Straight Outta Compton

Me myself I don't really like rap or hip-hop. But it's nice to know what these men went through on the road to fame and success. Yeah it was a rocky road and they're not the best or Perfect People but they still are people who had real life stories to tell. No they're not my heroes, they are still people which perspective. I recommend this movie to anybody with an open mind who wants to see a portrayal of what it was like to grow up in this situation.

Don't mind the one star ratings they're just spam

Even as a white kid from suburbia, I remember being exposed to the exhilarating and raucous sound of N.W.A. when I was four or five. My mother would play one of her brother's personally mixed CDs, filled with novelty songs, parodies, and vulgar rap songs I probably shouldn't have been heard at such a tender age, in car rides with me. Songs like "Straight Outta Compton" and "F*** the Police" were ingrained in my head, and I remember especially finding telling social relevance in the line, "searchin' my car, lookin' for the product - thinking' every n**** is sellin' narcotics" from the latter song despite being so young.

I may not have ever experienced racial injustice in my life, but I was at least aware of racial double standards at a young age. With that, one of the purposes of F. Gary Gray's biopic on the acclaimed, pioneering rap group N.W.A. is to get us angry at the injustice that occurred in the 1980's and 1990's and remind us that this kind of hate still frighteningly occurs today. It hits us in the face and stomps on the audience hard, as if its strapped with brass knuckles and decked out in the latest Nikes, portraying the race relations in Los Angeles as they were - ugly and disgraceful.

This portrayal only fits that of N.W.A.'s music and character. Comprised of five talented, street-smart young men, N.W.A. was a rap group predicated on detailing their harsh reality and controversial opinions in a brutally honest manner. Featuring the lyrical talents of Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson, Jr., son of Ice Cube and a spitting image of his father), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), and Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell), in addition to the lyrical and producing talents of MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) and DJ Yella (Neil Brown, Jr.), N.W.A. went from a Compton area bunch to a nationwide supergroup in what seemed to be overnight. Armed with the guidance of acclaimed music producer Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti) and their desire to rap the truth and the strength of street knowledge, "Straight Outta Compton" details the rise of the group in addition to subsequent beefs, contract battles, and multiple tragedies that faced the talented young men in their prime.

F. Gary Gray directs this film with complete conviction. He and writers Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff work to capture the major events in N.W.A. in a manner that, while all-encompassing, gets to the heart of each emotion and the significance of every conversation. Gray and company don't mess around in detailing the sure power and magnitude of this group through concerts, riots, and nationwide recognition, and they do so in a manner that's investing from the very first time the group is questioned by police for doing nothing wrong.

"Straight Outta Compton," again, much like the music of N.W.A., hooks you with its bravado and swagger. We see the incredible charisma and charm of these five men, we hear their hard-hitting lyricism and their strong production, and we feel their simultaneous pride for their city and condemnation of its flaws, such as systemic racism and discrimination. From Gray's assured direction, it continues with the performances, all of which unanimously strong. Eazy-E was a character I wasn't really expecting to see developed as much as he was, but with the writing at hand and Jason Mitchell's emotionally potent and tender performance, he becomes the standout in a sea of great acting.

Each actor brings something to the table here; Jackson, Jr.'s aggression is unmatched, particularly in a telling scene involving Priority Records, Hawkins is the conviction and the even-tempered soul through all this madness, Hodge is the wit and the sporadic humor of the group, and Brown, Jr. is the backup to all the characters in the film whenever they need it. Mitchell is the tender and enigmatic one, someone who isn't easily defined, has trouble rapping and performing occasionally, but someone who also comes with big ideas for the group he knows, loves, and wants to make huge. Finally, let's not forget Giamatti, in his second Oscar-worthy performance (first being in "Love & Mercy") of the year, who gives a performance just as emotionally investing and captivating as that of Mitchell's, particularly when the two are having a heart-to-heart.

As entertainment, "Straight Outta Compton," for this past summer, is unmatchable in its level of fun and human interest. As social commentary, despite being set a few decades back, the film is frighteningly current in its issues and its ideas. While it may follow some typical tropes of a biopic (the "rise and fall" structure), nonetheless, the sleekness and universal strength of everyone and everything in this project make it rise above those shortcomings into something truly worthwhile. Finally, as a piece of hip-hop history, and film in general, it's an indisputable must-see.

Everyone one here who complains about the movie don't know what they're talking about. This movie is reality! Police brutality, growing up in the hood, the extravagant lifestyle of singers/rappers is all there. Someone complained about this being vulgar and not appropriate for kids? No duh, it's rated R. Even though it was a long movie, I didn't want it to end. You really felt what was going on in the movie. When they were angry, you were angry. When they were sad, you couldn't help but to feel that as well. Don't listen to the people complaining, and calling them "selfish". They're probably just upset at how the police were portrayed, which was the reality for N.W.A. The movie is amazing. Watch it. This movie was extremely enjoyable, and despite the length, it felt like it went by in the blink of an eye.

Straight Outta Compton tells the the story of the most influential group in hip-hop and rap, that group being N.W.A or as Eazy-E so gracefully puts it N****s With Attitudes. Directed by F. Gary Gray, Straight Outta Compton is, without a doubt, his best work behind the camera. However, by traditional standards, that isn't saying much. Gray is no stranger to N.W.A, Ice Cube or Dr. Dre having directed numerous music videos featuring their music. While the film is a very nice "fairy tale" telling of a story filled with tension, violence and rage, it lacks the balls to tell the actual story. Instead, the film picks and chooses what to tell and what to leave out, very strategically as well considering the film is two and a half hours plus. Starting with the streets of Compton, we are introduced to each character with a bang. Each of them getting their own introduction as if they were folk heroes or something, whether it is petty crime or writing rap lyrics, the film shows these characters with a sense of heroism to them no matter what they're doing. The best performance out of the group would have to be Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre. Hawkins delivers in every scene he's in, making it a true standout performance among actors that sometimes feel like they're in over their heads, more specifically Jason Mitchell, who plays Eazy-E. Mitchell feels more like a caricature of the late rapper rather than an actual actor portraying a real life counterpart. The film moves quickly enough and focuses long and hard on all of the partying, the women, the guns and the drugs, so much so that you start to wonder whether the film is a N.W.A music video tribute. Despite the falsehoods, the glorification and the shaky performances, Straight Outta Compton works well as an entertaining film. The only downside of this film is its haphazard statement on Police Brutality. While that is as prevalent as a topic can get for a film from 2015 about N.W.A, that was not the highlight of the group. The highlight of the group was the fight against the censors. A fight that they won, obviously. Despite that truth, the film wallows in trying to be a message about police brutality rather than a film about these men, their flaws and their triumphs, their ups and their downs. Unfortunately, it leaves us knowing nothing new about these people and at two and a half hours, we should leave this film knowing every little detail about them. Instead, we're left wanting more out of them. Overall, Straight Outta Compton ends up being an entertaining film about some of America's favorite rap artists instead of an important one.

I never liked rap, I don't, and I never will.

But as a metalhead, I liked the movie.