I’m reading I Wear The Black Hat…again…and this is one of the most briliant interpretations I’ve read about NWA and their mantra:
There were lot of contradictions, and I like contradictions. Fore example: The line everyone remembers from Straight Outta Compton is Cube’s defining Mantra, “LIfe ain’t nuthin’ but bitches and money.” It embodied the ethos of the entire genre, and -over time- I’ve heard it sardonically applied to just about every possible situaiton life can offer. Yet elsewhere on the very same record, Easy-E asks, “So what about the bitch who got shot? Fuck her! You think I give a damn about a bitch? I ain’t a sucker.” In other words, life is only about bitches and money, but even the bitches don’t particularly matter. This is weapon-grade nihilism: There were only two meaningful elements within their entire worldview..and one could be totally eliminated without consequences!
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