Straight Outta Compton

Rating: 8/10 (7 July 2016)

When I first heard about this film I didn't know whether it was a documentary or a biopic, so I was really looking forward to seeing it when I found out, produced by N.W.A. members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, directed by F. Gary Gray (The Negotiator, The Italian Job, Law Abiding Citizen). Basically in Compton, California in 1986, drug dealer Eric "Eazy-E" Wright (Jason Mitchell) evades police raids at a crack house, Andre "Dr. Dre" Young (Corey Hawkins) lives with his mother and has no idea what to do with his life, and high school senior O'Shea "Ice Cube" Jackson (O'Shea Jackson Jr., playing his own father) lives a middle-class lifestyle, but in a neighbourhood full of crime and police harassment. Sometime later, these three are bought together in a club, where they meet Eazy's fellow Kelly Park Compton Crips member Lorenzo "MC Ren" Patterson (Aldis Hodge) and DJ Antoine "DJ Yella" Carraby (Neil Brown Jr.), they connect through their love of rap and hip hop music, they decide to form a group. Music manager Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti) approaches Eazy, who accepts his offer to manage the group, named N.W.A. (N****z Wit Attitude), they also meet with producer Bryan Turner (Tate Ellington) and sign up with Priority Records, and they commence writing and recording songs, with Tracy "The D.O.C." Curry (Marlon Yates Jr.), including "Express Yourself" and "Gangsta Gangsta" for their debut album Straight Outta Compton. The album makes a big impact and brings great success for N.W.A., they go on a national tour in 1989, but their record "F*** tha Police" has caused controversy, with the FBI demanding they stop performing it, declaring it encourages violence against law enforcement, but they refuse, resulting in riots and the group being arrested. Dre is devastated by the news that his brother Tyree (Keith Powers) is killed in a street fight, Cube leaves the group after finding out Eazy is making more money than the rest of them, he goes solo and becomes very successful, the rest of N.W.A. release EP 100 Miles and Runnin', in a song they diss Cube, in turn Cube disses them in a song. Following the release of N.W.A.'s second album, Niggaz4Life, The D.O.C. has a near fatal car crash, Dre realises Heller is taking advantage of him, leaves the group and forms Death Row Records with Suge Knight (R. Marcos Taylor), Eazy is physically assaulted by Knight when he refuses an offer, Dre releases his solo debut album, The Chronic, and he begins producing records for other rappers, including Calvin Broadus aka Snoop Doggy Dogg (Keith Stanfield) and Tupac Shakur (Marcc Rose). Following the 1992 trial for the police beating unarmed motorist Rodney King, N.W.A. has disbanded, Eazy and his girlfriend discover Heller was embezzling money from the group, Eazy fire him, in 1994 Eazy rekindles his friendship with Cube, and calls Dre to revive N.W.A. In 1995, Eazy, Ren and Yella work on new material, but during a session Eazy is taken to hospital after collapsing from a seizure, where he is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, after the group making emotional visits, Eazy-E dies aged 30 on 26th March 1995, a year later Dre leaves Death Row Records to start his own label, Aftermath Entertainment. Cube still makes records and has become a successful actor, in films such as Boyz n the Hood, Friday and Ride Along, Dre still produces many great rappers including Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and 50 Cent, and Beats Electronics which he founded was bought by Apple for $3 billion, the largest deal in Apple's history. Also starring Alexandra Shipp as Kim, Rogelio Douglas Jr. as Chuck D and Sheldon A. Smith as Warren G. The performances are all great, and the soundtrack is brilliant, N.W.A. brought the everyday struggles of black youth in Los Angeles to international audiences, making controversy and acclaim in equal measure, it is interesting to see what would probably play out as a cheesy rags-to-riches story in the style of an action movie, complete with sex, drugs and violence, this is a highly recommendable biographical music and crime drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay. Very good!