From the moment his deep voice first rang out from the heart of his native Compton, it was clear that MC Eiht was driving at some deeper truth. Born Aaron Tyler in 1971 and raised in the city as it was rapidly becoming overpoliced and neglected by Los Angeles County services, Eiht earned notoriety as the frontman of Compton’s Most Wanted, the most impactful group to emerge from the area post-N.W.A. Their first three LPs, culminating in 1992’s Music to Driveby—and characterised by Eiht’s patient, authoritative, unsparing accounts of life in his hometown—are considered classics of the genre. A year later, Eiht struck out on his own, taking a major acting role in 1993’s Menace II Society and contributing a signature song, “Streiht Up Menace”, to its soundtrack. This led to a remarkably prolific solo career that would round out Eiht’s vision of Compton, pair him with other West Coast legends—see his pair of collaborative albums with Bay Area stalwart Spice 1, or his joint LP with Sacramento’s Brotha Lynch Hung—and make him an ambassador of a place, time and perspective: when Kendrick Lamar needed, on his 2012 debut, good kid, m.A.A.d. city, to convey just how seriously he took reportage on his city, there was only one MC to turn to.