The worldwide release of Straight Outta Compton shows the vital contributions N.W.A made to hip-hop history. Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren, DJ Yella, and the D.O.C set a precedent for upcoming MC’s all around the country over the past 20 years. Without them, we wouldn’t have found legends like Snoop Dogg, 2Pac, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and Eminem as well as today’s popular MC’s like Kendrick Lamar and The Game. See how N.W.A helped launch the careers of some of your favorite rappers after the jump!
N.W.A paved the way for some of the most valuable rappers in hip-hop today. The people at Rukkus have drawn up a complete breakdown of every MC who got their major break in the game courtesy of the notorious rap group from Compton, California. Real hip-hop heads know the six degrees of separation between Dr. Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent & G-Unit, Kendrick Lamar, and Slaughterhouse. But did you know rappers like Hopsin and producer will.i.am also got their start thanks in part to N.W.A?
The chart below is a “family tree” that breaks down every artist tied to N.W.A. Beginning with the labels each member founded, each line shows every artist or group who were signed to each label like Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Hopsin to Ruthless Records. Members of a group are also connected to those who are signed only as part of a group, like will.i.am was as a member of Ruthless Record’s Atbann Klann. There are some artists listed who went on to found labels that are not shown, but if they were not part of the larger umbrella of the label who signed them then it was not included.
Check out the chart below.
