The song of the week is Express Yourself by N.W.A. from Straight Outta ComptonThe eponymous sample from this song is a great song in its own right: the soul/funk classic by Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd St Rhythm Band.
The song is something of an odd duck on the album. The vocals are Dr. Dre, leaving DJ Yella on production (Dre mostly produced the other tracks). I know this, because Dre says his own name repeatedly during the song, which is a public service the friendly fellas at nwa provide for their listeners through the album. They never said it was a bad attitude. Second, despite being a defence of their nasty lyrics, the song is just plain nice. Straight outta compton is a genius influencial album and all, but sometimes I feel like a bad feminist for enjoy that delightfully misogynistic shit. Dre even goes all nancy reagan on the ganja ("its known to give a brother brain damage") It's like when Bob sings "all them drugs gonna make you slow" on burnin' and lootin' Oh shit! Also, Dre rhymes "Yella" and "a-capella."
Sure, I'm lame and old for chosing the least gangsta n.w.a. song. But express yourself is fun, funky and positive. It also sums up the appeal and politics of the rest of this definitive album. And for that, it's my song of the week.
Charles Wright is not related to Eric 'Easy-E' Wright, although that would be a nice piece of trivia to end on, huh?
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