Review of Straight Outta Compton (2015) by Raymundo O — 09 Dec 2015

Straight Outta Compton was a phenominal biopic about the famous rap group NWA where it showed both the uprising and downfall of the group. I thought it was a well directed film by F. Gary Gray where he was helped by the production of Dr.

Dre (Andre Young) and Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson). It showed the rise of the group which included Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E (Eric Wright), MC Ren (Lorenzo Patterson), and DJ Yella (Antoine Carraby).

Filmed in Compton, this film really showed just what these local teenagers had to do to get to where they are today. Dealing with police brutality on blacks and being discriminated for what they believed in, reality raps.

Everyone telling them they wouldn't go anywhere with their reality raps, but look exactly where that took them. They made a movie about them that rose on the billboard's top 10. They became known as "The World's Most Dangerous Group" for their ballsy rap, they weren't afraid to say anything in their music.

They grew up in Compton, and before them no one really didn't know much about Compton. They put compton on the Hip-Hip map with their really raps which made them as a group grow more and more popular.

Before NWA not very many people knew about compton and growing up in the hood, but NWA rapped about just what it was like growing up in the brutal streets on compton in the 1980s. NWA started out small, just locally among Compton, but then they produced their first actual album "Straight Outta Compton" and that's where it all began.

Ice Cube once said in an interview on MTV, "We're news reporters, just giving people the heads up on what's going on in the hood". They released the album "Staight Outta Compton" under Eazy-E's newly found record label, Ruthless Records.

Not caring about a thing, they produced one of the most famous hip-hop songs ever made as of today, F*** The Police, where they descriptively went into detail about the police brutality on blacks in the streets of Compton.

They put out a name for Compton with their "All-Star Group", as Eazy-E would always say. They weren't afraid to say what they wanted to say and introduced cussing into the hip-hop scene.

They also introduced the music style of "Gangster Rap" to the world. Before NWA, there was no standing up to the police. There was no hardcore reality rap. They truly brought a great thing to the world.

They put in so much time and hard work for this success and it descriptively engages that in this movie. DJ Yella said in an interview with Kendrick Lamar, "We were all dirt poor and came from nothing, we wanted to make local music for people around our block to enjoy.

We never expected it to go anywhere like it did". They grew up with nothing, Eazy was the only one that had money because he was a "dope dealer" in Compton. With his money, Eazy and Dre started up Ruthless records and rounded up Ice Cube to produce the song that started it all, Boyz In The Hood.

Boyz In The Hood was a song that talked only about growing up in the hood streets of Compton in the mid 80s. Written by Ice Cube, Boyz In The Hood was the first of many productions from Dr. Dre and that is the song that opened the doors for NWA and Ruthless Records.

The song "F*** The Police", written by Ice Cube, was indeed the most talked about song that they made because it descriptively goes on the side of police brutality going on in the hood that nobody nationwide knew about.

That song really changed people's views on the police, especially after the Rodney King beating. In the movie, it does a great job of showing the scene of the LA riots that was caused by the Rodney King court case.

It showed just how absolutely everyone got together to stand up to the authority. The most powerful part of the LA riots scene was when it showed 2 gang memmbers, a crip and a blood, unite their bandana colors (blue and red) and stand up to the police.

If you don't know about gangs, crips and bloods are enemy gangs so it was so powerful that they united to stand up to what they believed in. After F*** The Police, the policed were no longer viewed as the people who helped keep the neighbor hood safe, they were now enemies in the Hip-Hop world.

NWA's music was view as violent because "it only talked about gangs and drugs". In a press conference after an enormous riot at one of their concerts, Ice Cube told the press, "Our art is a reflection of our reality.

What do you see when you walk outside of your door? I know what I see, and it ain't pretty!". That shows how passionte they were about their music and what they truly believed in. Without the open minds of NWA, modern day Hip-Hop wouldn't be the way it is now.

They changed the world we know today. They opened the doors for artists like 2Pac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, The Game, and the list goes on. I thought the most respectable part of the movie was when they did a rememberance of Eazy-E, may he rest in peace.

I absolutley loved at the end where they were showing the success of the NWA members and where they are today. It also showed the successes the members made after the breakup of the group. If you haven't seen it yet, even if you're not a hip-hop fan, I highly recommend you watch this movie.

5/5 stars.