Edition: U.S. / Global

RECORDINGS VIEW; For Adults Only: Love and Sorrow . . . Lust and Hate

Published: June 23, 1991

The members of the Los Angeles rap group N.W.A. are despicable, misogynistic swine. What's worse, they are proud of it. On their second album, "Niggaz4Life" (Priority 57126; all three formats), they advocate gang rape, forced oral sex and killing prostitutes who don't do what they're told. "The joke's on you, jack!" they shout gleefully at the end of the album. "We did it again!"

N.W.A. (Niggas With Attitude) have indeed done it again, but in more ways than one. Last week, in only its second week of release, "Niggaz4Life" reached No. 1 on the pop album chart (it hit the chart at No. 2, the highest entry since Michael Jackson's "Bad" made its debut at No. 1 in 1987). Priority is already claiming sales of 1 million copies. The sound you're hearing is Tipper Gore and other members of the Parents' Music Resource Center renewing their passports.

"Straight Outta Compton," the band's 1988 debut album, was itself hardly angelic. On it, the group dismissed women as opportunistic "bitches" and referred to a policeman as "a sucker in a uniform waitin' to get shot." Yet as an expression of unadulterated rage against a system beyond their control -- one entrenched in police harassment, gang warfare and readily available drugs -- the album was one of the pivotal rap records of the 80's. Like the lyrics, the music was congested and brutalizing; next to N.W.A.'s seething anti-authority anthem ". . . tha Police," New York rappers sounded like balladeers.

In comparison, "Niggaz4Life" is cheap, shock-value sensationalism, the equivalent of a slapdash sequel to a first-rate horror film. It is also a betrayal of the band. Last year, Ice Cube, their most distinctive rapper, left in a dispute over money and credit. The group is now firmly in the hands of their entrepreneurial leader, Eazy-E (a k a Eric Wright), who apparently sees N.W.A. as little more than a brand name. Gone are bracing tales of ghetto death and life. Instead, N.W.A. now brag about the size of their sales figures, bank accounts and private parts and talk dirty, just like any other mediocre rap act. Mr. Wright himself has a thin, whiny delivery that is no match for Ice Cube's terse, bulldoglike attack.


Musically, N.W.A. haven't lost their power. Spitting in the face of the diluted pop-rap that rules the airwaves, the group reprises the rumbling density and buckshot sampling of "Straight Outta Compton"; this is music looking to pick a fight. Their mix of rap and honky-tonk country, "Automobile," is basically a joke, but their recasting of Parliament's "I'd Rather Be With You" as a rap-soul ballad is plush and surprisingly melodic.

Production skills can only compensate so much, though. N.W.A. may act like ghetto outlaws out to buck the system. Instead, they're selling boxloads of records -- many of them to thrill-seeking white teen-agers -- by reducing themselves to self-parody and playing up the stereotype of rappers as sex-starved buffoons. It's a situation thick with irony, but N.W.A. are probably too busy counting their earnings to care.

Photo: N.W.A., from left: Dr. Dre, M. C. Ren, Eazy-E and, sitting, D.J. Yella (Priority)