Man spürt die Liebe des Autors für das Genre und trotzdem scheut er sich nicht davor unbequeme Details aus dem Leben der Rap-Idole offenzulegen.
Eine spaßige Lektüre und ein starkes Rundum-Erlebnis, wenn man parallel die Songs hört und die Videos auf youtube schaut.
August 6, 2019
Brilliant , insightful and an honest representation of how west coast rap started and very informative when it comes to the oppression young black men faced in the 80's and 90's in america
February 14, 2022
I would have thought it impossible to make this topic boring, but this author somehow managed it. Truly an impressive feat of bad journalism, unchecked biases and charmless writing.
June 11, 2020
An in-depth, immaculately researched look at one of the most important moments in music.
August 30, 2018
A must read for any fan of West Coast hip hop or even just hip hop in general. Insights into the early days of LA legends and the evolution of LA's rap scene throughout the 80s and 90s from the early days of Ice-T and NWA all the way to the post Death Row days after 2pac's death. In addition to this the book is full of interviews with all kinds of people from the era and not only fans of the big names on the cover should enjoy reading this.
July 16, 2018
This book was worth every minute of reading. It read like a can't-put-down-until-I'm-done book, but with the research of a PhD dissertation. I can imagine the people who claim to hate rap would still love this book. My favorite thing about Original Gangstas is that it humanizes these rappers, producers, and all people involved- giving you both the good and the bad and allowing you to decide what outweighs what. There was emphasis on their legacies. What they did for the rap community. How they impacted the greater community. The movement they started. Ben Westhoff also made sure to tell everyone's stories (i.e. all of the women Dr. Dre allegedly hit, DOC and all the other ghostwriters, etc). This book isn't meant to glorify individuals. It is meant to tell the story of how west coast rap came to be in a honest manner.
One side note if you plan on picking this book up to read: it is dense. It is an easy and very enjoyable read, but it is not a quick read. There is so much information and many stories that needed to be covered in order to give the reader an honest depiction of what happened.
One side note if you plan on picking this book up to read: it is dense. It is an easy and very enjoyable read, but it is not a quick read. There is so much information and many stories that needed to be covered in order to give the reader an honest depiction of what happened.
January 16, 2021
Been on a bit of a music bender to start off this year so far, and this didn't disappoint either. Coupled with the Contact High photography book and Scarface's memoir I read a few days ago, 2021 has been a good year in Hip-Hop related books already. I grew up on all of this ish, so a majority of this was already common knowledge to me... but these stories never get old! Plus there were enough new factoids sprinkled throughout that made this well worth it. I felt this book was a more jouranistic account, compared to Ronin Ro's "Have Gun will Travel" (which may be a more entertaining book overall, but lacks the credibilty and accuracy of this one). Either way, I could read about Pac, Cube, Eazy and Dre over and over and never get bored. West coast legends never die
June 28, 2018
Straight outta Compton
The definitive take on gangsta (reality) rap. Very informative, very entertaining. I love how it gives an account of the era from so many different factions, and remains as unbiased as possible in the process. I can’t recommend it enough
The definitive take on gangsta (reality) rap. Very informative, very entertaining. I love how it gives an account of the era from so many different factions, and remains as unbiased as possible in the process. I can’t recommend it enough
May 19, 2020
I've always prefered West Coast hip-hop, specifically the G-Funk genre from the '90s. I've had no less than four dreams about hanging out with Snoop Dogg in various scenarios (which I drew comics about). Anyhow, I saw this book referenced in a review of Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" (one of my all-time faves) and tracked it down.
This book provides a great overview of the early west coast rap scene, zeroing in on key players and providing context for why/what they produced.
This book provides a great overview of the early west coast rap scene, zeroing in on key players and providing context for why/what they produced.
November 6, 2016
Entertaining from cover to cover. Lots of myths debunked, lots of fun - cited - backstories explained that I didn't previously know existed. So many knots and loose ends unraveled and tied up, in what is probably one of the most politically charged and complex times in rap music.
A must read for anyone into hip-hop. I even read the acknowledgements it was that good.
A must read for anyone into hip-hop. I even read the acknowledgements it was that good.
July 12, 2017
A true masterpiece! The author maintains an objective view on the history throughout the book, and supplies some answers to rumours and myths, while letting other questions remain unanswered. The book is very entertaining and easily read. You do not need to be a hardcore hip hop head to find entertainment in this book, although it certainly makes it even more enjoyable.
December 23, 2017
Very well written and researched. Highly recommend for anyone interested in the history of g-rap or who really enjoyed watching the Defiant Ones. This goes into more detail than the HBO Series- definitely worth the read!
