1. N.W.A.
With this particular song, I think I found out that I was a fanatic for music that had an edge and music that had a message, which I didn’t know at the time. I really did listen to this particular album [Straight Outta Compton] over and over again – I thought it was weird because I had never really heard anything like it. I actually borrowed the tape off a friend and didn’t give it back, because it was just such an intense listen. It was from a world totally different to mine and I didn’t really understand the messages, I just liked how it sounded. As I grew up, I began to catch on, and the messages resonated with me and my hometown just as much as their own, even though it was halfway across the world.
I know you’re really attracted to the "rudeness" of music – was that a big part of the record for you?
Rudeness, yes – just straight attitude and being a rebel. But when I was nine years old or however old I was when I first heard the record, these things didn’t stand out. I didn’t know it was about attitude and being a rebel, I just thought, "Oh this sounds cool, this sounds young" or, "This sounds like what I would want to do."
