Various Artists: N.W.A: Straight Outta Compton 10th Anniversary Tribute Album

Coming nine years after The Sugarhill Gang politely introduced the white world to hip hop—and eight years into a decade in which mainstream America's perception of black culture was shaped largely by the rhetoric of Ronald Reagan and the public personas of such non-threatening integrationist icons as Jesse Jackson, Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, and Bill Cosby—N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton revolutionized the world of rap, forever changing what rappers could and could not say. While The Sugarhill Gang and Whodini generally told white America what it wanted to hear, N.W.A articulated the anger and nihilism of inner-city black America as powerfully as groups like The Sex Pistols and The Clash articulated the anger and hostility of disaffected British youth. Sure, as a mercenary West Coast supergroup concocted by a middle-class schoolteacher's son who called himself Eazy-E, N.W.A. was on some level a scam, but so was The Sex Pistols. Despite their prefabricated nature, both acts touched a nerve among the alienated underclass and genuinely threatened the status quo, albeit for a brief amount of time. All of which puts the new N.W.A tribute album in a perilous position: After all, does it really make sense to pay homage to a group that thrived on being hated and reviled, a group that called itself, with some justification, the most dangerous band in the world Well, in spite of the inherently paradoxical nature of the project, the ponderously titled N.W.A: Straight Outta Compton 10th Anniversary Tribute Album is surprisingly potent. Understandably focusing on Straight Outta Compton, but not limiting itself to that landmark album, the disc features N.W.A covers from a line-up leaning heavily toward protégés like Snoop Dogg, WC, Mack 10, and King T, as well as regional heavy hitters like Mr. Mike, C-Murder, Bone Thugs, and Fat Joe. And while these covers are limited—obviously, none can provide the bracing shock value of the originals—there's not a bad track on the album, and the best songs (such as Dre'Sta, MC Eiht, and King T's "Straight Outta Compton") serve as potent reminders of just how audacious the originals must have sounded when they first came out. The album is not without its flaws: Craig B's production on Snoop Dogg and C-Murder's "Gangsta, Gangsta" can't hold a candle to Dr. Dre's Byzantine production on the original. And obviously, neophytes are certainly better off just buying Straight Outta Compton. But for N.W.A fans, 10th Anniversary Tribute Album is both a worthwhile tribute and a fine record in and of itself.