Straight Outta Compton
Come for the movie…stay for the music. The story of two halves!
As a child of the 80’s and 90’s, gangster rap was a part of my era! I think I was the only person in the comic book store styling my NWA t-shirt while silently singing “Cruisin’ down the street in my 6-4…” I for one, did not have a car, was a freshman in high school, and Compton was about a thousand miles west of the small little town in New Mexico that I called home. In any case, it was no surprise that I was a little excited to go see this biopic of the legendary rap group N.W.A..
The film starts off in 1986 in the ravaged neighborhoods of LA at the height of the crack epidemic. Easy-E played brilliantly by Jason Mitchell enters a drug den that a few moments later becomes raided by a militarized swat team. He escapes through a window and climbing over rooftops setting the mood for the film and showing that E was the only member of the group who actually lived the street “gangsta’ life”.
Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) is the dreamer of the group and mastermind behind the music. Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr., who plays his fathers’ character to perfection due to their uncanny resemblance) calls himself a “journalist” and reports the street life through his lyrics. Using Dre’s music, Cube lays down his lyrics giving birth to a new style of rhyming what later becomes known as gangster rap. The lyrics are based on what he sees on the streets of Compton and the treatment and constant harassment of young blacks by the LAPD.
The three in addition to Dj Yella (Neil Brown Jr.) and MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) become what was known as N.W.A., when Dre convinces Easy-E to bankroll a new label which they call Ruthless. When the first single hits big, E is quickly approached and poached by manager Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti) who, for reasons never explained, only signs a contract with Easy betraying the rest of the group from the beginning. As they grow into a national phenomenon, this begins to take a toll on them and leads to Ice Cube becoming a solo artist when he refuses to sign the contract and a one-time payout for the lyrics he has written.
Now as a solo artist, Cube begins a war of words with his former group when Easy-E and the rest call him out on one of their songs. This leads to Cube writing “No Vaseline” and attacking each member for the group by name and unleashing the most vicious attacks for Heller referring to him as “the Jew who broke up my crew.” Heller’s reaction is a threat to sue his former client on the basis of slander and anti-Semitic remarks, leading to Easy reminding him that they started the battle and that this is just part of the no-holds-barred rap game. One thing strangely missing from this film is the vicious battle between Dre and Easy-E in their songs “Dre Day” and “Real Muthaphukking G.” One thing that it does show is the friendship that developed and a sense of companionship they all shared.
Gangster rap as we know it, is part of our culture and N.W.A. was at the base of it all. Unfortunately, Straight Outta Compton falls short in many areas. The repetitive and unconvincing scenes of business politics cause a stagnant feeling and overshadow some of the memorable and humorous parts of the film. Not since the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace have I heard such emphasis and uninteresting business litigation. This pulls the film in different directions showing the weakness of the scripts dramatic writing. It also becomes the tale of two halves. As a narrative, the second half suffers to draw the audience in, making the first part of the film (and the two and a half hour running time) seem longer and lose its edge. Compton falls short of setting the bar high and becoming the “Rocky” of hip hop films and going from a biopic to a hagiography. Although the director tried to use drama to lure the viewer with what general audiences know was the tragic death of Easy-E’s to AIDS, it ends up focusing more on the final act of the movie in which you see Dre’s budding rise to superstardom. On the plus side the music was great and director F. Gary Gray (Law Abiding Citizen, The Italian Job) successfully shot the longest gangster rap video to date.
This one gets 6 outta 10 stars
By Hiram Trillo
