With buzz circulating for years, “Straight Outta Compton” was released this summer and received with open arms. Since its premiere, the film has generated tons of traffic via social media and rave reviews from celebrities and pioneers of the hip-hop community. “Straight Outta Compton” opened with $60.2 million.
In this hard-knock biopic, the audience is exposed to the harsh realities of five black teens Andre Young, Eric Wright, O’Shea Jackson, Antoine Carraby and Lorenzo Patterson, a hip-hop group better known as N.W.A.
Their story begins with O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson, and his friend DJ Andre “ Dr. Dre” Young persuading Eric “Eazy-E” Wright into financing a label, called Ruthless Records.
It showcases the humble beginnings of both characters and highlights their determination to make it in the competitive music industry.
Jason Mitchel, who plays Eazy-E, portrays a thrilling character in this film. Mitchel is able to bring the iconic artist to life and stays true to the Eazy-E style.
Many viewers were impressed by the authenticity of setting, characters, and costumes. The film documents the group’s rise to stardom and their fall into an inevitably dramatic split up.
Director Felix Gary Gray, brought Andrea Berloff and Jonathan Herman’s script to life and offered a sense of realness to the audience. The unadulterated perspective through which the story is told holds no barriers when it comes to showing the sex, drugs and thug life present throughout the film.
The film not only highlighted the artists’ strengths, but it also grappled with the consequences of dissension, gay-bashing, and sexism that existed both in the group and during the era of hip hop. Much of which is still present to this day.
Each aspect of the film’s production aspects worked in harmony. Cinematographer, Matthew Libatique put together some powerful visuals to pull the film together.
Despite it’s length, Straight Outta Compton continues to have ground breaking moments that keep the audience engaged the whole 2 hours and 30 minutes.
The sound track allows the harsh realities of the group to bleed through the speakers. During scenes shot from the recording studio, audience members could easily be found nodding their head or snapping their fingers to the beat of the song.
The in-person feeling of the performances does not stop there, sparks from their concerts light up the screen and makes you feel as though you are standing in a 90’s crowd at their show.
One of the most iconic scenes in the film was the Detroit concert. In this scene, the authorities threatened to arrest the rappers and shut the place down if they sang certain lyrics from one of their songs.
Rapper Ice Cube attempts to explain the group’s right to exercise their freedom of speech, however the crowd’s reaction to that specific lyric is totally unexpected. Around this time, N.W.A. is forced to acknowledge the intensity with which their music affects their audience.
O’Shea Jackson Jr., son of N.W.A. member O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson, portrays his father in the feature film, a wise choice on casting’s part due to the natural resemblance and nuances only a son can have.
Jackson Jr.’s sensitivity and passion is portrayed throughout the different struggles he plays in the film. The overall casting for the film was impeccable.
Each actor had distinct physical similarities to the men they portrayed, making the story that much more believable. Actors Aldis Hodge, Neil Brown Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell and O’Shea Jackson Jr. make a ground breaking gangster rap group on the big screen.
The timing of this film’s release was perfect. During a time where issues of police brutality and racial inequality are resurfacing to the public eye, seeing these issues arise on the big screen was much needed.
This biopic commands an appreciation of the talent that was N.W.A., and the experiences they endured that ring true to America’s issues today. Overall I would give “Straight Outta Compton” an A.
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