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

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

redteam — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:50:00 -0800

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.

By: redteam

redteam — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:16:45 -0800

woops! That should be "hear what I have to say"

By: johngoren

johngoren — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:32:14 -0800

Really good question.

By: mistsandrain

mistsandrain — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:38:49 -0800

2nding johngoren.

The first 3 tracks on that record blew me away in '88.

By: box

box — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:37:56 -0800

Many of the dialogue samples on Dre productions come not from songs, but rather from blaxploitation movies.

By: redteam

redteam — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:49:58 -0800

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.

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:54:29 -0800

I would imagine it would be in the liner notes of the CD. Have you checked there?

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:02:45 -0800

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?

By: box

box — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:31:26 -0800

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.

By: redteam

redteam — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:14:58 -0800

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!

By: box

box — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:12:47 -0800

Two more forums: ilovemusic and okayplayer. Let's call these plan b, though.

By: DecemberBoy

DecemberBoy — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:28:38 -0800

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.

By: box

box — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:32:47 -0800

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.

By: redteam

redteam — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:44:52 -0800

I asked this question on the-breaks.com's forums.

By: redteam

redteam — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:12:47 -0800

I asked this question on Okayplayer's forums

By: redteam

redteam — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:00:01 -0800

I asked this question on the Soul Strut forums.

By: redteam

redteam — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:45:53 -0800

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!