*please follow my thoughts here*

I always thought that on "Strait outta compton" he was just as good, if only slightly lesser MC than Cube. their wasnt a huge unbalance from the lead to 2nd mc ala Treach and Vinnie or Qtiop and early Phife. they were co mc leads.

"If it it aint rough" and "Quiet on the set" were both excellent solo ssongs in the more tradtional east coast battle mc style common for the time

they were markedly contrasted to Ice Cubes solo "I aint the 1" which was a story song but was a weaker link on the lp.

solo songs advantage Ren

the rest of the lp was pretty much split with them cohandling the mc duties and playing to their strengths.

Cube had standout verses on "F the police", "Strait outta compton", "Gangsta gangsta" and "Dopeman"

Ren had standouts on "Something like that" and "Comptons in the house"

group songs advantage Cube

they weighed out even tho I will admit that on the surface Cubes "angry black youth voice" set the tone for the group and is mostly associated w the mental image of early NWA but in reality Rens contributons were just as effective and kinda balanced and rounded out the lp.

another point is that while Cube is widely credited as being the writing force between NWA, Ren also shared those credits and steeped it up on "Eazy duz it" (see below)

my point is they both held their own and where vital parts of NWA up and until that point. they were equals

now comes Eazy Does it. at this point Cube was plotting his exit, But Ren came through w 2/ more steller contributions on "2 hard muths" and "ruthless villian" to furthur cement his status as the go to MC

******so at this point in their careers Ren is neck and neck w Cube. This is prior to Cubes AMW

next comes AMW and Cube turns hip hop on its head. its everything we wanted except 10x better. No need to extoll the virtues of Cube here (he's one of my fav MC's ever I make no bones about it) he cemented his rep here

now Ren comes back on "nggz4life" w a vengence. A LOT more gangsta in his swag, a deeper voice and he's going for the throat. "Appetite for destruction" "Approach to danger" "Real niggaz" "Always into somethin" and "real nggz dont die" are his strogest verses yet

somehow tho Rens personal accuman got overshadowed by the Ice Cube beef

Cube follows w DC and furthur establishes his GOAT worthyness. he transtions to NOI teachings which slightly effect his music.

meanwhile

Ren starts a solo career that starts off of but then never picks up full speed after the EP. He transtions to NOI which seem to DRAMATICALLY effect his music. He gets angrier, more profane did I say angrier?

at this point I kinda couldnt continue listening to Ren. I fell out of interest w what he was doing. it was too harsh

tell me WTF happened here?


why didnt he have similar success to Cube?


my PERSONAL suspicion is that he wasn't as motivated as Cube. can anyone share any insight. Ren is somewhat of an enigma to me

all the talent in the world, the co lead MC in the "worlds most dangerous group" but now 20 urs later..an afterthought who never had a universally acclaimed great solo lp

help a bro out here..I dont understand