N.W.A. and the Posse

N.W.A. and the Posse is a compilation album, re-releasing N.W.A and associated groups' underground rap songs from the Los Angeles area's rap scene on November 6, 1987. It is regarded as American rap group N.W.A's first but neglected album;  N.W.A's authorized debut studio album, rather, is Straight Outta Compton, released in August 1988. Whereas the Straight album was certified platinum, one million copies sold in July 1989, the Posse album was certified gold, half as many copies sold, in April 1994.

Originally not N.W.A's intended album release, the Posse album was released by Macola Records—which was then the Los Angeles hip hop scene's main distributor—by collecting songs, mainly N.W.A's EP titled N.W.A, that Macola had distributed for N.W.A's record label, Ruthless Records. Macola omitted the N.W.A track "A Bitch iz a Bitch" which was recorded around the same time but not included on the EP either to favor party, electro sounds, like the "Panic Zone" track, that led the Los Angeles rap scene until N.W.A's Straight album hit. Months after Straight Outta Compton was released the new Ruthless distributor, Priority Records, re-issued the Posse album with the "Bitch" track replacing "Scream".

Backstory
Six of the 11 tracks on the Posse album are from then-N.W.A members: Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Arabian Prince. MC Ren and DJ Yella were not yet in N.W.A, however Ren does appear on the cover photograph. One track is of Microphone Mike, later called Myka 9, along with Rappinstine, a traveling faction of the DJ crew World Class Wreckin' Cru, whose core had yielded N.W.A's Dr. Dre and DJ Yella.

Four of the Posse album's tracks are from the Fila Fresh Crew, a rap crew including Doc-T, who soon renamed himself The D.O.C. Dr. Dre discovered them in Texas, where a DJ friend of his, Dr. Rock, had invited him to perform at a nightclub, where the Fila Fresh Crew was performing. These four tracks had previously been released by Ruthless Records.

Macola
The World Class Wreckin' Cru', including Dr. Dre and DJ Yella, led by Grandmaster Lonzo, were signed to Lonzo's label Kru-Cut Records, a sublabel of Macola Records, the area's leading distributor of rap records. The success of Eazy’s single "Boyz-n-the-Hood" prompted Eazy's call for an N.W.A EP, distributed by Macola. The EP's five songs included Eazy and Cube on "Dopeman", Eazy on "8 Ball", and Arabian's production "Panic Zone."

After the release of the EP, N.W.A left Macola and signed to Priority. Macola wasn’t too happy and wanted to cash in on the group so they took the songs from Eazy’s Boyz-n-the-Hood single as well as the N.W.A EP and combined them with a bunch of random songs that Macola had in their library and this resulted in the N.W.A. and the Posse album.

Cover photo
For the EP 's cover photo which is the same cover used for the album, Eazy summoned N.W.A' s members to pose for the camera in a Hollywood alleyway near Macola's office. Reportedly, some who were photographed wound up there by merely driving or accompanying another. Future N.W.A rapper MC Ren, living near Eazy, although photographed, was not yet in N.W.A. On the other hand, DJ Yella, although closely associated with the rest of the group is absent, due to being sick on the day the photo was taken. Yella, however, was not active within the group when the picture was taken and the EP was released and only joined later on that year shortly before Ren after the group was signed to Priority Records.

Track list
All songs produced by either Dr. Dre, Arabian Prince or both.