EFIL4ZAGGIN

I really like Efil4zaggin, but probably not for the same reasons N.W.A wanted people to be talking about it in 1991.

For me, the biggest reason to come back to this album is Dr. Dre.

You can hear him starting to really get his stuff together here. The production feels like a bridge between the raw sound of early N.W.A and the much smoother, heavier G-funk sound Dre would perfect shortly afterwards.

The bass is getting deeper. The drums hit harder. The samples feel more carefully constructed. Tracks like Alwayz Into Somethin' almost sound like Dre discovering what his next chapter is going to be while he's still making the album.

Knowing what comes afterwards makes it even better.

But then there are the lyrics.

N.W.A were already extremely controversial when Efil4zaggin came out, and more than 30 years later, some of it has aged really badly.

The violence and misogyny are pushed so ridiculously far that sometimes it feels almost cartoonish. There are moments where the shock value works as part of N.W.A's completely unfiltered identity, but there are others where I'm enjoying the production and then a lyric comes along that makes me think… yeah, we probably didn't need that one.

It's a strange contrast because musically I think the album has aged incredibly well.

Lyrically? Definitely not all of it.

But that's also what makes Efil4zaggin such an interesting tape to revisit. You're hearing one of the most controversial groups in hip-hop pushing themselves to their absolute extreme, while at the same time hearing Dr. Dre slowly becoming Dr. Dre.

And for me, that production is what keeps bringing me back.

Essential tracks: Real Niggaz Don't Die, Alwayz Into Somethin', Appetite for Destruction, Real Niggaz, Automobile

Final verdict: 8.2/10

For fans of: West Coast hip-hop, early Dr. Dre production, the beginnings of G-funk, heavy basslines and hearing a legendary producer develop his sound in real time.