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1 album on the Billboard 200 chart in the SoundScan era.īut the success N.W.A and other gangsta rap acts enjoyed came with a price. So on June 22, 1991, N.W.A’s Efil4Zaggin became the first No. Thanks to the implementation of SoundScan in 1991, for the first time positioning on Billboard charts was determined by actual record sales, not the reporting by random record store owners and select DJs. N.W.A, in particular, had weathered pressure from the FBI and went on to thrive and make history. Priority Records was at the forefront of cutting-edge gangsta rap with Ice Cube and N.W.A creating music that was socially aware, sonically searing, and fueled by controversy.
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“After the launch of N.W.A,” Cerami says, “I was pretty confident we could build the largest record label in the world.” The success of these projects gave Priority Records the money and confidence to continue building its roster. N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton and Eazy-E’s Eazy-Duz-It albums became smash records, eventually going triple and double platinum, respectively. I was shown something that I otherwise wouldn’t have known about. “It was the home of ‘Fuck Tha Police’ and N.W.A,” says Dave Weiner, who started working in the mail room for Priority Records in 1991. Hip-Hop needed that.”Īs N.W.A helped push the genre forward, Priority Records gave many listeners a look into a world that was unfamiliar to them. The production style, the energy of it, it has the same honesty and truth as P.E. Dre describes N.W.A as Public Enemy but for the streets. “ became a way for West Coast street music and gangsta music to have a great platform and make it all the way to places like New York, where I could appreciate it,” says Talib Kweli. N.W.A’s success led to the commercial explosion of gangsta rap, making Priority Records a source for a new type of music. Dre, MC Ren and DJ Yella of N.W.A / Photo by Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images Rather than cower from the pressure, Priority Records, Ruthless Records, Eazy-E, and N.W.A embraced their status as rebel businesses, as rebel artists, and as valuable members of the artistic community who had the right to express themselves.Įazy-E, Dr. The first albums released under this pact were two of the most important albums in rap history: Eazy-E’s Eazy-Duz-It and N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton.įuror over N.W.A’s lyrics reached unprecedented heights when, on August 1, 1989, the FBI sent Priority Records a letter accusing N.W.A of encouraging “violence and disrespect” for law enforcement officers with its “Fuck Tha Police” song. Priority then signed Eazy-E and N.W.A, giving the emerging artists and Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records national distribution and music-industry muscle. Thanks to an impassioned cover of soul classic “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and a clever animated video, the album went gold on January 8, 1988, and platinum five months later.Ĭo-founder Cerami believed that to keep the label growing, it needed its own artists.
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Priority Records continued releasing rap and other compilations in 1987 but took an innovative chance by releasing the California Raisins’ Sing the Hit Songs album, a project by a fictitious group of singing raisins that covered classic R&B songs. Founded in 1985 by former K-Tel Records executives Mark Cerami and Bryan Turner, the Los Angeles-based label enjoyed success the following year with its Rap’s Greatest Hits and Power Rap compilations, putting songs by early rap stars such as Run-D.M.C., Whodini, and Dana Dane on albums and giving them prominent national exposure. Priority Records had a habit of changing the music business.