Straight Outta Compton Reigns Supreme!!!

MOVIE REVIEW: One of the most influential rap groups of all time finally got their biopic told and F Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton Reigns Supreme.

We loved every second of Straight Outta Compton, the N.W.A (N—as With Attitudes) biopic.  If you look back in our history of Los Angeles, and if you lived through the happenings around us all at the time N.W.A. became our voice for many of us in the struggle.

(L to R) Ice Cube (O’SHEA JACKSON, JR.) and Dr. Dre (COREY HAWKINS) in “Straight Outta Compton”

At the time we (CelebNMusic247.com) were living in Long Beach, going to college and acting. oppression was around us like a ticking time bomb, cops were doing whatever they felt they could, kind of like now a days with all the killings of young black men and racial lines were very much in place.

Being a non-black proved to be unsafe in parts of the LBC, were Snoop Dogg is from, and the iconic V.I.P. records on PCH, that was historical in hip hop, it housed the studio where Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Nate Dogg — then a trio known as 213 — recorded the demo that led to their big breaks during the early years of West Coast gangsta rap. The rooftop sign has been the backdrop for videos including Snoop’s “Who Am I (What’s My Name)” and Jermaine Dupri’s “Welcome to Atlanta” remix. In V.I.P. Records 1990s heyday, it hosted standing-room-only record signings and concerts. Unfortunately, the V.I.P. Records closed in 2012 after 33 years, ending a chapter of hip hop as many of us know it to once be.

Like V.I.P. records, N.W.A. stood for freedom of speech, a voice from the oppressed and an anger the had been brewing from many years since the riots of the 60’s. N.W.A. was birthed from Compton, was a guiding light of hope for us all in out teens and early twenties in the late 80’s. We were there, we know, we were uprising with Cube, Dre, Eazy, DOC, DJ Yella and MC Ren. N.W.A. spoke for out generation.

Watching Straight Outta Compton was NOT only reliving our younger years, it brought us back to the beginning of hip hop, when it truly meant something. Still 28-years later the music still speaks, the beef and the feuds are relevant of another generation fighting the oppressor aka the police.

NY native, F. Gary Gray, the director of Friday, Set It Off, The Negotiator and the Italian Job, has an eye for telling stories. He is extremely detailed orientated, which was the perfect fit for Straight Outta Compton.

If you are true hip hop head then head out to the MUST SEE movie of 2015. It is an Oscar worthy film, taking you back to the beginnings of the West Coast rap rise, when 6 guys from Compton (Ice Cube, Dr Dre, Eazy-E, DOC, DJ Yella and MC Ren) made some major noise outta Compton. Starting an unstoppable movement that birthed hip hop, ghetto, hood rap. It was an avenue NEVER tapped into, but once N.W.A. broke down the walls their voice was heard and it has NEVER stopped. If it wasn’t for N.W.A. there would be no Meek Mill, Rick Ross, Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan or any rappers to date. The one thing that makes N.W.A. forever relevant is they stood for South Central and the unnecessary killings, attacks and illegal acts of police officers killing young black youth for no reason.

The movie takes flight in Compton, a city 20 miles or so south and many light-years away from the Hollywood sign. A beacon of black success in the 1950s, Compton had become a symbol of despair by the time Eazy-E formed N.W.A., and here primarily serves as a signifier for a poor, black area under the police boot.

Straight Outta Compton follows the lives of Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) Cube’s son and the only one who had a good screen test. Originally, Dr. Dre’s son and Easy E’s son were going to portray their fathers, but let’s just say it wasn’t a good fit for the film so they cast Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre , Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell). As for the other N.W.A. members, Aldis Hodge played MC Ren, The D.O.C. was played by Marlon Yates Jr.) and DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.). One member of N.W.A. member that didn’t make the final cut of the film was Cube’s replacement, the Arabian Prince, who appeared on the groups second album, EFIL4ZAGGIN’.

The biopic was written by Andrea Berloff and Jonathan Herman. Although, the movie isn’t big on specifics, it touches on many moments that the members endured during their rise to fame. It touched on the roughness of Compton back in the eighties, a time that was rougher than you could ever imagine. If you were white in LA or Long Beach, there were areas you just didn’t enter unless you wanted to be jumped. That had a lot to do with white police and new reports by white reporters that caused a hatred towards whites. (If you were there then you know, if not, respect it).

Having decided that music is a safer hustle than drugs, grudgingly steps up to the mike in a recording studio to rap Ice Cube’s song “Boyz-n-the-Hood” for Dre, who’s on the mixing board. Mr. Gray stages this with a playful comedy that signals the men’s camaraderie. He warms the exchange by making much of Dre’s double-take amusement at Eazy’s atonality, even as the moment — like the movie in general — sidesteps the raw, visceral impact of the words and music that distinguished the group, winning it fans and foes alike. For example: “Little did he know I had a loaded 12 gauge/One sucker dead, L.A. Times front page.”

