Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Rated R
Starring O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr., Aldis Hodge, Paul Giamatti
Directed by F. Gary Gray
The Story:
The rise and fall of the rap group N.W.A. is chronicled in this autobiography about how they met Jerry Heller (Giamatti) and he signed them to a deal. Yet as the accolades and money came pouring in, dissension in the group between Ice Cube (Jackson Jr.) Dr. Dre (Hawkins) and Easy E (Mitchell) began to tear them apart.
I'm sure you can imagine that I have a ton of rap albums in my music catalog.
:)
No, but I can tell a good story when I see one, and everything I saw in the trailers led me to believe that this would be a good story.
I believed correctly.
Aside from Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, I had little knowledge of the group or their music. Though I do remember hearing about them in the news for all of their controversy and hate-filled lyrics towards the police.
After watching the film, and maybe even more so today with the news of police brutality on the rise, well, perhaps the boys weren't as incorrect as the public was led to believe.
But, the important thing to note, and it is stressed in the film, it wasn't an anthem to direct violence towards the police, it was supposed to be a wake up call about the violence the police were directing towards blacks.
Some great performances by the cast from top to bottom, but I'll start with the obvious, and as I watched O'Shea Jackson Jr., I kept thinking, man, he looks and sounds an awful lot like Ice Cube.
See, I told you I didn't know much about the group. So a quick visit to IMDB, and lo and behold, now I figured out why the resemblance was so strong.
That had to be cool for both son and father to get to see your life story up on screen, and it's your son bringing it to life.
It's a really solid movie from beginning to end, and you don't have to be a fan of the group to enjoy the ride.
Final Grade: B+
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