100 Miles and Runnin' is the only EP from the American gangsta rap group N.W.A, coming two years after its national debut in 1988.
Released on August 14, 1990, this EP of five tracks reflects an evolution of N.W.A's sound, more layered than previously, and centers on the single "100 Miles and Runnin'."
Jason Birchmeier, "N.W.A: 100 Miles and Runnin'  ", AllMusic.com, Netaktion LLC, visited 28 Apr 2020.
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.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.
The porno rap track "Just Don't Bite It," also drew notice.
Pushing lyrical boundaries in its day, the EP went gold in November 1990 and platinum in September 1992.Gold & Platinum search, "100 Miles and Runnin' ", Recording Industry Association of America website, visited 26 Apr 2020.
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—"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.
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.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.
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.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.
N.W.A's manager Jerry Heller, Eazy's business partner, led the meeting.
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.
Only Cube refused to sign it.
By 1990, he had left the group and its label.
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."
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.
N.W.A's EP, written by Ren and The D.O.C.,Vlad Lyubovny, interviewer, "The D.O.C. speaks on "No Vaseline" & his friendship w/ Ice Cube", VladTV–DJVlad @ YouTube, 4 Dec 2015.
has two tracks smearing Cube.
Feud with Cube
In the EP's title track, alluding to Ice Cube, 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," 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.
Later, the show's producers sent Barnes to get Cube's rebuttal.Bethonie Butler, "Dr. Dre confronts his 1991 assault on Dee Barnes in HBO's 'The Defiant Ones' ", The Washington Post, 11 Jul 2017.
Against Barnes's warning, the November 1990 episode splices interview clips to magnify the conflict.
In January, drunk at a Ruthless party in Hollywood, Dre assaulted Barnes, reputedly in payback.Newsweek staff, "Number one with a bullet", Newsweek, 30 Jun 1991.
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'."
Cube's second album, Death Certificate, released in October, retorts in "No Vaseline," depicting N.W.A as sellouts screwed by Jerry Heller.
Cube thus won the battle, ending there.Vlad Lyubovny, interviewer, "DJ Yella: All of NWA knew Ice Cube won with 'No Vaseline' ", VladTV–DJVlad @ YouTube, 22 Aug 2015.
EP highlights
The 100 Miles EP previewed N.W.A's evolving sound, spare on Straight Outta Compton,Steve Huey, "N.W.A: Straight Outta Compton", AllMusic.com, Netaktion LLC, visited 1 May 2020.
and now more layered, as in the "100 Miles" track.
This song's idea was from a film among Eazy's favorites, director Water Hill's 1979 gangster film The Warriors.Jerry Heller w/ Gil Reavill, Ruthless: A Memoir (New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2007), "100+Miles+and+Runnin'+" p 183.
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."
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: Personnel
Andre "Dr. Dre" Young – producer, vocals
Lorenzo "MC Ren" Patterson – vocals, lyrics
Eric "Eazy-E" Wright – executive producer, vocals (tracks 1, 3-5)
Antoine "DJ Yella" Carraby – producer, DJ
Tracy Lynn "The D.O.C." Curry – lyrics (tracks 1, 4), vocals (track 3)
Gregory Fernan "Cold 187um" Hutchison – lyrics (tracks 1)
Michael Sims – bass, guitar
Brian Kilgore – tambourine (track 2)
Donovan Smith – engineer
Steve Huston – artwork
Kevin Hosmann – art direction
David Provost – photography
Jerry Heller – management
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
See also
Bridgeport Music, Inc.
v. Dimension Films
References
;Footnotes
;Notes External links
(review of album)