August 27, 2019
The very day I finished this book, I read that Death Row Records had just been sold to Hasbro. Technically, Hasbro bought the parent Entertainment One megacorp that counted Death Row as part of its portfolio, but it's fun to imagine telling Suge Knight 20 years ago that his record label that produced some of the all-time hip hop classics would one day be owned by a toy company. Whether hip hop will eventually loom the largest in historical memory depends on how exactly the demographics of musical canonization shake out in the future, but even though hip hop didn't come from the West Coast, it's that sound that will be the main argument that the genre deserves as much respect as any other style of 20th century music. Westhoff is a bona fide superfan of the genre - a white guy from the Midwest, naturally, that often-derided but crucial fan constituency - who made it his mission to show how exactly LA's music scene went from living in the shadow of New York to setting the standard for what hip hop should sound like, and even more crucially what it should mean to the audience. He succeeds wonderfully, and even though everyone involved in that scene is now hawking endorsements for a living (Snoop being the ultimate example of the transformation from wanted criminal to universally beloved pitchman), Westhoff shows how they became megastars by translating frustration, rage, and rebellion into art.
Westhoff mostly focuses on N.W.A. personnel (Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, DOC), along with Snoop, Tupac, and some East Coast figures (Biggie, Puff Daddy) who moved between the two coasts, and he provides lots of context behind the albums, so it vastly improves on entertainment products like 2015's Straight Outta Compton by connecting more dots and providing more answers (though the real best exploration of hip hop remains Fear of a Black Hat). As charming as it might be for some to see bits of trivia like the "Bye, Felicia!" scene, most of the real story of every musical group is in the business negotiations with lawyers, labels, distributors, and every other necessary parasite. Artists make music for fun and personal fulfillment, but you can't make more than an album or two without getting paid, and so the tension between the art and the commerce sides of the music industry is overlaid on all of the other well-known drugs/crime/violence issues that plagued the West Coast scene. This means the book overlaps more with 2017's The Defiant Ones, which focuses on Dre and producer Jimmy Iovine. Iovine in particular was crucial to the band's success, as shown for example by his marketing strategy for The Chronic's first single "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang":
"We can't get it played on the radio," Jimmy Iovine said the radio guys told him.
"It's 'Satisfaction,'" he retorted.
"Radio doesn't think so. They think it's a bunch of black guys cursing who want to kill everybody."
Iovine decided to create a minute-long commercial, consisting of nothing but the song. "Don't say who it is, and buy it on fifty stations, drive time. I want the program directors to hear it in their cars."
There are many interesting counterfactuals that Westhoff proposes:
"Daily Beast writer Rich Goldstein pointed out that 1988 was a huge year for record sales, led by George Michael's Faith and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, each of which sold over ten million copies. In those pre-internet days, there weren't very many places to hear about new music, and not many places to buy it. All of N.W.A's publicity was great, but that didn't matter if you couldn't actually consume their songs. "Had Straight Outta Compton been played on MTV, listened to on the radio, and been available for purchase in big-box retailers like Walmart, there is a good chance it would have eclipsed the Dirty Dancing soundtrack," Goldstein theorized."
And the saddest parts of the book are of course the discussions of the tragically brief and violent lives of many incredibly talented people, most notably Biggie and Tupac. All of the surviving members of N.W.A. lament how short their collaborative period was before it fell apart, and one can only imagine the works that they and the rest could have created if they hadn't hated each other:
"Tupac claimed to have directly influenced Biggie's style. "I used to tell the nigga, 'If you want to make your money you have to rap for the bitches. Do not rap for the niggas,'" he said. "The bitches will buy your records, and the niggas want what the bitches want." As proof that Biggie had heeded his advice, Tupac cited the difference between the aggressive "Party and Bullshit" and softer Ready to Die hits tracks "Big Poppa," which appealed more to the ladies. Soon as he buy that wine, I just creep up from behind / And ask what your interests are, who you be with?"
But as unfortunately truncated as many of their careers were, their surviving works are legendary, and books like Westhoff's are a testament to how brightly stars can shine in such a brief period.
Westhoff mostly focuses on N.W.A. personnel (Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, DOC), along with Snoop, Tupac, and some East Coast figures (Biggie, Puff Daddy) who moved between the two coasts, and he provides lots of context behind the albums, so it vastly improves on entertainment products like 2015's Straight Outta Compton by connecting more dots and providing more answers (though the real best exploration of hip hop remains Fear of a Black Hat). As charming as it might be for some to see bits of trivia like the "Bye, Felicia!" scene, most of the real story of every musical group is in the business negotiations with lawyers, labels, distributors, and every other necessary parasite. Artists make music for fun and personal fulfillment, but you can't make more than an album or two without getting paid, and so the tension between the art and the commerce sides of the music industry is overlaid on all of the other well-known drugs/crime/violence issues that plagued the West Coast scene. This means the book overlaps more with 2017's The Defiant Ones, which focuses on Dre and producer Jimmy Iovine. Iovine in particular was crucial to the band's success, as shown for example by his marketing strategy for The Chronic's first single "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang":
"We can't get it played on the radio," Jimmy Iovine said the radio guys told him.
