Straight Outta Compton (8 out of 10) Directed by F. Gary Gray. Written by Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus. Starring O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins & Jason Mitchell.
N.W.A.’s debut album, ‘Straight Outta Compton’, was released in 1988, launching the careers of Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, and MC Ren, eventually going double platinum, pioneering the “gangsta rap” subgenre, and forever changing the landscape of hip-hop. It was a cultural phenomenon, the type of album you knew about even if you hated rap music. You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge. That’s the line that begins the ‘reality rap’ masterpiece, and it’s also the line that bookends the sweeping new biopic of the same name. One of Dr Dre’s only lyrical contributions to his group’s debut album, the line rings true in its original context as both a thesis statement and a kind of threat. N.W.A. was not a group to be f*cked with — by cops or otherwise — and Dre made that clear by practically sneering at the listening public, setting up the antagonistic relationship that would define the group during its short existence.
‘Straight Outta Compton’ is really several films in one. The timeline spans nearly a decade, beginning with a botched drug deal involving Eric “Eazy-E” Wright and ending with the rapper’s death in 1995. That’s a lot of history to fit within a single movie, especially a movie with three central protagonists — Eazy, Cube, and Dre — instead of one. Spoilers to follow.
Eazy’s story alone bounces along a rags-to-riches-to-rags roller coaster, though it’s also where most of the film’s humor and pathos can be found. Actor Jason Mitchell is electric, tapping into the unpredictable currents that made Eazy so memorable. The rest of the ensemble is mostly notable for their uncanny resemblance to their real-life counterparts, but Mitchell is on another level here. He’s a crackling ball of defiance and insecurity in an early scene that chronicles the making of ‘Boyz-n-the-Hood’. That defiance reappears later when we see him come to grips with his AIDS diagnosis through a hospital window, a moment so raw and devastating we’re thankful to not be in the room with him.
When these guys are allowed to be vulnerable, like when Dre learns about his younger brother’s death or when Cube goes postal on a record exec’s office, one catches a glimpse of something that might be closer to the truth. “Our art is a reflection of our reality,” Cube says in a press conference at one point, but one wonders how much reality these guys really wanted to express on film. Even their acrimonious relationship with Eazy feels like it’s given a rosier treatment than it deserves, with everyone able to make their peace by the end. Director F. Gary Gray treats his subjects with a measured kind of reverence, which might have something to do with Cube and Dre sharing producer credits.
Still, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ isn’t scared to take a stance. One of the film’s greatest strengths lies in its unflinching brand of social commentary. Gray sticks his camera right in the faces of racist LAPD officers, and it’s at these moments when his film feels most relevant and least reverential. Police brutality has been an omnipresent issue since Michael Brown was killed a year ago, and the Black Lives Matter movement has helped to shine a light on the systemic injustices facing young black people across America. Watching scenes in which the N.W.A. crew is repeatedly abused and harassed by cops, one can’t help but draw a connection between then and now. “F*ck tha Police” remains a powerful song, and Gray does an admirable job of shining a light on its still-relevant source material.
In the third act of the film, Cube says to Eazy ‘We left a lot of good records on the table’… And that is the tradgedy of N.W.A. Three skilled emcess, a bad-ass DJ, and one of the greatest hip-hop producers of all-time (arguably, the greatest) could’ve and should’ve put out multiple classics. But the LP, ‘Straight Outta Compton’, is left to stand alone as their lightning in a bottle, a stunning portrait of a developing genre and the harsh realities of the artists’ environment. ‘F*ck Tha Police’ is as close to an American version of “God Save the Queen” as I’ve ever seen. Go see the movie and grab a copy of the iconic record while you are at it. Witness the strength of street knowledge, on repeat.
8 out of 10