Released: August 8, 1988

Songwriter: ​The D.O.C. MC Ren Ice Cube

Producer: Dr. Dre DJ Yella

[Verse 1: Ice Cube]
Here's a little something about a brotha like me
Never shoulda been let out the penitentiary
Ice Cube would like to say
That I'm a crazy motha from around the way
Since I was a youth, I smoked weed out
Now I'm the type of punk that you read about
Doin' a crime or two, that's what the hell I do
You don't like how I'm livin well [garbled]!
This is a crew, and I'm in it
My man Dre'll knock you out in a minute
With a right left, right left you're toothless
And then you say -- damn they ruthless!
We'll make you say it again [damn]
N.W.A's messing up the program
And then you realize we don't care
We don't just say no, we're too busy saying: "Yeah"
About drinking straight out the eight bottle
Tell the truth -- do I look like a role model?
To a kid looking up to me
Life ain't nothin but girls and money
Cause I'm the type of brotha that's built to last
We had some in the present, some in the past
But I don't give a damn cause I keep bailing
Yo, tell em what they yelling

[Hook]
Gangsta gangsta, that's what they're yelling
(It's not about a salary, it's all about reality)
Gangsta, Gangsta
(He'll tell you exactly how he feel, and don't want a thing back)

[Verse 2: Ice Cube]
Homies all standing around, just hanging
Some dope-dealing, some gang-banging
We decide to roll and we deep
See a sucka on Daytons and we creep
Real slow, and before you know
I had my AK pointed in the window
Check it in, punk, or I might blast
He got scared and hit the gas
We tried to catch him, but you all know
You can't catch a five point oh, so
We headed right back to the fort
Sweatin’ all the girls in the biker shorts
We didn't get no play, from the ladies
With six thugs in a car are you crazy?
She was scared, and it was showing
We all said [garbled] and kept going
To the hood, and we was fin to
Look for somethin’ else to get into
Like a new female, or in fact
A bum rush, but we call it rat pack
On a sucka for nothin’ at all
Ice Cube'll go stupid when I'm full of eight ball
I might stumble, but still won't lose
Now I'm dressed in the county blues
Cause I'm the type of brotha that's built to last
We had some in the present, some in the past
But I don't give a damn cause I keep bailin'
Yo, tell em what they yellin'

[Interlude: Dr. Dre (MC Ren)]
Wait a minute, wait a minute, cut this
(Man whatcha gonna do now?)
"What we're gonna do right here is go way back"
How far you goin back? "Way back"
"As we go a lil somethin like this"

[Ice Cube]
Here's a lil gangsta, short in size
A t-shirt and Levi's is his only disguise
Built like a tank yet hard to hit
Ice Cube and Eazy E [Dre:] cold rockin' it

[Verse 3: Eazy E (MC Ren)]
Well I'm Eazy E the one they're talkin about
Sucka tried to roll the dice and just crapped out
Police tried to roll, so it's time to go
I creeped away real slow and jumped in the six-fo'
With the "Diamond in the back, sun-roof top"
Diggin' the scene with the gangsta lean
Cause I'm the E, I don't slang or bang
I just knock suckas out like it ain't no thang
And all the ladies, you know I'm talkin to you
"We love you Eazy!" Yeah, I love you too
Because you see, you know I gotta be legit
(So let me tell you stupid suckas who you're messing with]
Cause I'm the type of brotha that's built to last
We had some in the present, some in the past
But I don't give a damn cause I keep bailin'
Yo, tell em what they yellin'

[Hook]
Gangsta, Gangsta, that's what they're yelling
(It's not about a salary, it's all about reality)
Gangsta, Gangsta
(He'll...up you and yours, and anything that gets in his way)

Gangsta, Gangsta, that's what they're yelling
(It's not about a salary, it's all about reality)
Gangsta, Gangsta
(He'll just call you a low-life mother..., and talk about your funky ways)

N.W.A

Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince initially formed the collective known as “the world’s most dangerous group,” N.W.A.—Niggaz With Attitudes.

Following Ice Cube’s stint in C.I.A. and Dre and Yella’s departure from the World Class Wreckin Cru, they got together with Compton hustler Eric “Eazy-E” Wright, who formed Ruthless Records and released Eazy’s single “Boyz n the Hood,” written by Cube and produced by Dre. A compilation entitled N.W.A. and the Posse was released in 1987 but the group’s seminal debut, Straight Outta Compton, was released on August 8, 1988. It led to the rise of gangsta rap and West Coast hip-hop in general with their tales of “reality rap” from the streets of Compton and South Central Los Angeles. Their song “Fuck tha Police” even put the group on the hit list of the FBI.

Arabian Prince was the first to leave the group in 1988 over a financial dispute. Ice Cube left N.W.A. in 1989 after his own financial dispute, leading to the other members to diss him on their subsequent the 1990 EP 100 Miles and Runnin' and EFIL4ZAGGIN, which was released in 1991 and peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The D.O.C., who contributed to Straight Outta Compton and was still recovering from a car accident that severly altered his strong voice, wrote more rhymes for Dr. Dre and Eazy-E on the EFIL4ZAGGIN album in attempt to fill the void left by Cube.