With the historic release of “Straight Outta Compton,” very few know that the story of N.W.A. left out a very critical piece of evidence... a native Texan that hails from Dallas. For starters, there is an area of Dallas called Oak Cliff, there also is a high school named South Oak Cliff, and that’s one school that I will never forget! If you were a member of the Forest Brook track teams in the 80’s or 90’s, you would never forget Dallas SOC either. Every year at the Texas Southern Relays, the boys from SOC would come down here to try to silence our Houston teams. They had just as much speed in numbers than we did, and all of the sprints and relays came down to two teams, The Brook and SOC.
Okay, so what does this have to do with Straight Outta Compton and N.W.A? TLC, as in Tracy Lynn Curry, better known as “The D.O.C.” He is the true definition of being behind the scenes, and if you notice in a lot of N.W.A. photos, he’s lurking behind. Eazy-E’s first big hit, “We Want Eazy” was written by the Texan, as well as hits on the Straight Outta Compton, Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic”, and Snoop Dogg’s “Doggystyle” albums. He is also the creator of the name of the record label, Death Row Records! Needless to say, he had his own hit album, “No One Can Do It Better” that went double platinum!
Shortly after his success, an auto accident caused him to lose his voice and derailed his career as a rapper, but he continues to write for other artists. He may have lost his voice, but he did not lose his speech. There has been a lot of speculation that he did not, and still does not get the respect that he deserves. Eazy-E is no longer here to say thanks for my career, or I am sorry for shortchanging you, but maybe he did in secret when he would always wear that Chicago White SOC hat! As of today, The D.O.C states that his voice is naturally coming back on its own, that’s great news because fans of his are now chanting, “We Want Tracy.” The D.O.C. / The Dallas. Oak. Cliff.
