Unlike Ice-T, there's little social criticism or reflection on the gangsta lifestyle most of the record is about raising hell - harassing women, driving drunk, shooting it out with cops and partygoers.

It established gangsta rap - and, moreover, West Coast rap in general - as a commercial force, going platinum with no airplay and crossing over with shock-hungry white teenagers. Straight Outta Compton wasn't quite the first gangsta rap album, but it was the first one to find a popular audience, and its sensibility virtually defined the genre from its 1988 release on.