After witnessing the fiery passions and thought-provoking performances by the young cast of "Straight Outta Compton," it was no shock to discover the film raked in $60.2 million on its opening weekend. The film, directed by F. Gary Gray, illuminates the journey of the pioneers of gangsta-rap including Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E, documenting their group N.W.A’s initial rise to fame. This hip-hop-driven movie surpassed the highest of expectations, making it the fifth highest August opener of all time. Its success sat complacent alongside the array of devastating news featuring further accounts of police brutality within the United States. The film opened the same week of the one-year anniversary of the riots in Ferguson, Missouri following the tragedy of Michael Brown’s death, making the biopic exceptionally well-timed. Anthems featured in the movie, such as “F**k The Police,” mingle themselves within the frame of the events of the current day. As it was relevant in 1988, it proves relevant to those updated on the continuous police brutality deaths within the past couple of years, escalating to their highest at the start of 2014.
Proving uneasy to watch at times, "Straight Outta Compton" pushed viewers to see into the lives of those making the controversial music so many young folks today are attuned to. The film opens with drug dealer Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) scarcely avoiding a massive drug bust, after getting caught in the middle of a drug deal gone wrong. Shortly afterwards, the film introduces other main characters beginning with Ice Cube, incredibly played by his son O’Shea Jackson Jr., and Dr. Dre, played by Corey Hawkins, as young men doing whatever it takes to survive in Compton, in South Central Los Angeles, while attempting to break musical barriers. The casting was one of many aspects that made this film top-notch. O’Shea Jackson Jr. eerily took the identity of his father, with identical bars, mannerisms and outward appearance. Hawkins forged the magical relationship between Dre and his beats seamlessly, which are universally known and still feverishly marketed. The film brought together the allegiances of various young, unknown black talents, something Hollywood has been critically lacking. The film also featured a young Tupac Shakur (Marcc Rose) and Snoop Dogg (Keith Stanfield), whose appearances ignite feelings of nostalgic jubilation.
The group’s infamy lay in their supposed glorification of sex, drugs and violence. The film depicts the controversy that N.W.A brought upon a new generation of music in the late '80s and early '90s. The brilliantly produced musical performances had audiences electrified with the same energy that was felt at the original concerts. The group’s internal beef that ultimately led to their solo careers, personal loss, and not one, but two show-biz exploiters, the Death Row Records notorious kingpin Suge Knight and N.W.A’s startup manager Jerry Heller, make "Straight Outta Compton" a must-see. The biopic displayed the unsettling realities behind provocative gangsta rap, providing insight to those who refute the joining of rap music and artistry as one.
