Extremely Captivating to the Nostalgic Folks of the Gangsta Rap Era

Rating: 7/10 (19 August 2015)

It's hard for me not to be biased when rating and reviewing this movie. N.W.A. was a huge part of my musical nurturing as a pre-teen and teen. I remember the first dub of Boyz in the Hood that a fellow elementary school classmate gave me. I was so blown away by the cords, the beat and the lyrics. What? Are they cussin'???? Give me more!!!!
Now, to divorce that part of my upbringing from the movie... It's hard. They could have played one track after another all the way through to The Chronic 2001 and I would have been attentive and enthralled. Throughout the movie I think every track from the first album, "Straight Outta Compton", was at least sampled and each time lyrics just poured out of me like I was 11 again. Music I don't listen to at all anymore and seldom think about just all rushed back to me like the amnesia patient that has a break through.
Besides the head bob inducing music the actors chosen were perfect. From Ice Cube, to Dre, to Eazy-E, to Suge Knight, to Snoop Dogg and Tupac; the actors chosen were stupendous. Nevermind the fact that O'Shea Jackson Jr. (Ice Cube) could be his father's twin, the other actors were expertly chosen as well.
I liked the story because it was very relevant to me for reasons I've already stated and it was relevant to the music industry as a whole. They pioneered Gangsta Rap and helped elevate rap and hip-hop to new heights. They also took the reigns off of all artists to come. Yes, there was profanity in music before them, but they were so gritty and raw and gangsta that it gave every ghetto boy after them something they could identify with and rap about themselves. Then the N.W.A. family grew. Then came the D.O.C., Snoop, Tupac, WC and the Mad Circle, Mack 10, Eminem, 50 Cent, Beats by Dre, Boyz in the Hood the movie, the Friday movies and so much else.
The movie's relevance was further solidified with the re-airing of the Rodney King beating, the subsequent trial and the subsequent riots. It was eery how that video, 24 years old, could be played today and we wouldn't be shocked. Replace the grainy camcorder with a cell phone and how much is different? I remember shortly after the Rodney King verdict Ice Cube came out with a song and one of the lyrics was:
"Go to Simi Valley and surely
somebody knows the address of the jury.
Pay a little visit
"Who is it?"
Fool it's Ice Cube
Let me talk to the Grand Wizard
Then "boom!""
I remember that line so clearly because 1.) The song was that dope and 2.) it embodied what I felt.
This movie definitely isn't for everyone. There is a pruder part of me now in my adult age that even shied at some of the language and nudity. Its appeal may be limited to a nostalgic few like myself that were so impressed by N.W.A. Or just maybe its appeal may be more encompassing being that it would be a history lesson to the hip-hop lovers of today that may have never known a world pre-bling hip- hop, or to the curious individuals who want to know how Gangsta Rap came to be. For me, it was not only a walk down memory lane but it was a historical lesson as well.