''Straight Checkn 'Em'' is the second studio album by American gangsta rap group

Compton's Most Wanted Compton's Most Wanted (C.M.W.) is an American gangsta rap group and part of the early West Coast hip hop scene. The leaders of the group are MC Eiht and Tha Chill. History Formation and early years C.M.W. included rappers MC Eiht, Tha Chill, ...

. It was released on July 16, 1991 through

Orpheus Records Orpheus Music is an independent record label that is part of Hush Management and is dedicated to R&B and jazz music, and home of recording artist Freddie Jackson. For years, it was distributed by EMI. Roster *Eric Gable *Freddie Jackson * Meli ...

and

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

. Recording sessions took place at Big Beat Soundlabs in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

from April 2 to April 19, 1991, except for the song "Growin' Up in the Hood" recorded and mixed at Trax Recording Studio in Hollywood on March 31, 1991.

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

was handled entirely by

DJ Slip Terry K. Allen, (born November 29, 1968) professionally known as DJ Slip, is an American record producer from Inglewood, California. He is a founding member of gangsta rap groups Compton's Most Wanted and N.O.T.R. Discography Solo *2007: ''Th ...

and

The Unknown DJ Andre Manuel, a disc jockey and record producer called The Unknown DJ or DJ Unknown, was a pioneer in the Los Angeles area's 1980s music scene, moving from electro funk and electro rap to gangsta rap. Now a legend of West Coast rap, he worked with ...

. The album spawned three

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

s: "Growin' Up in the Hood", "Straight Checkn 'Em" and "Compton's Lynchin'"/"They Still Gafflin'". Its

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

, "Growin' Up in the Hood", made it to #1 on the

Hot Rap Songs Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stat ...

chart and was featured in 1991 film '' Boyz n the Hood'' and the film's

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

. The second single, a title track "Straight Checkn 'Em", peaked at #16 on the same ''Billboard'' chart. Along with the singles,

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s were directed for the songs "Growin' Up in the Hood" and "Straight Checkn 'Em". The album peaked at number 92 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and at number 23 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

chart in the United States.

Tha Chill Vernon Johnson (born December 24, 1970), professionally known by his stage name Tha Chill, is an American rapper and record producer. He embarked on his music career in the early 1990s, as a co-founder of the Compton-based West Coast hip hop/gang ...

was unable to appear in this album because he was sentenced to prison some months before the recording, the only song he was able to appear was "Growin' Up in the Hood".

Track listing

Personnel

* Aaron Tyler –

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Terry Keith Allen – drum programming, scratches, producer, arranger * Michael Bryant – scratches * Andre Manuel – drum programming, producer, arranger,

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

, mixing,

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

*William Fredric Zimmerman –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(track 8) *Mike "Webeboomindashit" Edwards – recording, mixing *

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...

– mastering *David Provost – photography

Charts

References

External links

* 1991 albums Compton's Most Wanted albums Epic Records albums {{1990s-hiphop-album-stub