Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E. These are three names that have becomes household names in the hip hop world, especially Cube and Dre. These three men rose to fame in the late 1980s after forming a rap group called N.W.A with MC Ren and DJ Yella, a group where they could channel their passion for music and express their feelings about the streets and the current societal state through honest lyrics and intense beats. F. Gary Gray’s musical biopic Straight Outta Compton chronicles the rise, fall and potential resurrection of N.W.A. and its members from 1986 to 1995. It takes us through the formation of the group, the meteoric rise, the key things that broke it up, like their manager Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti) taking advantage of the Ice Cube, and the formation of various new labels and descent among the friends.
While it has its flaws, like some dialogue and acting issues, Straigh Outta Compton is a fun and intense film that will act as a great introduction to a few of the biggest names in the entertainment industry today. While the acting might not always be strong, the biggest and strongest attribute of the film is its casting. Ice Cube’s son O’Shea Jackson Jr. plays his father in the film, nailing all of his mannerisms and portraying him very accurately. Corey Hawkins looks nearly identical to a young Dr. Dre and clearly has fun with the role. Jason Mitchell, an Eazy-E lookalike, has a rough start in the film but gets better and better on screen as the film progresses. Hell, even the small bit roles from the guys playing Tupac, Snoop Dogg, and Suge Knight capture the characters’ essence with ease.
For me, the main draw of the film was getting a better understanding of N.W.A. and hearing how they utilized their tunes on the big screen. I can’t proclaim to know a lot of their music or their history but I did know enough for me to be excited for the film and enough to sing along to bits and pieces of some songs. I’ll be honest, I was fired up when I left and couldn’t stop singing “fuck tha police” for a few hours afterwards. Some of the lyrics are just incredible and hearing them within the context of their formation and the storytelling helps you understand so much more. Not everyone thinks about lyrics when they hear it on a CD or radio, but having the visual cues helps to understand the resentment towards the police or, for example, towards the individual or former members. There’s one great bit involving a lyrical battle between N.W.A. and Ice Cube, it’s so damn good.
The scariest part of Straight Outta Compton is how relevant the themes from the mid-80s and early 90s are nearly 30 years later. Not one cop was hurt in the actual film, it certainly doesn’t portray them in a good light and while the film focuses on the characters from NWA, it also dives into the political elements leading up to the Rodney King riots (resulting from video of police brutality) and protests. Sound familiar to some of today’s police issues? These were the types of issues that guys like Ice Cube and Eazy-E would rhyme about.
My main issue with Straight Outta Compton is that it glosses over some of the roughest elements. We get a taste for the real drama but we don’t always feel it at a heightened level. With Ice Cube and Dr. Dre producing, there’s only so much they’d probably want in a film but, for example, you’d never know that Dre has had violent tendencies towards women or what the relationship with Suge Knight was like outside of offering protection and an eventual partnership; we just know he’s a thug. I understand there’s only so much that can fit in the film (it’s already 147 min long), but there was plenty of focus on the controversy of their lyrics and the battle with the police and government. I was hoping the film would show some of the real bad with the real good, but that’s Hollywood for you. I also wish the film had a bit more grit to it, would have seemed appropriate, but that’s just my personal visual taste for these types of flicks.
Overall, Straight Outta Compton is a solid film that seems to do right by the members of N.W.A . It gives non-fans a great crash course of the infamous hip hop group that changed the game for everyone and it gives fans an opportunity to see icons be portrayed properly with awesome tunes to complement those performances. Unless you hate rap, most people are going to be pretty into the film, rocking their heads, embracing the intensity and having a damn good time with this incredibly relevant biopic.
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