N.W.A Released ‘100 Miles And Runnin’ On This Date In 1990

N.W.A-Released-'100-Miles-And-Runnin’-On-This-Date-In-1990

100 Miles and Runnin’ is the only extended play (EP) from N.W.A. It was released on August 14, 1990 by Ruthless Records and Priority Records. Reviews were positive and by September 1992, it had reached Platinum status in the United States.

Prior to recording the EP, MC Ren, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, and DJ Yella had signed a long-term contract with the Ruthless Records label to be an official “N.W.A.” group for $75,000 for work on Straight Outta Compton, this EP, advance and for their future work for Ni**az4life. However, member and lead artist Ice Cube refused the contract’s terms and consequently separated himself from the group, which kicked off his solo career. It is the first record the group released after he left. This EP includes jabs at Cube for leaving.

The title track “100 Miles and Runnin’” was the group’s first track to gain radio airtime and appear on televison with its music video. Dr. Dre, who had just finished working with The D.O.C. and Above the Law, added atypical funky beats and the slow synth groove on “Just Don’t Bite It”. “Sa Prize, Pt. 2” is a sequel to the controversial “Fuck tha Police” from the Straight Outta Compton album.

The group makes a number of references to Ice Cube. On the title track, Dre states: “It started with five but yo, one couldn’t take it / So now there’s four ’cause the fifth couldn’t make it”. In “Real Niggaz” he is likened to Benedict Arnold, the proverbial American traitor, and MC Ren says, “Only reason niggaz pick up your record is cause they thought it was us”, referring to Ice Cube’s first solo album AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, which had been released earlier that year. Ice Cube responded to these attacks on Death Certificate (1991) on a song named “No Vaseline“, which many thought won the battle.

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