"It's 'Satisfaction,'" he retorted.
"Radio doesn't think so. They think it's a bunch of black guys cursing who want to kill everybody."
Iovine decided to create a minute-long commercial, consisting of nothing but the song. "Don't say who it is, and buy it on fifty stations, drive time. I want the program directors to hear it in their cars."
There are many interesting counterfactuals that Westhoff proposes:
"Daily Beast writer Rich Goldstein pointed out that 1988 was a huge year for record sales, led by George Michael's Faith and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, each of which sold over ten million copies. In those pre-internet days, there weren't very many places to hear about new music, and not many places to buy it. All of N.W.A's publicity was great, but that didn't matter if you couldn't actually consume their songs. "Had Straight Outta Compton been played on MTV, listened to on the radio, and been available for purchase in big-box retailers like Walmart, there is a good chance it would have eclipsed the Dirty Dancing soundtrack," Goldstein theorized."
And the saddest parts of the book are of course the discussions of the tragically brief and violent lives of many incredibly talented people, most notably Biggie and Tupac. All of the surviving members of N.W.A. lament how short their collaborative period was before it fell apart, and one can only imagine the works that they and the rest could have created if they hadn't hated each other:
"Tupac claimed to have directly influenced Biggie's style. "I used to tell the nigga, 'If you want to make your money you have to rap for the bitches. Do not rap for the niggas,'" he said. "The bitches will buy your records, and the niggas want what the bitches want." As proof that Biggie had heeded his advice, Tupac cited the difference between the aggressive "Party and Bullshit" and softer Ready to Die hits tracks "Big Poppa," which appealed more to the ladies. Soon as he buy that wine, I just creep up from behind / And ask what your interests are, who you be with?"
But as unfortunately truncated as many of their careers were, their surviving works are legendary, and books like Westhoff's are a testament to how brightly stars can shine in such a brief period.
December 2, 2017
If you loved the recent movie Straight Out of Compton and left that film wanting more, this is the book to read. Westhoff diligently researched this authoritative history of West Coast rap, and covers just about every detail you could imagine. When modern mythology has taken over a story, he carefully untangles the evidence and offers his own balanced conclusions. He also occasionally points out where the movie has fictionalized reality. Nowhere was this more evident than in the movie’s whitewashing of gangsta rap’s misogyny problem. Westhoff shows reverence for the legendary rappers he documents, but refuses to ignore their abusive and misogynistic behavior. This kind of attention to the faults of the genre and its practicitoners is necessary if we want to honor its artistic and political value.
I grew up a middle-class white kid in the Detroit suburbs, and was drawn to gangsta rap in the late 90s. I missed a lot of the controversy, since I didn’t start listening until after Pac and Biggie were killed. Despite that, much of the story of rap is recorded in its lyrics, and Westhoff does a good job bringing in familiar songs and more obscure ones that reflect on historical events or reveal artists’ mindsets. This book gives vivid a picture of Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Suge Knight, and Tupac, but it also reveals the importance of lesser known contributors such as D.O.C., Nate Dogg, and Mc Ren. Each chapter is meticulously researched and presented. There is so much information here, it would take several readthroughs to take it all in. (I had hoped to learn more about DJ Quik and Nas, but these two figures seemed to be too far from the major storyline.)
As a history of West Coast rap, this book is superb, but it isn't just a history of rap music, it also documents the social and cultural issues which gave rise to it, including racism, poverty, gang culture, the drug wars, and many others. There are conclusions here you might disagree with—for example, he seems to place too much creedence on the testimony of a few Tupac associates when he claims that a young Tupac played an instrumental role in creating the 1992 Watts Peace accord—but generally Westhoff gives careful attention to both sides. His coverage of the financial dealings of Ruthless and Death Row records, as well as the death of Eazy-E and the murders of Tupac and Biggie, are all masterful and judicious.
Westhoff himself shyly admits his own white, midwestern, suburban upbrining at one point. It is hard to say if this is a plus or a minus. Clearly, the sea change which gangsta rap brought was the mass appeal to white audiences, but would the major players in this genre like being described in a text which employs so much of the white man’s historical method and literary voice? The fact that he managed to secure interviews with so many of those who remain living weighs in his favor. As do the fact that he is so scrupulous about letting the voices of the people he documents speak for themselves. The personae of these important artists all come alive on the page, warts and all. As a student of history myself, I was so engrossed that I had to keep reading and finished it in just a few days. This book is like one of those little 33 1/3 tomes on steriods. I would love to read more like this.
