Universal Pictures
Music biopics are an interesting breed of movie. Because many of us hero worship musicians from afar, we’re ravenous for details of what life must be like to be that high in the superstar stratosphere. As a star-obsessed culture, we seem to want to know everything about them, and it seems the seedier the details that emerge, the better. We lust to know all about their trials and tribulations, their love lives, their drug habits, their rehab stints, their brushes with the law and even those with their own mortality.
The biopics I’ve seen have dealt with these difficult realities, yet they also manage to hold much back. Many seem to skim the surface of the seedier topics in order to paint a more pleasing picture of the subjects involved. We don’t seem to want to remember these people for their misdeeds because they’re our idols. They’re forgiven for their myriad transgressions because of how their music makes us feel or because they provide a much-needed escape from our everyday drudgeries. However, Universal Pictures’ Straight Outta Compton is one music biopic that seemingly offers you a glimpse into the hip-hop and gangsta rap world of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s with very few bars held back. When it comes to making a movie about a musical group that fought so fiercely for their right to express themselves freely without censorship, one would expect nothing less.
Straight Outta Compton tells the story of the rise of N.W.A. (Niggaz Wit Attitudes), a hip-hop group that emerged from the ghettos of Compton, California, taking the world by storm with their blatant disregard to being “politically correct.” Active from 1986 to 1991, the group was comprised of several pioneers in the gangsta rap industry, including Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, DJ Yella, MC Ren and The D.O.C. The group was known for their explicit lyrics that very accurately described life as they knew it – a world full of sex, drugs, crime, poverty, racism and police brutality – as well as their sick beats that were like nothing no one had ever heard before outside of inner-city neighborhoods. They sparked many controversies over the years, aptly earning them the nickname “The World’s Most Dangerous Group.”
The group’s most controversial song “Fuck tha Police” garnered fury from the Los Angeles Police Department, the FBI and even the Secret Service in its heyday. Suburban mainstream America didn’t want to hear about the struggles of its minorities, as the group’s music was banned from many radio stations and retail chains across the country. The FBI actually sent the group a cease-and-desist letter regarding “Fuck tha Police,” which they ignored. This, of course, only fueled their notoriety and earned them even more legions of young fans who finally felt like their voices were being heard. Straight Outta Compton paints itself as being a story not only about a musical group that forever changed the hip-hop landscape, but also a story about trailblazing artists willing to stand up for their freedom of speech. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you have to recognize that what they did was groundbreaking.
Straight Outta Compton stars O’Shea Jackson Jr. as Ice Cube, Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre, Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E, Neil Brown Jr. as DJ Yella, Aldis Hodge as MC Ren, Marlon Yates Jr. as The D.O.C, R. Marcos Taylor as Suge Knight and Paul Giamatti as the band’s manager, Jerry Heller. The casting of Ice Cube’s son as Ice Cube for his acting debut is inspired. I read that he spent two years with an acting coach attempting to get his father’s mannerisms down-pat, and I must say, he killed it. He looks, sounds and acts like Ice Cube in his prime, lending a huge amount of credibility to the role. The other actors are all fine choices – the chemistry is very real among them – but he is definitely a standout.
It’s a rollercoaster of a ride, as you’re transported from witnessing the group’s formation and how they came to record their first hit “Boyz N the Hood” with a reluctant Eazy-E behind the mic, all the way to their eventual feuding and disbanding (which includes several “colorful” lyrical exchanges in each’s respective solo act). Your heart may break a little as you come to realize just how much the band manager manages to take from them over the years. You’re also given a taste of Dr. Dre forming Death Row Records, catching glimpses of rising stars Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur, and some of the “unpleasantries” caused by Suge Knight – I’ll just leave that at that. Dedicated to the memory of Eazy-E, the movie also deals with Eazy-E’s AIDS-related death in 1995 and how that impacted each member of the group, even though they hadn’t all been on the best of terms up to that point.
Straight Outta Compton has a realistic, gritty feel from start to finish. I credit the realism of the subject matter involved with the fact that Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E’s widow were among its executive producers. Who is there more qualified to tell their story than they themselves? While I’ve read that some notorious incidents in the group’s past were left out (most notably Dr. Dre’s assault on Dee Barnes), it doesn’t hold back from showing you the group’s urban roots and the obstacles posed by those wanting to censor their brand of expression, as well as some of their debaucheries and eventual feuding over royalties. I’m convinced you must have a huge ego to be a music star. Although in this case, I 100% sided with Ice Cube wanting to be paid more for writing the group’s lyrics. I would’ve walked away from that situation too. Kudos to him for getting paid as a solo act and for also being smart enough to use his talents in the film writing and acting industries. His legacy will live on for quite some time.
The movie manages to cover a wealth of material in two and a half hours. They could have cut a little more out, as it started to feel a little long to me (although I read it was originally three and a half hours). However, I applaud them for tackling so many topics in one movie and for what appears to have been primarily a labor of love. Straight Outta Compton delivers one of the most authentic biopics movie-goers have probably seen in years, and whether or not you were a fan of N.W.A. or gangsta rap in general, you’re sure to walk out of the theater with a better appreciation for the genre, its artists, its triumphs, its struggles and its unique voice in our cultural stream of consciousness. Several people were singing along with many of the songs during my early screening, a testament to this group’s enduring popularity and cultural relevance. With the recent rioting in Ferguson and elsewhere, many would argue they’re just as relevant today as they were 30 years ago.
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