The N.W.A. biopic ‘Straight Outta Compton’ opened to a wide theater release this weekend and has the country buzzing in a good way. The movie is fantastic and transcends labels, it is not simply a black film. To tell this story with a global appeal had to be difficult as the acronym for the group stands for Niggaz With Attitude. Yet, the issues that Compton rap group went through are still N.W.A., as in they never went away. The film touches on the ugliness of the music businesses, promiscuous behavior, the gang culture of southern California with the most dangerous gang being the Los Angeles Police Department.
Eric “Eazy-E” Wright, Andre “Dr. Dre” Young, O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson, Lorenzo ‘”MC Ren” Patterson and Antoine “DJ Yella” Carraby are N.W.A. All five were casted perfectly, played by Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Aldis Hodge, and Neil Brown Jr. respectively. The film begins by showing their lives prior to rap stardom in Compton, California as teens. Eazy is gang banging and involved with drug dealing, while Cube and Dre are just some talented kids trying make in the music business with a brash style and hard lyrics that was not the norm. MC Ren also is in the streets as he is introduced as knowing Easy already with both being Crip members and Yella is shown to been a DJ working the same nightclub as Dr. Dre was.
Regardless, N.W.A. still pushes forward to make it big and become the biggest thing in music. At the time gangsta rap was non-existent. Their lyrics are scrutinized, to a degree rightfully so, no one wants to take a chance on them except one man named Jerry Heller. Of course, Heller’s true interest are his personal pockets as he hands Eazy-E shady contracts while the rest of the group are basically working for free. Ice Cube is the first to notice something is not right. In one of the more memorable scenes, while on the N.W.A. tour, Cube is eating a burger and soda while witnessing Eazy and Jerry Heller drinking champagne and eating lobster. Showing the backdoor politics of the music businesses and the group went from dealing with overt and institutional racism to more subtle racism.
The group’s most notorious song comes after another embarrassing run in with the law, titled ‘Fuck Tha Police’. The film depicts how they were being censored from performing the song in Detroit, they did it anyway, and the FBI sending them letters to not do the record. N.W.A. were telling America about what is going on in the hood while everyone turns a blind eye. While the Rodney King beating was taped and opened many eyes, it still resulted in an acquittal of all the cops. Something that a year from Micheal Brown’s death still resonates with many as those images were also shown everywhere and Darren Wilson did not even face a trial.
The film’s theme of racism eerily did not just end with that parallel. Reports came out that security would be increased for the premiere of ‘Straight Outta Compton’. Something that never happened with any violent movie since the shootings in Colorado in 2013. LAPD protested the release of the movie and cited that it would only add fuel to the fire and reignite emotions in crowd goers. To that flawed assessment, one would say that if there was not an overwhelming number of beatings and murders by the hands of cops towards minorities than you have a non-issue. It is the equivalent of slap to face and expecting no retaliation or hard feelings.
‘Straight Outta Compton’ also had the difficult task of addressing Eazy-E and AIDS. Which it handles very well actually, it is how the movie essentially ends as Eazy-E was probably the heart of N.W.A. and his passing was truly the end. Dr. Dre and Ice Cube would go on to solo careers of their own that are almost unfathomable when you look at where they came from and went through. One thing the film displays and serves as a great message is who you surround yourself with. N.W.A. was fine before Heller came in the fold and Dr. Dre caught himself in another unfortunate situation over at Death Row records when he partnered with Suge Knight. He would obviously go on to be his own boss and launch the mega careers of Eminem and 50 Cent.
While the film does manage to include much of N.W.A.’s rise and break up, even following the solo careers for a while, there are some omissions that could have made it more powerful. There was a chance to address the group’s misogynistic lyrics and Dr. Dre’s infamous attack on reporter Dee Barnes and domestic abuse allegations against Michel’le. Yet they chose to either shy away from that to tell a more focused N.W.A. story or it just got cut from the film, its run time was at 2 hours and 27 minutes.
‘Our art is a reflection of our reality’ is a quote from Ice Cube in the movie. That statement can be applied to this movie as well. ‘Straight Outta Compton’ is told in a way that drives every emotion out of you from laughter to sadness to anger. The reality of ‘Straight Outta Compton’ is a film that shows rap is a powerful medium for social activism, police brutality is as prevalent as ever in this country and if you truly believe in yourself and others you can change the world.
‘Straight Outta Compton’ rolled in 56.1 million dollars opening weekend making it the highest grossing R-Rated film in the month of August ever. It also continues to show the power of the black consumer, while the movie should not be considered a ‘black film’ many people who are going to see and have already seen it are black and or fans of N.W.A. Overall, the movie should be a game changer for here on out as the stories of our street poets are not regulated to low-budget television specials. The movie has a mass appeal without diluting what made the group special. ‘Straight Outta Compton’ is a must see film for fans of cinema and as of right now should be one of the films vying for a ‘Best Picture’ nomination. Not bad for five guys from Compton, California .
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