The path less trampled by sheep to the American Dream.

Rating: 9/10 (5 March 2016)

The sheeple buying into the manufactured racial divide are picking sides over this one; look at everyone up in hooves in the reviews. Fact is, the narrative of NWA's rise and the requisite controversy is no different than any artists who change the game, and this film did a fine job depicting it. A line from Moneyball comes to mind: "The first one through the wall always gets bloodied", and these guys were the right guys in the right place and right time to do it. The movie is a worthy testament to their accomplishments. There's a lot to fit in when telling their story, and I felt the script writers didn't want to be accused of pulling punches. Any missteps in that regard are attributable to the constrictions of the movie format itself. The direction is top notch. The acting is uniformly great across the board, and the actors look and sound a lot like the people they were playing (O'shea Jackson Jr is the spitting image of his dad!). Also, the cinematographer captured LA's hazy orange green perma-dawn halogen glow and the blue heaven brilliance of its hallowed hillsides nicely. The liberal use of NWA's catalogue along with other seminal tunes of the era keeps the soundtrack fresh. If you like stories about paths other than hoof beaten ones to the American Dream, check it out.