Cube-less NWA's First Outing (100 Miles And Runnin' - N.W.A)

Member Name: mcicp19

Product:	100 Miles And Runnin' - N.W.A
Date:	17/08/08 (49 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great production from Dre, top level raps as always.

Disadvantages: It obvious Ice Cube leaving left a hole whch they are only learning how to cope with at this point.

100 Miles and Runnin' was the 1990 E.P. by N.W.A. (published on Ruthless records) that marked the groups first release with out original lead mc, Ice Cube. Many critics feel this marked the bands decline from politically fuelled, message laced songs, to the more common gangster rap about money, women, drugs, and violence. To be fair while NWA certainly slowed on the political messages, they had always featured traditional gangster rap on their albums.

To help shoulder the loss of Cube, LA rapper The D.O.C. would feature on most tracks on this EP, mainly in skits and written lyrics for others. The D.O.C. featured on songs through out NWA's career, and often wrote the lyrics for Eazy-E, a job he shared in the early years with Ice Cube.

Dr Dre makes a step up in his involvement with the vocals while still doing the majority of the production (with help from DJ Yella), a production style that would lead Dre to the very pinnacle of the music world and riches, all while only releasing 2 solo albums. His production company and music label that signed a man some people may have heard of, Eminem, may have helped that bank balance a little!

MC Ren is his usual top notch self, delivering lines with fury and a rhythm I've often felt was very underrated. Maybe it was too much for Ren to be surrounded by the all star line up that was Ice Cube, Dr Dre, and Eazy-E (to a lesser degree) and he got robbed a bit of his glory is Antony's guess, but he often was the group member with the most memorable lines.

Eazy-E comes with his usual comedy filled, nasal tone raps, delivered well paced and clearly. The little man new he wasn't the most talented member of the group but at the time was leagues ahead of the rest of the group in business savy. It's no wonder he managed to convince a young Ice Cube to hand over his raps for a nominal fee for E to use on his early albums. Money disputes with E and his links to the group's label Ruthless records were the reason's Cube left, and Dre would later follow.


1. 100 Miles and Runnin' - -This is one of the best tracks NWA ever producer. With the obvious premise they are running from the police, accompanied by fast beats, horns, sirens, the production is top class. MC Ren begins the track with a well paced verse with a few shots at Ice Cube. Dre takes over with a suprisingly fast rap for him at the time. Eazy-E takes over for one of the best raps of his career, the last verse is shared by all 3 rappers, with Dr. Dre's part sending a shot to Ice Cube with "Started with five and, yo, one couldn't take it/So now there's four 'cause the fifth couldn't make it"

2. Just Don't Bite It - The song starts with a skit of Easy-E getting head, getting bitten, then a advertisement for NWA's "The Art of Sucking D!ck". It's slightly funny but nothing rib tickling. The vocals for the track (which you can guess what they are about) from Ren and Dre are decent (delivered well with the slower pace of this song), but there was a later remake of this song where Ren's verse would wipe the floor with whats on this version.

3. Sa Prize Pt. 2 - basically 'F**k the Police' pt2. Using the same beats with Dre slightly messing with to make them even tighter than they started. The lyrics are good but its hard not to compare then to the original, which was a rap classic so alittle unfair.

4. Real N!ggaz - One of my all time favourite tracks, yet again a fast paced song with heavy beats. Dre's verse is filled with shots at Ice Cube (like - 'We started out with too much cargo,So I'm glad we got rid of Benedict Arnold'), while Ren just spits with anger. I love the beats to this track and the way Dre just goes for it.

5. Kamurshol - a nice Dre beat here, but the track serves as little but a advert for their next album Efil4zaggin. Doesn't really do justice to the beats but there is some funny lines from Eazy-E.

Overall one of the better EP's available in the Hip-Hop world, back from the time when it wasn't cool to like rap, and before the days of the male rapper/female r'n'b singer combinations that dominate our charts today. I would recommend this to any rap fan's or anyone who wanted to listen to a little bit of what rap used to be like.

Summary: Excellent EP