we have all heard of compton located in southern los angeles county situated just south of los
angeles it's also known as hub city due to its geographic centrality this american city is now
a residential suburb of market center surrounded by diversified industries but
the origin of compton along with its battle against gun and gang violence
is nothing to be ignored today we will discuss the rise and fall of compton plus the effects
that it had on the music industry i'm your host ryan socas and you're watching it's history
in 1784 the spanish crown deeded a track of over 75 000 acres to juan de migas in the area known as
compton dominguez was a soldier and his family partitioned the land and sold parcels to newly
arriving settlers back then the tract was named rancho san pedro and the dominguez family's name
is still applied throughout the area today dominguez's name was later used for the
dominguez hills community of south compton the tree that marked the original northern boundary
of the rancho still stands at the corner of poppy and short street later in 1867 griffith dickinson
compton led a group of 30 pioneers to the area these families had traveled by wagon train south
from stockton california searching for ways to earn a living originally named gibbensonville
after one of the track donors it was later called comptonville however to avoid confusion with the
comptonville located in yuba county the name was shortened to compton unfortunately the
earliest settlers faced terrible hardships as they farmed the land in bleak weather to get
by on just the bare minimum not to mention fuel was difficult to find it was necessary to travel
to mountains close to pasadena for the simple collection of firewood the round trip took almost
two weeks so many in the compton party wanted to relocate to a friendlier climate and settle down
but surprisingly they ultimately decided to stay put and by 1887 the settlers realized that if
their town was going to survive it was time to improve the local government a series of town
meetings were held to discuss the future of their area in january of 1888 a petition supporting the
incorporation of compton was forwarded to the los angeles county board of supervisors who in turn
delivered the petition to the state legislator on may the 11th 1888 the city of compton was
incorporated with a population of just 500 people the first city council meeting was held on may the
14th 1888 then when the population began to grow mr compton decided to donate his land to the city
in 1889 stipulating that a certain acreage be zoned solely for agriculture and named richland
farms this area provided ample residential lots which gave residents enough space to raise a
family and build a barn for livestock the city of compton couldn't support large-scale agricultural
business but it did allow the residents to work on the land for their families and for the welfare of
the new community the 1920s saw some major shifts both good and bad in compton starting with the
opening of the compton airport shortly after the compton junior college was founded and the
city officials moved to a new city hall on alameda street where voters approved
adopting a new municipal charter however before world war ii compton was 95 caucasian and the
city adopted radically restrictive convents in 1921 to bar african americans and other
people of color from the municipality a dark gesture that would come back to haunt the city
the 1930s erupted in compton with a destructive earthquake on march the 10th 1933 this earthquake
caused many casualties schools were destroyed and there was significant damage to the central
business district well today compton is home to a large african-american population in 1930 there
was only one african-american resident so how did things change well significant change was produced
in the 1950s and 60s after the supreme court declared all racially exclusive housing confidence
unconstitutional this resulted in the first african-american families being able to move
into the area yet the growing african-american population was still largely ignored and
neglected by the city elected officials aside from the construction of centennial high school
which was built to accommodate the new african american student population and then at one point
the city council even discussed dismantling the compton police department in favor of the los
angeles county sheriff's department to exclude african americans from law enforcement jobs
but slowly things would evolve an african-american man first ran for city council in 1958 and the
first african-american councilman was elected in 1961. then beyond 1969 momentum was sustained
with these changes when the first african-american man douglas delarheid was elected as mayor shortly
after two african american men and one mexican american were elected to the local school board
then just four years later in 1973 doris a davis defeated delar hyde's bid for re-election to
become the first female african-american mayor of an american metropolitan city by the early 1970s
the town had one of the largest concentrations of african americans in the entire country
at over 90 percent however we do have to point out that back in the mid-1950s so-called white flight
the process of white families rapidly leaving a neighborhood due to changing racial demographics
was spreading in compton real estate brokers accelerated this process by scaring families
with threats of low property values due to the new racially integrated neighborhoods the black
population in compton rose from 5 in 1940 to 40 percent in 1960 by the 1970s compton was a
much sought-after suburb for the african american middle class of los angeles this past affluence is
reflected in the area's appearance compton streets are lined with relatively spacious and attractive
single-family houses yet from today's perspective middle class might not be what comes to mind
when we imagine compton well several factors have contributed to the town's decline one of
the most significant factors was a steady erosion of its tax base which was already sparse due to
limited commercial properties while caucasians still controlled politics and law enforcement
african americans began to make political progress unfortunately unemployment among the
african-american men rose to 10 almost twice the national average for all unemployment at
the time so basically growing unemployment and poverty led to a rise in crime and street gangs
in the 1970s compton became a place infamous for its violent gangs and dirty streets which brings
us to our next topic the notorious street gang the crips was founded in 1969 in southern central los
angeles the gang was created by raymond washington and stanley williams after they decided to unite
their east and west south central los angeles gangs to fight against other neighboring gangs
at the time of its creation the average age of a member was 17. washington was a believer in
the necessity of gang culture but was originally against the use of weapons such as guns and knives
he relied on his fists for fighting three years after the formation of the crips washington was
sentenced to dual vocational institution for five years for robbery and well incarcerated spent his
time actively recruiting new gang members as for williams from a young age he established his power
and dominance originally from new orleans williams arrived in la shortly after his father abandoned
him and was raised by his single mother when williams moved to los angeles he was immediately
confronted by a peer his own age the confrontation ended with the child walking away with a black eye
during his time in high school he created his own young gang and would later join up with washington
