In looking at releases from the entire year, even albums by the least political artists dedicated at least one track to speaking out on the drug epidemic, even if it was followed by a song glorifying gun violence or using homophobic language – the 1980s and 1990s were confusing, and the still green genre was finding its footing. This was still a world where admittance of recreational drug use was scant, with various lyrical exceptions emerging in places like Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill ("Rolled up a wolly" on "The New Style") and Run-D.M.C.’s Live at the Funhouse (“Keep a bag of cheeba inside my locker” from “Here We Go”). In that sense, what N.W.A did on Straight Outta Compton was revelatory, as they embraced and exposed all the things that were authentic to their world, acting, as they often said, as “the TV news for the hood,” instead of merely focusing on word play. 1980s rap had no problem talking about drinking, especially malt liquor, but any reference to drugs was staunchly against its ethos, exemplified in such tracks as Melle Mel’s "White Lines (Don’t Do It)" from 1983.
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