I grew up a middle-class white kid in the Detroit suburbs, and was drawn to gangsta rap in the late 90s. I missed a lot of the controversy, since I didn’t start listening until after Pac and Biggie were killed. Despite that, much of the story of rap is recorded in its lyrics, and Westhoff does a good job bringing in familiar songs and more obscure ones that reflect on historical events or reveal artists’ mindsets. This book gives vivid a picture of Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Suge Knight, and Tupac, but it also reveals the importance of lesser known contributors such as D.O.C., Nate Dogg, and Mc Ren. Each chapter is meticulously researched and presented. There is so much information here, it would take several readthroughs to take it all in. (I had hoped to learn more about DJ Quik and Nas, but these two figures seemed to be too far from the major storyline.)
As a history of West Coast rap, this book is superb, but it isn't just a history of rap music, it also documents the social and cultural issues which gave rise to it, including racism, poverty, gang culture, the drug wars, and many others. There are conclusions here you might disagree with—for example, he seems to place too much creedence on the testimony of a few Tupac associates when he claims that a young Tupac played an instrumental role in creating the 1992 Watts Peace accord—but generally Westhoff gives careful attention to both sides. His coverage of the financial dealings of Ruthless and Death Row records, as well as the death of Eazy-E and the murders of Tupac and Biggie, are all masterful and judicious.
Westhoff himself shyly admits his own white, midwestern, suburban upbrining at one point. It is hard to say if this is a plus or a minus. Clearly, the sea change which gangsta rap brought was the mass appeal to white audiences, but would the major players in this genre like being described in a text which employs so much of the white man’s historical method and literary voice? The fact that he managed to secure interviews with so many of those who remain living weighs in his favor. As do the fact that he is so scrupulous about letting the voices of the people he documents speak for themselves. The personae of these important artists all come alive on the page, warts and all. As a student of history myself, I was so engrossed that I had to keep reading and finished it in just a few days. This book is like one of those little 33 1/3 tomes on steriods. I would love to read more like this.
March 13, 2019
To start off with, I believe the book was very well written and created a rather realistic and vivid image of the type of life that these revolutionary rappers lived. Clearly, Ben Westhoff did his research going very in depth on the origins of N.W.A and Tupac describing not only their early life before the fame but also on the world around them at the time. Helping the reader understand how truly impactful the music they created was to a time where drugs flowed through the streets and young adults were subject to police brutality. I agree with the other readers on Goodreads that praise the book very highly due to the illustrative writing of Westhoff as well the the sheer accuracy of his research into the multiple rappers being very impressive. However, I felt, along with a few others on Goodreads, that the book at times fell flat and read almost like a Wikipedia page. Not meant to be a reflection of the book as a whole though. Personally being a fan of the rap genre as well as N.W.A I found the history portion of the book very fascinating and engaging. Though I realize this type of writing is not for everyone I would only recommend this book for those who are very involved in the genre or interested in the history that they had left behind.
The main strength of the book is the descriptive writing of Westhoff. He is challenged with the obstacle of making the history of these rappers intriguing to non-fans as well. He achieves this by not only talking about the rappers themselves but also the world around them. He describes the neighborhood G-easy grew up in a way that the reader can understand his thought process and his lifestyle a lot better. Creating a connection similar to the connection that someone would feel when listening to their music. Despite Westhoff’s vivid writing, I felt a major shortcoming of the book was the rather wide range of history that he tried to incorporate. I understand that the beginning of east coast rap has a rich and long history that takes a long time to fully comprehend how revolutionary this new style of rap was. And to fully understand it helps the reader to know some history about west coast rap. However, I believe if he narrowed the focus a little bit and stay with the topic of east coast rap the information would not feel so scattered and at times confusing with the multiple lesser known names mentioned throughout the book. Overall, this is a great book for anyone that loves rap or is genuinely curious about the start of east coast rapping in general.
The main strength of the book is the descriptive writing of Westhoff. He is challenged with the obstacle of making the history of these rappers intriguing to non-fans as well. He achieves this by not only talking about the rappers themselves but also the world around them. He describes the neighborhood G-easy grew up in a way that the reader can understand his thought process and his lifestyle a lot better. Creating a connection similar to the connection that someone would feel when listening to their music. Despite Westhoff’s vivid writing, I felt a major shortcoming of the book was the rather wide range of history that he tried to incorporate. I understand that the beginning of east coast rap has a rich and long history that takes a long time to fully comprehend how revolutionary this new style of rap was. And to fully understand it helps the reader to know some history about west coast rap. However, I believe if he narrowed the focus a little bit and stay with the topic of east coast rap the information would not feel so scattered and at times confusing with the multiple lesser known names mentioned throughout the book. Overall, this is a great book for anyone that loves rap or is genuinely curious about the start of east coast rapping in general.
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