MC Ren Says N.W.A. Never Meant to Be Revolutionary

05/19/2000 10:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(5/19/00, 10 a.m. ET) - Although N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton is widely regarded as the most influential and one of the most revolutionary hip-hop albums of all time, group members Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, and DJ Yella didn't set out to be revolutionaries. As they've said, they were just reporting on their Southern California surroundings.

That same philosophy extends to the recording process of the new N.W.A., which features Snoop Dogg in the place of the late Eazy-E and no longer includes DJ Yella. The new N.W.A. debuted with "Chin Check," a song that was featured on the Next Friday soundtrack.

MC Ren told LAUNCH that N.W.A. never set out to be revolutionary. "If anything like that happen this time, us trying to be revolutionary or whatever, it's just going to happen," he said. "It ain't like we're going to go in there trying to do it. 'Cause when we went in the studio to do 'Chin Check', man, it was like we didn't want to work, try too hard and sh-t. We was like, 'Let's try to not brainstorm too much. Let's just go in there.' Dre gave us the beat and let's just write some sh-t and just do it. And that's how the sh-t came out the first time back in the day. And that's how we did it this time, just writing. Everybody be thinking we be in there doing all kind of brainstorming and sh-t, but we just go in there and write. And it just come out like that 'cause that's who N.W.A. is, I guess."

"Chin Check" marked the first time in about a decade Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and MC Ren appeared on a song together. The three performed for the first time in more than 10 years on March 11, when they taped an episode of Farmclub.com. The performance also marked Snoop Dogg's first public appearance as a member of N.W.A. The forthcoming N.W.A. album is expected within a year.

-- Soren Baker, Los Angeles

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