Career beginnings: 1987–1991 In 1987, Patterson was signed as a solo artist to
Eazy-E's
Ruthless Records, while still attending high school. However, when
Ice Cube went to study for a year, Ren was asked to write songs for the in-progress
Eazy-Duz-It. After writing as well as appearing on much of the album, MC Ren officially joined N.W.A by the summer of 1988, when the group started working on their debut album
Straight Outta Compton. With a budget of US$8,000, the album was finished in four weeks and released in January 1989. Propelled by "
Fuck tha Police", the album became a major success, despite an almost complete absence of radio airplay or major concert tours. The
FBI sent Ruthless a warning letter in response to the song's content. Two months before
Straight Outta Compton,
Eazy-Duz-It was released, with lyrics largely written by Patterson, with contributions from Ice Cube and
The D.O.C. Following Ice Cube's departure from the group in 1989, N.W.A quickly released the EP ''
100 Miles and Runnin''' with lyrics written by Patterson, with contributions by The D.O.C. The group's second full-length studio album,
Niggaz4Life, was released the next year. Selling 955,000 copies in the 1st week and was certified as Platinum, it became the first rap album to enter #1 on the
Billboard charts. This album would become the group's final, as
Dr. Dre left the group over financial disputes with
Jerry Heller. According to Patterson, it was common opinion that Heller was the one receiving their due:
Solo career: 1992–present As
N.W.A disbanded, Patterson started recording his first solo release titled
Kizz My Black Azz. The 6-track
EP was entirely produced by
DJ Bobcat, except for one song that Patterson produced himself. Released in summer 1992, the EP was a hit, commercially and critically. Without any radio play, the EP went
Platinum within 2 months. Patterson began recording for his debut album, at that time called
Life Sentence, in late 1992. During the recording process, Patterson joined
The Nation of Islam with guidance from
DJ Train. This caused him to scrap
Life Sentence, and
Shock of the Hour was released in late 1993. The album debuted at #1 on the R&B charts, selling 321,000 copies in its first month.
Shock of the Hour was regarded as being more focused, yet even more controversial, and critics accused him again of being anti-white, misogynist, and antisemitic. The album is thematically divided into two sides; the first half deals with social issues like
ghetto life,
drug addiction,
racism and
poverty. The second half shows Patterson's political side, as that half was recorded after he joined the Nation of Islam. The album features the hit singles "
Same Ol' Shit" and "
Mayday on the Frontline". After 2 years of not talking to each other, Patterson reunited with Eazy-E in 1994 to produce their duet song "Tha Muthpukkin' Real" produced by DJ Yella, with Patterson co-producing. Three months later; on March 26, 1995, Eazy-E would die from complications of AIDS. The song "Tha Muthpukkin' Real" was released as a single in 1995. Patterson soon fell on hard times when both DJ Train and Eazy-E died before the release of
The Villain in Black. The album, which was released in early 1996 and represented Patterson's first attempt at imitating the
G-funk sound of Dr. Dre's
The Chronic, was not well received by critics. It was also heavily criticized for what many saw as Patterson's pandering to gangsta rap at the cost of a reduction in the sociopolitical content found on his earlier releases. The album debuted at #31 on the pop-charts, with the first week's sales of 31,000 copies. By the second month it had sold 131,000 copies. Before leaving Ruthless, Patterson released
Ruthless for Life in 1998, which proved a small comeback, selling moderately well. The album features Ice Cube,
Snoop Dogg,
RBX and
8Ball & MJG, and others. This was the first time Patterson worked with new producers. By the end of 1998, Patterson had left Ruthless. On October 31, 2009, Patterson released his fourth studio album entitled
Renincarnated, which was released under his own record label
Villain.
Renincarnated was only released in the US. In 2015, Patterson stated that he had been working on his second EP, titled
Rebel Music and released two singles: the title track, "
Rebel Music", and "
Burn Radio Burn". The official remix for "Rebel Music" was released in June 2014, and features Ice Cube. It was originally expected to be released by the end of 2015 but remained unreleased until 2022 when he canceled the project and followed it up with a new EP,
Osiris via
Twitter. On May 22, 2022, he announced the track list of
Osiris, and released the EP on June 3, 2022. The eight-track EP is entirely produced by
Tha Chill and features guest appearances from
Kurupt,
Kokane,
Cold 187um,
Ras Kass and others.
Collaborations: 1987–present Outside of N.W.A, Patterson contributed to several albums released on Ruthless Records. In 1988, he contributed to
Eazy-Duz-It. Although officially released as a solo album by Eazy-E, numerous artists contributed. Patterson, the only guest rapper on the album, features raps of his own on almost half of the album.
Eazy-Duz-It was produced by Dr. Dre and DJ Yella, while Patterson, Ice Cube and The D.O.C. wrote the lyrics. Patterson contributed vocals to albums by several artists on Ruthless during this period, including
J. J. Fad's
Supersonic (1988), The D.O.C.'s
No One Can Do It Better (1989) and
Above the Law's ''
Livin' Like Hustlers'' (1990). In 1990, Patterson produced the only album for his protege group
CPO, titled
To Hell and Black. The group consisted of
CPO Boss Hogg, DJ Train, and Young D. After the release of their debut album, the group dissolved. CPO Boss Hogg went to have a solo career, featuring on high-profile albums of N.W.A, Dr. Dre and
Tupac, while
DJ Train stayed with Patterson. In 1993, Patterson introduced a new group called
The Whole Click. The group featured Patterson's longtime collaborator Bigg Rocc, Grinch, Bone and Patterson's brother, Juvenile. The group first appeared on Patterson's debut album
Shock of the Hour. The collective later split up. Bigg Rocc continued to collaborate with Patterson, featuring him on all his solo albums. In 2000, he appeared on the song "
Hello", which featured Dr. Dre and Ice Cube on Ice Cube's
War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) album. He joined the
Up in Smoke Tour that same year to rap his verse on the track. He also appeared on the posse cut "Some L.A. Niggaz" from Dr. Dre's
2001 album. Patterson's recent work has appeared on some more politically oriented projects with
Public Enemy, specifically
Paris's album
Hard Truth Soldiers Vol. 1 as well as on Public Enemy's album
Rebirth of a Nation. Paris stated in an interview with rapstation.com that: "MC Ren is retired and won't be doing a full-length album as far as I know. I get at him for verses, that's about it." In April 2016, Patterson reunited with the former members of N.W.A at
Coachella. ==Other ventures==