Had a few factors aligned back in the day, it appears that N.W.A. would have gone on tour with Guns N’ Roses at the behest of the band’s frontman, Axl Rose. Rose was known to wear merch from various rap artists around the band’s original heyday, including that of N.W.A. and Public Enemy.
Rollingstone.com have just published an extensive reflection on N.W.A.‘s 1991 final album, “Efil4zaggin“. Amid the piece, the following passage on a failed attempt to have the two outfits tour together decades back is shared:
“Ren brought the title “Appetite for Destruction” to the group for what would become a funky, syncopated paean to violent chaos. “I came up with that from Guns N’ Roses,” he says. “We hung out with them one time. They had a show at the Forum in Inglewood, and we went to hang out with them before and after the show. We had heard that Axl was an N.W.A fan.”
“I remember having a headache for three days, that music was so loud,” Yella says.
“They was real cool,” Ren recalls. “I remember talking to Axl backstage in the dressing room and he started rapping. I can’t remember how it went, but he busted a rhyme.”
“We were supposed to do a couple of shows with them, but our manager got too greedy,” Yella says. “They wanted to give us $25,000 for 10 minutes, but our management wanted $50,000 so it didn’t work. We might have ended up doing a whole bunch of shows with them.” Then-manager Jerry Heller tells Rolling Stone he does not recall a solid offer for Guns N’ Roses shows, but that he “probably” would have asked for more than $50,000, as he thought they were worth it.”
One has to wonder if Gene Simmons‘ appraisal of N.W.A.‘s status in the genre of rock n’ roll would have been been changed if such a tour had actually taken place.
