"Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella caused a seismic shift in hip-hop when they decided to form N.W.A in 1986. Suddenly rap became gangsta and relevant on the West Coast. With their hard-core image, bombastic sound, and lyrics that were by turns poetic, lascivious, socially conscious, and downright in-your-face, N.W.A spoke the truth about life on the streets of Compton, California--at the time a hotbed of poverty, drugs, gangs, and unemployment. Their hood tales offered a sharp contrast to the cozy, comfortable images of thriving middle-class life emanating from television screens across America. For the group, making music was not about being nice or projecting a false reality. It was all about expressing themselves. Through firsthand interviews and exhaustive research, Los Angeles Times music reporter Gerrick D. Kennedy transports readers back in time and offers a front-row seat to N.W.A's early days and the drama and controversy that followed the incendiary group as they rose to become multiplatinum artists. Kennedy leaves nothing off the table in his pursuit of the full story behind the group's most pivotal moments, including Ice Cube's decision to go solo after their debut studio album became a smash hit, the forming of Ruthless Records, the group's confrontation with the FBI over their inflammatory lyrics, incidents of physical assault, Dr. Dre's decision to launch Death Row Records with Suge Knight, N.W.A's impact on the 1992 LA riots, Eazy-E's battle with AIDS, and much more. A riveting and illuminating work of music journalism, [this book] captures a defining moment in rap music, when N.W.A made it altogether social, freaky, enterprising, and gangsta. They forced us all to take notice. For that reason alone, their story must be told."--Dust jacket flap.