Today in Hip Hop: November 6
A Compton compilation that started an empire, a Brooklyn concept album that topped the chart, and two Bay Area legends dropping two albums on one day.
N.W.A Release Their First Compilation
On November 6, 1987, N.W.A released N.W.A. and the Posse, the group's first compilation album. It gathered underground Los Angeles rappers including Eazy-E and the Fila Fresh Crew, and it captured the raw local scene a year before Straight Outta Compton turned that same energy into a national shockwave.
Compilations rarely get landmark status, but this one documents the exact moment a regional sound started organizing itself. The voices, the production and the attitude that would soon redraw the map of rap were already present, pressed into a record most of the country had not heard yet.
Speaker Knockerz Is Born In The Bronx
Derek McAllister Jr., known to the world as Speaker Knockerz, was born on November 6, 1994, in the Bronx, New York. He broke through with his 2013 single Lonely, a melodic, self produced record that spread through the early streaming and social era and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA.
Knockerz was a prodigy behind the boards as well as the mic, producing for names including French Montana, Gucci Mane and Young Scooter while still a teenager. He died at just 19 years old, and his sound, sad, melodic and drum heavy, became a blueprint an entire generation of younger artists would build on.
Jay-Z Drops American Gangster
Jay-Z released his tenth studio album, American Gangster, on November 6, 2007. Built as a concept companion to the film of the same name, the platinum certified album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold more than 400,000 copies in its first week.
The record pulled contributions from Lil Wayne, Pharrell Williams, Nas and Bilal, and it stood out for its live instrumentation and soul samples at a moment when rap production was leaning heavily synthetic. It was a veteran artist proving that a theme, handled with discipline, could still move both the charts and the critics.
Chris Brown Returns With Exclusive
The same day, Chris Brown released Exclusive, his second studio album. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and number two on the Top R&B and Hip-Hop Albums chart, a strong sophomore showing for an artist still in his teens when it landed.
The album produced a run of Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including Kiss Kiss and With You, songs that kept Brown in constant radio rotation through the following year. Exclusive confirmed that his debut was no fluke and that his mix of R&B vocals and pop instincts had real staying power.
E-40 And Too Short Drop Two Albums At Once
On November 6, 2012, Bay Area pioneers E-40 and Too Short released two collaboration albums on the same day, History: Mob Music and History: Function Music. The twin volumes landed on the Billboard Top Rap Albums chart at number seven and number six respectively.
The double drop was a statement about catalog and independence. Two artists who helped invent the independent rap hustle in the 1980s were still releasing at volume three decades later, splitting their shared history into mob music for the old school and function music for the party, and charting with both.
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