N.W.A Score Their First Top 40 Single
N.W.A were a world-changing force during their late-’80s/early-’90s run, and they sold a ton of albums. But they never landed a song in Billboard’s Hot 100, largely because pop radio wouldn’t touch them. Time changes things. And now, in the wake of the massively popular biopic Straight Outta Compton, N.W.A have their first-ever Hot 100 single. As the critic Al Shipley points out, the song “Straight Outta Compton” debuted at #38 on the Hot 100 this week. Meanwhile, Eazy-E’s 1987 single “Boyz-N-The-Hood” is also on the Hot 100 at #50 this week; it follows 1993’s “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s” and 1995’s “Just Tah Let U Know” as Eazy’s third Hot 100 single. Meanwhile, the original 1988 Straight Outta Compton is at #4 on this week’s album charts — right behind Dr. Dre’s brand-new Compton, as it happens.