Capone loves the energy and relevance of the N.W.A biopic STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON!!!
Published at: Aug. 12, 2015, 10:49 a.m. CST by Capone
Hey everyone. Capone, straight outta Chicago here.
Sometimes a music biopic is simply one re-enactment after another, linked together by a collection of the act’s better known songs. Other times, it’s a time capsule that illustrates the undeniable connective tissue between the music and the era in which it was recorded and released. In the late 1980s, there was a great deal of gang activity in South Central Los Angeles, but there was no larger or more feared gang than the L.A. Police Department, who would harass the residents of areas like Compton for simply being black or looking like “gang bangers.” And while future N.W.A members Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) and DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.) were music aficionados, listening to every note and instrument on their favorite R&B and funk records, young Ice Cube (played by Cube’s dead-ringer son O’Shea Jackson Jr.) was a poet-chronicler of life on the streets of South Central.
Directed by F. Gary Gray (FRIDAY, THE NEGOTIATOR, THE ITALIAN JOB), STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON chronicles the rise and fall of arguably the most important hip-hop group in history, especially when you consider both their popularity and impact on even today’s rap landscape (and not necessarily their longevity). Rounded out eventually my MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) and their initial money man (and former drug dealer) Easy E (Jason Mitchell), N.W.A [Niggaz Wit Attitudes] came together almost by osmosis as a group of like-minded kids started to gel in a studio setting. The decision to put Easy-E behind the mic was almost by default, but with a little coaxing from producer Dre, he became a distinctive voice of the group and its de facto leader with the Ice Cube-penned “Boyz-n-the-Hood.”
The film adds another layer of depth with the introduction of the group’s manager Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti), who cuts a deal with Easy-E to start up Ruthless Records, effectively making the other members of N.W.A employees, a decision that shockingly comes back to bite them all. Heller could have been written or played like a shifty businessman, which he may well have been, but it also seems very clear that he elevated the group’s profile and played a key role in making their debut album, Straight Outta Compton, a massive hit. In one especially pivotal moment, the group are harassed by police right outside the recording studio, and Heller is the only white man on the street defending their right to be there and not be brutalized by cops. The way the film paints the moment, Ice Cube goes back in the building and writes “Fuck tha Police,” the song that placed them under the watchful eye of the FBI, a fact the group though was great publicity. Do I believe that’s how Ice Cube ended up writing that song? Not really. Does it make for great cinema? It certainly does.
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON captures N.W.A in its prime, performing to sold out houses, partying like the world is ending tomorrow, and having run ins with local law enforcement in many cities who order them not to play “Fuck tha Police,” including cops in Detroit who incited a riot when the song started up, just to shut the show down. But the good times only last so long. When the rest of N.W.A gets their contracts to sign, Ice Cube (being the primary songwriter of hits) is unhappy with the arrangement and leaves the group to pursue a solo career that begins almost immediately with the release of the acclaimed AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, produced by The Bomb Squad (who were behind the boards for many of Public Enemy’s most important recordings).
The history of back-and-forth diss tracks between N.W.A and Ice Cube is not ignored, but more socially relevant issues take center stage, most significantly the Rodney King beating and subsequent trial and riot, which had such a massive impact on the members of the group as creators of “reality rap.” It was nice to see a scene where N.W.A members are listening to Cube’s culturally on-point first album and loving it, which is all the more surprising the group saw fit to go after Cube like he betrayed them somehow.
Naturally, where there is big game, there are poachers, and the film does not spare former bodyguard turned record mogul Suge Knight (the appropriately terrifying R. Marcos Taylor), who goes hard after Dr. Dre as both a producer and hit artist, to come over to his label, Death Row Records. We get glimpses of Death Row dignitaries such as Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur in the studio, but we also see some of the subtle negotiating tactics that Knight is best known for used to attempt to secure Dre’s contract from Ruthless. For most of its nearly 2.5-hour running time, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON is filled with wonderful details that reminded me of my own personal discovery of hardcore hip hop at about this time. But it also provides a great deal of context and insight into the inner workings of the group that the general public wasn’t privy to.
As I mentioned earlier, the film refuses to demonize Heller, and every time we think he’s no good for the group, he does something that makes us realize that even while he may have been squirreling away money he didn’t earn, he also really cared about his buddy Easy-E, saving his bacon on more than one occasion. Maybe he was protecting his investment, but the film doesn’t seem to want us to think that was his only motivating factor. The men share a fascinating dynamic that Giamatti enhances beautifully.
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON reveals just how close N.W.A almost came to reforming before Eazy-E was diagnosed with AIDS and died shortly thereafter, and the film makes it clear that one of his greatest contributions to history—music or otherwise—was to underscore that HIV could be transmitted among straight people as well. The movie is about the sometimes painful process of harnessing raw talent, and while COMPTON touches on Ice Cube’s film career (beginning with BOYZ N THE HOOD) and Dr. Dre’s ridiculously successful The Chronic album, it’s really about the age-old themes of egos and money denying the group and fans a chance to hear N.W.A make who knows how many more records with the original lineup.
This is a story that soars in many places, but there’s a tinge of pain and grief about what might have been, and a loss that will make certain we never know. It’s an epic story told skillfully by director Gray and screenwriters Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff, who gloss over a few of the problem areas (the portrayal of women is about as respectful as a rap music video). Your chances of enjoying the film are likely enhanced if you were a fan of the music, but I don’t think it’s entirely essential. The film moves along with a sustainable energy, dipping out only slightly from time to time. Even more important, the racial tension that serves as the film’s backbone and backdrop seems as significant now as it did 25 years ago, and it begs the question, why are there so few high-profile hip-hop artists today with this much in-your-face rage? STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON is not just a great film; it’s an important one and it tells the story of an essential cornerstone of recent history.
