http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zitbExMdlvY
As promised kickin off Oldschool Fridays with this one from NWA - never would have expected this off an album entitled "Straight Outta Compton" which saw the release of Thug Anthems like "Fuck the Police", "Gangsta Gangsta" and "Dopeman". "Express Yourself" is similar in style to tracks like "Lovesick" by Gangstar, and Arrested Development's "People Every Day", both released after this album by NWA - which has been sited as the most influential album in "Gangster Rap" and Westcoast Hip Hop - managed to reach double platinum status after its original release by Ruthless Records in 1988.
Hearing it by itself, "Express Yourself" is an uplifting and conscious track about Radio Censorship, and freedom of expression. A consciousness and a sound which has been absent from NWA - and Gangster Rap ever since. It makes you wonder what could have happened had the group chosen to go in a different direction rather than the one they chose, as in my opinion, this is the best track by NWA - or any of its members in solo or collabarative efforts - of all time.
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4 comments:
agreed - lurrrve it
Totally with you on all of that. This track has been so influential, and not just to the rap world.
Awesome choice for first Oldschool Friday.
There is something poetic about what my computer just did...
I had two windows open, which both were playing at the same time - superimpose this:
http://www.youtube.com/user/barackobamadotcom?ob=4
onto express yourself...
it's interesting anyway.
how about young eazy jr hows he doing
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