to develop and lead the crips they initially formed the group to protect their neighborhood
but the founding 30 members would soon become two distinct sets which expanded into more sets
and so on the original name for the crypts was the avenue cribs or just cribs the name change
from cribs to crypts has a lot of different variations of stories to it williams argues
in his autobiography blue rage black redemption that the reason for the change was because many
people kept mispronouncing cribs as crips so they just went with crips instead some accounts claimed
that members would walk around with canes or use their weapons as canes making many people believe
that they had disabilities and hence called them crips for short others argue that crips is
an acronym for community revolution and progress and that the gang was originally an extension of
the black panther party however williams disputes this in his novel currently there is an estimated
number of 30 to 35 000 crypt members the gang has become one of the largest and most well-known in
the united states from its early beginnings in the los angeles area the gang has spread out wide into
many sets spanning the entire country the crypts have become characterized for their aggressiveness
and relentlessness nature they've been documented to be involved in numerous day-to-day murders
robberies and drug deals one of the identifications of crip culture is
the blue color with members being identifiable by the clothing they wear with blue being the crips
color signature it would only make sense that their rivals would wear red which brings us to
the bloods the crypts of course began before the bloods but it's not well known that the bloods
was originally a cryptset the bloods were founded on pyrus street in compton in 1971 and originally
called themselves the piru street boys and were formed by sylvester scott and vincent owens
for a while they associated themselves with the crips and conducted their business as a krypset
for around two years after this period they faced much hostility from neighboring crypt sets and war
broke out the pyrus street boys were outnumbered and eventually severed all ties with the crypts
to form their own gang known as the bloods it all started when a group of crips attacked a
fellow crip at a movie theater long story short they wanted to rob a man of his leather jacket
and he refused to give it up he was beaten to death for the cost the pyrus street boys were
outraged and decided to invite neighboring gangs to a conference to form an alliance in conjunction
with the leaders park hustlers the la brims the denver lanes and the bishops the new partnership
of the bloods was formed this gang quickly gained a lot of notoriety by providing the unthinkable
protection against the dominant crips this was not the first time crypt sets have turned on
each other throughout their history and even today some krypsets fight against one another and have
established rivalries bloods are represented by the red clothing they wear and the five-point
star they display the star represents love truth peace freedom and justice they also wear a red
bandana on the right side of their body bloods members refer to crips as crabs to disrespect them
there are as many bloods as there are crips and the rivalry remains but ultimately it would be the
romanticizing of this gang culture in the 1980s that put compton on the map with gang life roaring
in the 1970s the 1980s brought new musical freedom famous hip-hop artists such as easy-e ice cube
dr dre and the game originated from compton but let's focus for a moment on andre young who grew
up in compton young serves as a famous music producer for hip-hop artists who use music to
express the traumas of gang culture and compton the emerging genre of extreme hip-hop in the
mid-1980s was referred to as gangsta rap and the group that arguably started it all was nwa
consisting of dr dre ice cube ece mcgren and dj yella nwa was formed in 1987 by eze a high
school dropout and drug dealer living in compton using drug money easy e began a record label
ruthless records alongside long time industry man jerry heller easy then recruited dr dre who was a
member of the group world class wrecking crew and ice cube who was a member of the rap group
cia both members were recruited to write for the new label the group's first single panic zone
features all three founders and the new member dj yella which was released on august the 13th 1987.
easy-e's famous song boys in the hood made the album as well alongside songs eight ball and dope
men which were both remixed later on the album straight out of compton the 1988 release of nwa's
gangsta rap album straight out of compton vaulted compton into the national spotlight as a symbol of
urban gang violence the double platinum albums song lyrics and music videos emphasized street
life and economic devastation portraying compton as a brutal and lawless place the album was
classified as a new genre of hip-hop however ice cube one of the founding members of nwa said in an
interview with rolling stone quote we were calling it reality rap gangsta rap is the name that the
media coined in 2015 a biographical drama about the rise and fall of the group nwa was released
directed by f gary gray and depicted the life of the members of the group that emerged on the music
scene and how they revolutionized hip-hop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood
by the 1990s compton's crime rate escalated and experienced a staggeringly high murder rate
of almost 91 homicides per 100 000 residents a situation exacerbated by the rodney king
riots of 1992 when four los angeles policemen were acquitted of the savage beating of rodney king an
african-american motorist this act of violence was caught on camera by a bystander the graphic video
of the attack was broadcast into homes across the nation and worldwide fury over the acquittal
stroked by years of racial and economic inequality in the city spilled over into the streets
resulting in five days of rioting in los angeles residents set fires they looted and destroyed
liquor stores grocery stores retail shops and fast food restaurants to say the least this
situation ignited a national conversation about racial and economic disparity plus the police
use of force that continues today the reaction to the acquittal in compton was particularly violent
tension had already been mounting in the neighborhood for the years leading up to
these riots the unemployment rate was at about 50 percent plus the drug epidemic was just ravaging
the area so this incident heightened tensions to the point of no return at the same time the
community's anger was also deepening against the los angeles police african americans said
they did not feel protected during times of need but instead reported being harassed without cause
today compton is a multi-racial multicultural community of nearly one hundred thousand residents
crime has waned down due to the end of the crack epidemic and more effective policing and it seems
the community has a lot to look forward to compton's easy accessibility to and from
five freeways and the affordability of its housing has drawn additional residents and
sparked the interest of developers who have constructed over 100 new homes and several
retail commercial centers in february of 2007 construction began on the gateway tower center
a 51-acre mixed-use commercial residential project on alameda boulevard which is a
promising development but i suppose only time will tell what compton has in store next
that's it for today's video guys thanks for watching don't forget to subscribe so you'll catch
new videos every thursday and saturday until next time this is ryan silkesh signing off