From there the movie follows the rise of N.W.A., how Eric ‘Eazy-E’ Wright meets Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti). From there you go through the trials and tribulations of Dre, Cube and Eazy. F touches on how Heller and Wright kept his “brothers” occupied with naked women and parties, while he and Heller made the money. Cube was the only one who questioned their activities ending with him leaving N.W.A. after Straight Outta Compton. From there, one of hip hop’s biggest feud took place on vinyl between Cube and N.W.A. with tracks like “Message To B.A.” and “The Nigga Ya Love To Hate.” We follow Ice Cube going solo and the feud between Ruthless Records and Lynch Mob Records. The movie also touches on the rise of Death Row Records once Dr. Dre leaves the group and teams with Suge Knight. It also touches on how Suge FORCED Eazy to sign papers to release Dr. Dre from his shady contract with Ruthless Records. After the incident Eric is heard telling Heller that he wanted to kill Knight. Back then, do you think Eazy should have killed Suge? Heller answered the question we all have pondered since watching the movie, which Jerry Heller says that he plans on watching “Straight Outta Compton” with his lawyer.  Straight Outta Compton also touches on a few violent acts that Suge was known for.

Although the film seems to be a little slower than most biopic films, it is filled with plenty of much-needed detail that will keep you tuned in and wanting more. The film only goes up to 93 when Dre, Cube and Eazy finally squashed their 4 year-long feud that started after the release of their August 8, 1988 debut album Straight Outta Compton.

In the final years of Eazy-E, the details are menial since Dre and Cube can only speak on the moments when they made up and put the beef behind them. There is a lot missing in those years, but the film touches on moments with Eric’s girl, Tomica (Carra Patterson) and how she discovers that Heller stole all the money. If you followed Eazy-E and the fall of Ruthless Records they you know that Heller released his 2006 book Ruthless telling the explosive story of Jerry Heller’s alliance with Eric Wright.

The film ends in 1995 when Eazy-E was admitted to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with what he believed to be asthma, but instead he was diagnosed with AIDS. At the time he was full blow AIDS with only 14 T-cells. Back then it was called the high 5. He died in the hospital on the coattails of a N.W.A. reunion album, which NEVER took place. (Rumors of Death Row Records setting Eazy-E up and infecting him with the virus was never proven and still alleged, but if you listen to the music, in an interlude titled “Interlude (Domino)” on the Doggystyle (Snoop’s 1993 debut album) you can hear them say, “HIV p-ssy having motherf-kkers”. Directly after that, someone says “Eazy come, eazy goooo….” and Lodi Dodi comes on. Rumors of how Eazy-E contracted AIDS have NEVER been solved and din’t make the movie, since its been historically listed as a conspiracy theory. Let’s just say the music speaks loud if you listen to it, but that is up to you to research, just start with N.W.A., Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and artists under the Death Row Records label directly affiliated to Dre.

Eric Wright announced his illness to the public on March 16, 1995. One month after his diagnosis, and 10 days later on March 26, 1995, Eazy-E died from complications related to AIDS.

After loosing Easy, Dre is back in the studio with 2pac trying to record, but an incident with  (R. Marcos Taylor) woke him up. They only touched on one incident between Suge and Dre that caused the great divide between the mega-producer and the security guard turned hip hop label mogul. (Currently Suge is behind bars after trying to (allegedly) confront Dre and Cube on a promo shoot for the film, in which Terry Carter was brutally killed).

The film ends with Dr Dre leaving Death Row Records to start his own label, Aftermath. After that we see a montage of Dre and Cube’s accomplishments in music and film up to Dre’s partnership with Apple.

The original members of N.W.A. Ice Cube, Dr Dre, DJ Yella, MC Ren, Eazy-E

Overall, the move is a superb biopic, that shows the good the bad and the ugly side of N.W. A.s struggle to strive in the music industry. From snakes like the corruption of LAPD, oppression, Jerry Heller and Suge Knight, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube have managed to make it.

F. Gary Gray did a great job telling their story. We just hope, if the studios every think to make a Wu Tang or Public Enemy biopic, that they get a director like Gray who is NOT AFRAID to show all the gritty sides of the story.

CelebNMusic247 / Straight Outta Compton overall rating: A+

written by Emilio Ricci – CelebNMusic247

FUN FACT: If you were paying attention, Ice Cube took and N.W.A. incident and put it in his movie Friday. The incident is when a girl named Felicia is caught sucking Eazy’s dick in the movie while her man is strapped at the door looking for her. Cube is seen in the film saying, “Bye Felicia” throwing her out in the hotel hallway. The original place where the the term “Bye Felicia” originated.

As for the box office Straight Outta Compton is leading the pack this weekend already pulling in $23 million of Friday, and heading towards $59 million. That’s the fourth highest opening day for an August release, beating the first days of Rush Hour 2 ($23.1M) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra ($22.2M), Signs ($20.9M) and Rise of the Planet of the Apes ($19.5M).

Get this, Rentrak’s PostTrak reports that audiences gave the Universal/Legendary title a 5 out of 5 stars which is largely unheard of for their polls.

Thoughts?