Who's the woman speaking on NWA's "Gangsta Gangsta"?

June 22, 2008 7:50 PM

Who is the woman sampled speaking on NWA's "Gangsta Gangsta"? She says "hopin' you sophisticated motherfuckers here what I have to say", "he'll fuck up you and yours - and anything that gets in his way", and "he'll just call you a lowlife motherfucker and talk about your funky ways."

I've checked http://www.the-breaks.com/ and the samples section on "Straight Outta Compton's" Wikipedia page.

I remember at Lollapalooza '93 in Los Angeles, the sound guys played the source of those samples in between bands. It was like a series of speeches by a woman. I'd really like to hear it in its entirety but I've never been able to find it.

posted by redteam to media & arts (16 comments total)

woops! That should be "hear what I have to say"
posted by redteam at 1:16 AM on June 23

Really good question.
posted by johngoren at 7:32 AM on June 23

2nding johngoren.

The first 3 tracks on that record blew me away in '88.
posted by mistsandrain at 8:38 AM on June 23

Many of the dialogue samples on Dre productions come not from songs, but rather from blaxploitation movies.
posted by box at 9:37 AM on June 23

BTW, here's the song on YouTube.

First sample in question at 01:27 then others at at 02:46, 05:02, and 05:12.
posted by redteam at 8:49 PM on June 23

I would imagine it would be in the liner notes of the CD. Have you checked there?
posted by WCityMike at 10:54 AM on June 24

A Google Books result: "Defiant and confident, Yella even disclosed the in-joke, scratching in a female voice, 'Hoping all you sophisticated motherfuckers hear what I have to say.'" I'm not sure of the wording there, though. Does that mean "scratching in" as in "placing into the song"? Or did he alter his own voice, in which case that's the answer to your question?
posted by WCityMike at 11:02 AM on June 24

Mike: it refers to scratching like on-a-turntable, not to altering his own voice. And, unfortunately, it's probably not in the liner notes either--sampling credits don't generally extend to non-musical sources.

redteam: have you tried asking this question on either blaxploitation or hip-hop/crate-digger forums? I don't know any good blaxploitation forums, but, on the musical end, SoulStrut and the-breaks might good places to start.
posted by box at 12:31 PM on June 24

WCityMike: I have the CD, but I can't find its liner notes anywhere. I'll try and find it to look inside but I vaguely remember looking in there years ago and having no luck. Also, I saw that Google Books result as well - I ruled out emailing Ice Cube, Ren, or Dr. Dre because I figured they would never check their mail but DJ Yella actually has his own website and MySpace page so I emailed him with this question. He hasn't gotten back to me yet.

box: I'm still waiting to get admin approval to ask this question in the "the-breaks" forums. I didn't know about SoulStrut - I'll try there, too.

I found something else interesting while searching. One Swedish guy's blog says this at the top: "I'll just express myself in my soul sort of way, hoping you sophisticated motherfuckers hear what I have to say."

I wonder if that's the full sentence that the sample is part of. Unfortunately, I'm not Swedish enough to find out how to contact that blogger. That phrase appears nowhere else on the internet.

Thanks for your input so far, folks!
posted by redteam at 4:14 PM on June 24

Two more forums: ilovemusic and okayplayer. Let's call these plan b, though.
posted by box at 7:12 AM on June 25

I never wondered about this at all from the time I first heard NWA at age 12 until the day this question was posted, but it's been drivin' me nuts (yarr) ever since. How is it possible that this knowledge doesn't exist anywhere on the Internet?!? It must be from some Blaxploitation movie, but that's nearly as wide a territory as "it must be from some science fiction movie". Would Dre or Yella even remember 20 years later? Maybe it's lost knowledge.
posted by DecemberBoy at 3:28 PM on June 25

I know the feeling, DB. And I can say that it's not in my CD's liner notes. But there have been a couple editions, and I can't speak to the vinyl or cassette versions. The good news, though, is that 'blaxploitation' isn't nearly as wide as 'science fiction.' And Dre's a great and important producer, but his samples aren't the deepest ones in the world. It's answerable. The answer might not be on the internet, but the question is answerable.
posted by box at 5:32 PM on June 25

I asked this question on the-breaks.com's forums.
posted by redteam at 9:44 PM on June 30

I asked this question on Okayplayer's forums
posted by redteam at 2:12 AM on July 2

I asked this question on the Soul Strut forums.
posted by redteam at 5:00 PM on July 7

My friends, the search is over!

The woman speaking is Lady Reed. I haven't bought it yet, but at least two of the samples are featured on this snippet of a track called "Sonnet to My Idol".

Here's the album on Rudy Ray Moore's official website.

Thank you all for your help! Special thanks go to box for pointing me to the Soul Strut forums!
posted by redteam at 11:45 PM on July 7