Parental Discretion Is Advised by Gerrick D. Kennedy

Author:Gerrick D. Kennedy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books

The split between Ice Cube and N.W.A could have remained a quiet, amicable one—instead it boiled into a nasty feud.

In the spring of 1990, Spin tackled the group’s fallout in a feature that, strangely, called them “Niggers with Activators” and questioned if N.W.A’s soul and intelligence left with Cube. In the piece Cube detailed the financial dispute and questioned Jerry Heller’s motives. Jerry, in turn, accused Cube of being jealous of Eazy. “He wanted to be Eazy-E. He was jealous because not only is Eazy a key member of N.W.A with a successful solo career, he’s also the president of his own record company. Eazy-E is a major star and a successful businessman. Ice Cube isn’t.”

When asked how things were in the group without their most vocal member, Eazy said the dynamic had vastly improved. “It means we get more money,” he told a reporter.

“Yeah, it got better,” Ren agreed. “Way better. Cause there ain’t no ego trips in the group no more.”

And Dre even went as far as saying it was his production prowess that made Cube a star: “You could’ve grabbed anybody off the street that could rhyme and could’ve been a fuckin’ Ice Cube,” he said, claiming Cube sounded good only because he dialed him in a line at a time the way he did with Eazy.

When N.W.A returned to the studio to record its next project, an EP called 100 Miles and Runnin’ as the follow-up to Straight Outta Compton, Cube was across the country recording his solo debut. Cube’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted dropped a month after that Spin article aired out the group’s dirty laundry. Although Cube said nothing about his former group on wax, N.W.A didn’t extend the same courtesy.

100 Miles and Runnin’ is a largely forgettable entry in N.W.A’s canon and is mostly talked about for the jabs the guys took at Cube. “Just Don’t Bite It” was a rancid joint about a woman who gave terrible fellatio. It was crass, but the chorus was brilliant. Dre yanked a piece of a dirty recording from comedian LaWanda Page—“It’s the world’s biggest dick”—while the group chants back “Don’t matter, just don’t bite it.” There was also “Sa Prize,” a quasi-sequel to “Fuck tha Police” that added very little to the original.

For the title song, Dre leaned on his Public Enemy influence to craft a track that was loaded with breakbeats and dialed up with noises and horns. He sampled Michael Jackson’s seminal “Thriller,” alongside an arsenal of records including Martha and the Vandellas’ “Nowhere to Run” and “Get Off Your Ass and Jam” by Funkadelic, the usage of which became embroiled in a landmark case that has helped define American copyright law for recorded music—“Get a license or do not sample,” the court ruled. The track opened the five-song EP and featured the first of a few digs at Cube.

“It started with five but yo, one couldn’t take it,” Dre rapped. “So now there’s four ’cause the fifth couldn’t make it.”

Later on the EP,

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