Straight Outta Compton Review
Warning: Parental Advisory - Explicit Content ahead.
You know the label, and you know the logo. Moreover you know what it stands for, and I’m sure you might have heard of the group N.W.A. (specifically, your parents telling you not to listen to them). Even then, you might know what the acronym stands for (if not, look it up). But, do you know the story behind one of the most notorious music groups of all time? Side-note: They needed a lot of those stickers for their records.
Better yet, you should know the story about N.W.A., and the members that formed the infamous group. “Why would I care?”, one might ask themselves. That’s a good question, and honestly the answer should change per person. But this should remain the same: there’s power with this movie, the kind of power that changes your perception of an event or events due to it’s realistic portrayal of actions and there aftermath.
But let’s take a step back here. I just want to be -
“Cruisin’ down the street in my six-four…” you may not even enjoy or appreciate “rap” music or hip-hop, but there is something to be said about how N.W.A. created their records. Their impeccable beats and rhythms were, at the time and now, amazingly smooth, and above all else catchy. So it’s no wonder why they rose to fame so fast. Collected with members Ice Cube (real name), MC Ren (real name), Dr. Dre (real name), Eazy-E (real name), and DJ Yella (real name), the film starts out by briefly introducing some of the members and their background, which gives the characters depth and much needed character. Everyone has a family, or something, they love, and that plays huge in watching how these members react and mature with their upcoming fame. More on that later, though.
We get to see things that most people probably don’t associate with a rap group as prolific as N.W.A.: the motivations as to why they joined together in the first place. The background provided is deep enough to care, yet simple and effective enough to keep interested. In the simplest of forms, they were tired. Tired of the mistreatment, tired of the pain, and frankly, tired of fighting an almost un-winnable battle. They wanted people to know everything about what African-American people were going through in Compton and all across the country: the truth.
We all know how powerful the truth is, and what better way to spread the truth about what’s happening to you and around you then music, where everyone can connect with and enjoy?
Nothing.
That was their power, and why their words were so effective. They took their talents, put them together, and created something great. These young men wrote and portrayed these songs with the truth as their weapons, with ‘Cube and ‘Ren doing most of the writing, while using ‘Yella’s and ‘Dre’s beats (no pun intended) to provide the sound. Of course, we can’t forget about ‘Eazy’s lay-downs; the man, once taught, definitely could throw down. All of their music, essentially, related their real world experiences for everyone else to hear. The film uses the music in almost the same manner as they did back in the day; in fact, it’s hard not to listen to the music and see the actions on screen and not feel something.
Speaking of feeling, the performances by all of the actors bring this movie to life. One literally feels like they are back in the 90’s watching these people rise, and to some degree fall, with standout performances by (Jason Mitchell) and (Corey Hawkins). The film flows very well, but stumbles a bit at the end by focusing on one key event surrounding one member. Also, certain members (namely Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, and Ice Cube) seem to have more story around them, which is kind of a let down as the movie is about N.W.A. as a group, not the individual careers of the aforementioned artists. They go hand in hand, but still, sort of hurts the film in the second half. Oh, and don’t even get me started on the sound; if you can watch this movie and not want to go download “Boyz-N-The-Hood” after watching this, I applaud. I had never really heard any of their tracks before this film, but now I have their discography.
All in all, this movie needs to be seen, especially in a time like today. Also, it’s necessary to go in with an open mind here, as I assure you the film is worth it, truly. You may not want to watch a movie about a bunch of “thugs” (c’mon now, they aren’t thugs) speaking their minds, but guess what? We all do the same thing every day, and the difference between us and them is that they did it on a platform to be heard. You may not like what they talk about, and not all of their music is as brutal as you might think, but you have to respect what they did, because in the end, that’s what they were fighting for: the same respect we all should have for one another as people, and of course as Americans.
