In 1986, Crips member and drug dealer Eazy-E formed a rap group called N.W.A, along with Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren , and DJ Yella. Although Dr. Dre's good friend DJ Yella went with Dr. Dre, the other members of the World Class Wreckin' Cru were furious. Little did they know that later, their record sales of their older albums would skyrocket after Dr. Dre's breakthrough.

NWA were among the first to start gangsta rap ( Philadelphia's Schoolly D is considered the first gangsta rapper), a style of music that raps about the violent life that was (and still is) in the ghetto due to poverty and corrupt police.