" Yo Dre, I got something to say."

Rating: 9/10 (30 August 2015)

With The Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and the first N.W.A. album Straight Outta Compton being my first Hip-Hop albums, (I got them in Music Zone on the same day!)I was thrilled to hear that a film was being made about the NWA.With a friend celebrating his 29th birthday the same day that the movie reached cinemas in the UK,we both decided that it was the perfect time to pay a visit to Compton.
The plot-
Compton:the mid-late '80s.
Getting by selling drugs as a low-level street dealer,Eric "Eazy-E" Wright is told by friends that he is not living up to his full potential.Gathering up some of the cash that he has made from dealing,Eazy-E gets friends Andre Young, O'Shea Jackson, Antoine Carraby and Lorenzo Jerald Patterson to form a Hip-Hop group called NWA, and to start recording an ep.Going to collect the latest pressings,Eazy-E runs into music manager Jerry Heller,who tells Eazy-E that he can help open doors to the music business for the group.
Accepting Heller's offer,Eazy-E and the rest of the NWA soon sign up to record label,and begin to record their debut album.AS they near the completion of the album,the group are slammed to the ground outside the studio by cops who want to show these "street thugs" who is in charge. Furious by the harassment that they and others in the African American have received from the police,NWA decide to do a track which will allow everyone's anger towards the police to be heard loud and clear.
View on the film:
Taking 2 years to prepare for the role,and having to consume 1200 calories a day and lose 15 lbs whilst filming, O'Shea Jackson Jr gives an extraordinary debut performance as his dad Ice Cube (with the scenes of his dad having sex with groupies probably not being the most comfortable scenes he has ever filmed!)Keeping away from a mere imitation,Jackson's gruff voice attacks every aggressive lyric with a charismatic fury,as Jackson balances Ice Cube's raging songs with a quiet calmness,which captures the friendship that the group feel for each other.
Lingering in the background during the formation of NWA, Corey Hawkins gives a wonderful performance as Dre,with Hawkins always keeping Dre with one eye on the music industry as everyone around him dives into the rap lifestyle.Placed as the heart & soul of the film, Jason Mitchell gives an excellent performance as Eazy-E,who Mitchell reveals to have a real humbleness over staying close to his roots,which leads to Eazy-E never being comfortable over stepping onto the worlds stage.
Opening up the run-down Compton landscape,director F. Gary Gray and cinematographer Matthew Libatique unleash an intense, burning-hot atmosphere,by soaking Compton orange and yellow water colours,which flair up when the police cross one line too many.Pushing the viewer right into the middle of the crowd,Gray and Libatique set the film alight with elegant wide tracking shots for the incredible gig footage,with Gray and Libatique cleverly bringing the camera down to earth in tightly-held coiled shots which brim with the mix of fear and excitement that the crowd feel,as they prepare to witness the strength of street knowledge.