Straight Outta Compton: Challenging the Status Quo

I have barely a passing acquaintance with hip hop group N.W.A. - some of its members, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, certainly have massive name recognition, but I was mostly unaware of their music and the social revolution they incited in the 90s. Thankfully, director F. Gary Gray and writers Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff have given us Straight Outta Compton, a stellar movie that provides a dazzling history lesson about N.W.A. and their social legacy.

The movie has no gimmicks - it begins at the beginning with the formation of N.W.A., follows their early career, breakout success with the Straight Outta Compton album, and the money disputes and disagreements that led to their eventual breakup. It also follows the solo careers of Ice Cube (played by O'Shea Jackson, Jr., a brilliant piece of casting as he is Ice Cube's real-life son) and Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), highlighting their personal triumphs and failures and eventual reconciliation with Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell).

Ordinarily, I would not be captivated by such a conventional narrative. But the secret to Straight Outta Compton's appeal is its soundtrack. This movie is a bracing ode to gangsta rap and incisively portrays how N.W.A.'s most famous songs came into being. There is a brilliant sequence when Dr. Dre has to teach Eazy-E how to rap, a lesson that highlights the skill necessary for a genre that is so often dismissed by music snobs. The film also gives us detailed histories of the members of the group and their social interactions, including their multiple racially charged run-ins with the police that eventually led to their defiant anthem, Fuck tha Police. I can't claim to be a rap aficionado but this film gives the genre all the credibility it so richly deserves. Every one of the songs in the movie is set up perfectly; you understand the feeling and story behind each verse, which gives you a visceral appreciation for the artistry behind it. And you don't just get short clips of music - these are long takes that let you savor every word and feel the full impact of the underlying rage and power.

Knowing nothing about N.W.A., I can't comment about the accuracy of this film and its portrayal of the various members. There seems to have been plenty of controversy, with certain members like MC Ren (played by Aldis Hodge) and DJ Yella (Neil Brown, Jr.) getting almost no screen time. All I can say is that I thoroughly appreciated the performances I did get to see. These were committed actors who held nothing back and effectively represented both the flaws and the genius of these men. They worked as one cohesive unit and I fully bought in to the story. Paul Giamatti's performance as their white manager, Jerry Heller, is also particularly interesting. At first I winced, thinking this was yet another story of a white man kindly helping out some young inner-city kids. However, his character quickly becomes three-dimensional, revealing that he's flawed like everyone else and will be as responsible for the group's ruin as he was for its success.

Straight Outta Compton is that rare thing: a movie that pleases audiences and critics alike. It is told with flair and love, with a tight script that doesn't hesitate to take long beats to luxuriate in the music that is at the heart of the entire story. It is also an extremely timely tale, focusing on the police brutality and racial inequality that fueled N.W.A.'s rap and remains sadly relevant today. This movie serves as an important piece of music and social history, revealing how much social circumstances influence music and vice versa. It is an angry, lavish, brilliant film that doesn't shy away from telling some hard truths while celebrating some of the most evocative music of the past few decades.