N.W.A.’s Anti-Police Hit Began As An Ice Cube Demo. Hear Part Of The Original (Audio)
In the span of N.W.A., the group released radio-friendly hits, made famous videos, and defined Gangsta Rap with a series of their own (and Eazy-E) singles. But as the film Straight Outta Compton showed, none of these records can take ownership as the group’s most famous song. “Fuck Tha Police” is the juggernaut moment that showed N.W.A.’s fearlessness, its resonance, and its true connection to “street life.”
The vehicle would be critical to Ice Cube’s rising ranks as a top MC in Hip-Hop. When he left the group in the early 1990s, songs like this weighed Cube’s impact on the heralded Rap crew. But few people realize that “Fuck Tha Police” began as a Cube solo record—at least in its demo stages. Somebody has this version, and uploaded more than a minute of an unheard verse from O’Shea Jackson, claiming it is the first of the three. The beat is different, the rhyme pattern is different, but Ice Cube’s chip on his shoulder is just the same. The audio’s uploader (Peep Game) maintains that this verse is not a reference track for other N.W.A. members.
How would things be different had “Fuck The Police” been an Ice Cube solo cut, released on N.W.A. & The Posse?
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