100 Miles and Runnin'
EP by
N.W.A
ReleasedAugust 14, 1990
StudioAudio Achievements (Torrance, California)
Genre
Length23:17
Label
Producer
N.W.A chronology
Straight Outta Compton
(1988)		 100 Miles and Runnin'
(1990)		 Niggaz4Life
(1991)
Singles from 100 Miles and Runnin'
  1. "100 Miles and Runnin'"
    Released: 1990
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Robert ChristgauC−[2]
Entertainment WeeklyD+[3]
RapReviews6.5/10[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]
The Source[6]

100 Miles and Runnin' is an EP from the American gangsta rap group N.W.A. Released on August 14, 1990, this EP of five tracks reflects an evolution of N.W.A's sound and centers on the single "100 Miles and Runnin'."[1] Two tracks, "100 Miles" and "Real Niggaz," incidentally incited N.W.A's feud with Ice Cube, who had left to start a solo rap career.[7] The porno rap track "Just Don't Bite It," also drew notice.[1] Pushing lyrical boundaries in its day,[1] the EP went gold in November 1990 and platinum in September 1992.[8]

Backstory

Whereas the EP's track "Sa Prize, Pt. 2" is a sequel to "Fuck tha Police"—the most controversial track on N.W.A's official debut album, Straight Outta Compton[lower-alpha 1]—"100 Miles and Runnin'," rather, became N.W.A's first single to see national radio play, and its music video see national television airtime. It is the first N.W.A. project without Ice Cube and Arabian Prince. The EP attained gold sales, over 500,000 copies sold, by November 16, 1990, and on September 16, 1992, was certified platinum, over 1 million sold.[9]

Cube's departure

In 1989, N.W.A member Dr. Dre, its label Ruthless Records' prime record producer, did all tracks on Ruthless rapper The D.O.C.'s album.[10] By May 1991, feeling underpaid, Dre left Ruthless. But still in 1989, Ice Cube, a prime rapper and ghostwriter in N.W.A, who had been paid about $32,000 so far, asked group leader Eazy-E for a meeting on money allocation.[11] N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller, Eazy's business partner, led the meeting.[11]

At Cube's concerns, Heller offered N.W.A's five members—Eazy, Dre, Cube, DJ Yella, and MC Ren—a contract nearly unchanged, but a $75,000 signing bonus.[11] Only Cube refused to sign it.[11] By 1990, he had left the group and its label.[11] In May 1990, Cube's debut solo album arrived as AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, which Spin magazine called a "masterpiece" and The Source magazine gave a full five "microphones."[12] N.W.A's EP, written by Ren and The D.O.C.,[13] has two tracks smearing Cube.[7]

Feud with Cube

In the EP's title track, alluding to Ice Cube,[7] Dre raps, "It started with five, but yo, one couldn't take it / So now there's four, 'cause the fifth couldn't make it." And in "Real Niggaz,"[7] soon after Ren raps, "Only reason niggas pick up your record is 'cause they thought it was us," Dre calls Cube both "too much cargo" and the proverbial traitor Benedict Arnold.

Hosting rap TV show Pump It Up!, Dee Barnes interviewed N.W.A, promoting the EP.[12] Later, the show's producers sent Barnes to get Cube's rebuttal.[14] Against Barnes's warning, the November 1990 episode splices interview clips to magnify the conflict.[12] In January, drunk at a Ruthless party in Hollywood,[14] Dre assaulted Barnes, reputedly in payback.[15]

Released in May 1991, N.W.A's next album, EFil4zaggin or Niggaz4Life, furthered the feud in two more tracks: "Message to B.A." and, in a few lines, the hit single "Alwayz into Somethin'."[7] Cube's second album, Death Certificate, released in October, retorts in "No Vaseline,"[7] depicting N.W.A as sellouts screwed by Jerry Heller. Cube thus won the battle, ending there.[7][16]

EP highlights

The 100 Miles EP previewed N.W.A's evolving sound, spare on Straight Outta Compton,[17] and now more layered, as in the "100 Miles" track.[1] This song's idea was from a film among Eazy's favorites, director Walter Hill's 1979 gangster film The Warriors.[18] On the other hand, the track "Just Don't Bite It," says AllMusic, "is an alarming porno rap that at the time of its release was as explicit as anything out there, including 2 Live Crew."[1]

From the 100 Miles EP, three songs— "100 Miles and Runnin'," "Just Don't Bite It," and "Real Niggaz"—would be collected on N.W.A's Greatest Hits. "Real Niggaz" appears, too, on N.W.A's second and final official, studio album, Efil4zaggin, the backwards spelling of Niggaz4Life. On it, "She Swallowed It" as well as "Findum, Fuckum & Flee"—ahead of dozens of other rap songs in later years—sample "Just Don't Bite It," as does the punk ska band Sublime's song "Let's Go Get Stoned." Arriving in 2003, a remastered edition of Efil4zaggin fully appends the 100 Miles EP.

