Great flick!

Rating: 9/10 (8 October 2015)

Straight Outta Compton
"F*ck the police, coming straight from the underground" (NWA). These explicit yet powerful lyrics are featured in the famous NWA song F*ck the police. NWA was an influential rap group that was formed in the late 80's and consisted of the rappers Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, and MC Ren. The rap group was extremely controversial for their time but they became pioneers for what is now known as gangster rap. NWA popularized the rap culture in the late 80's and utilized music to voice the issues of growing up in the hood. The movie Straight Outta Compton gives the audience insight on the rise and fall of NWA and the controversy that surrounded them.
At the start of the movie, the audience follows Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube. During this back story, the audience is able to see the daily struggles that each rapper faces. The daily struggles that each rapper faced ranged from having low income, gang warfare, and police brutality. These struggles inspired NWA to embrace music as their emotional outlet and voice the problems that revolve growing up in the hood. A music manager named Jerry Heller recognizes NWA's talent, so he decides to be the rap group's manager. As NWA starts to bring in millions, Eazy-E becomes blinded by the money and doesn't realize Jerry is manipulating him. Jerry destroys the brotherly bond between the NWA members and this leads to Ice Cube and Dr. Dre leaving the group. NWA goes into a downward spiral and bad blood between the members continues to grow. Once Eazy-E realized the intentions of Jerry, he cuts ties with Jerry and then tries to patches things back up with Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. (SPOILER ALERT) The group decides to get back together but the comeback soon gets derailed when Easy-E is diagnosed with AIDS. Eazy-E dies shortly after being diagnosed but is immortalized as one of the greatest rappers and pioneers of gangster rap. Ironically, NWA strived to have money and power but in the end it was the money and power that destroyed the group.
The acting in the film was great. Ice-cube was played by his real life son, O'Shea Jackson Jr., which is why Ice Cube's character was spot on. Straight Outta Compton has a strong theme of police brutality and the everyday discrimination that African Americans faced growing up in the hood. NWA was seen as a controversial group because doubters believed that their explicit lyrics glamorized the gangster life: violence, drugs, opposition to the authority, and etc. In reality, the group was shinning a light on the daily struggles that occur in the hood. The movie referenced a clip of the Rodney King beating, which was a monumental case that fueled a riot and showed the racial discrimination that plagues our society. Even though this movie is set in the 80's, the problem of police brutality is still prominent in our society. If we want to prosper as a civilization, we need to address this problem so we can continue to tear down the issue of racial discrimination and corruption of law and authority.