Track listing

All songs produced by Dr. Dre and DJ Yella:

No.TitleWriter(s)Performer(s)Length
1."100 Miles and Runnin'"
4:32
2."Just Don't Bite It"L. Patterson[19]
  • MC Ren
5:28
3."Sa Prize (Part 2)"
  • L. Patterson
  • Tracy Curry[19]
5:59
4."Real Niggaz"
  • L. Patterson
  • T. Curry[19]
  • MC Ren
  • Dr. Dre
  • Eazy-E
5:27
5."Kamurshol"Tracy Curry[19] 1:56

Personnel

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[23] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

References

Footnotes
  1. ↑ The 1987 album N.W.A. and the Posse, a compilation album often recognized as N.W.A's first or even debut but neglected album, was released by Macola Records, a distributor of N.W.A's early singles and EP releases, but not planned by N.W.A as an album release. On the other hand, N.W.A's 1988 album Straight Outta Compton, via N.W.A's next distributor, Priority Records, was so planned by N.W.A, and thereby often is also, but contrarily, considered N.W.A's first album.
Notes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jason Birchmeier, "N.W.A: 100 Miles and Runnin' ", AllMusic.com, Netaktion LLC, visited 28 Apr 2020.
  2. ↑ "Robert Christgau review". Retrieved November 25, 2010.
  3. ↑ Sandow, Greg (August 31, 1990). "100 Miles and Runnin':Music Review:Entertainment Weekly". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on March 12, 2014. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
  4. ↑ "rapreviews.com review". Retrieved November 25, 2010.
  5. ↑ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 512–513.
  6. ↑ Reef (September 1990). Shecter, Jonathan; Bernard, James (eds.). "Singles". Record report. The Source. Vol. 3, no. 5. New York City: Mays, David. p. 56. ISSN 1063-2085. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2020. Final Rating: 4
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sacha Jenkins, Elliott Wilson, Jeff Mao, Gabe Alvarez & Brent Rollins, "Mo' beef, mo' problems: #7, N.W.A vs. Ice Cube", Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1999), p 238.
  8. ↑ Gold & Platinum search, "100 Miles and Runnin' ", Recording Industry Association of America website, visited 26 Apr 2020.
  9. ↑ "RIAA searchable certification database". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved November 25, 2010.
  10. ↑ David Diallo, "Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg", in Mickey Hess, ed., Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture (Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Press, 2007), p 322.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 David J. Leonard, "Ice Cube", in Mickey Hess, ed., Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture, Volume 1 (Westport, Connecticut & London, England: ABC-CLIO, 2007), p 301.
  12. 1 2 3 David J. Leonard, "Ice Cube", in Mickey Hess, ed., Icons of Hip Hop: Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007), p 302.
  13. ↑ Vlad Lyubovny, interviewer, "The D.O.C. speaks on "No Vaseline" & his friendship w/ Ice Cube", VladTV–DJVlad @ YouTube, 4 Dec 2015.
  14. 1 2 Bethonie Butler, "Dr. Dre confronts his 1991 assault on Dee Barnes in HBO's 'The Defiant Ones' ", The Washington Post, 11 Jul 2017.
  15. ↑ Newsweek staff, "Number one with a bullet", Newsweek, 30 Jun 1991.
  16. ↑ Vlad Lyubovny, interviewer, "DJ Yella: All of NWA knew Ice Cube won with 'No Vaseline' ", VladTV–DJVlad @ YouTube, 22 Aug 2015.
  17. ↑ Steve Huey, "N.W.A: Straight Outta Compton", AllMusic.com, Netaktion LLC, visited 1 May 2020.
  18. ↑ Jerry Heller w/ Gil Reavill, Ruthless: A Memoir (New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2007), "100+Miles+and+Runnin'+"&pg=PA183 p 183.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 "The D.O.C. Speaks On "No Vaseline" & His Friendship w/ Ice Cube". YouTube. November 13, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  20. ↑ "N.W.A Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  21. ↑ "N.W.A Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  22. ↑ "1990 The Year in Music" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 102, no. 51. December 22, 1990. p. YE-20. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  23. ↑ "American EP certifications – N.W.A. – 100 Miles and Runnin". Recording Industry Association of America.
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