This is a heavy-duty docu-drama that is more than a
picture of the beginnings of rap and its appeal; Straight Outta Compton illustrates very well for us some of the
reasons for the extreme rage felt by people in the black community—all over the
country. A number of times we are
shown how the men would just be on the street or in a parking lot and policemen
would stop and order them to get on the ground with their hands locked behind
them and search them with no legal justification. It’s sobering to realize how long this has been going on
largely unchecked until recently (which is thanks to videos)—and perhaps not even
now. It remains to be seen how
much actually changes in the near future.
The film does a great job in introducing those
of us largely unfamiliar with the genre to some of artists who got the movement
started. The names of Ice Cube,
Dr. Dre, Tupac, and Snoop are well known, but I for one never listened to their
music that much. As an aside, the
film’s putting names to faces in the beginning helps a great deal. Most impressive are the emotional tone
of their songs and the reflection of their immediate experience in life that is
expressed so grippingly.
The rap songs created a great deal of concern,
especially by law enforcement officials and particularly by the number “Fuck
tha Police.” There was a riot at a
concert in Detroit after the song was performed, when someone (we don’t know
who) started firing shots in the air.
The rappers always defended their lyrics on the basis of the right to
free speech.
The account of the artists’ personal
relationships is another feature that keeps the viewer locked in. Easy-E, Dr. Dre, and DJ Yella were
members at the start of the group N.W.A. (Niggaz wit Attitudes), and Ice Cube
and McRen were brought in early on.
After their success with “Boyz-n-the-Hood” and “Easy Does It”, an agent,
Jerry Heller (Giamatti), approaches Easy-E about representing N.W.A., and he
does indeed bring them to fame, starting out with the major release, “Straight
Outta Compton”. (Compton,
California, is where the core group members lived.) Thousands attended their concerts, and as a testament of
their music’s power, almost everyone attending knew the lyrics and could rap
along with the performers.
But after a couple of years, first Ice Cube,
then others, like Dre, had suspicions that Heller and Easy-E were not giving
them their fair share. So Ice Cube
set out on his own as a solo act, and sometime after Dre went with another
group (Death Row Records and Suge Knight), although he too ended up wanting to
be on his own. His statement is
“You can’t put a price on peace of mind.”
These discords were powerful and emotionally draining, but perhaps not
surprising, given their artistic, creative personalities.
Straight
Outta Compton, directed by F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job), is very well done, and seems as relevant today as
ever with the issue of race relations heated up. The actors bring every character alive, and the part of Ice
Cube is played by his son in real life (O’shea Jackson, Jr.). Paul Giamatti is in his element with
this type of role, and easily portrays the transition of the rappers’ regard
for him.
Enlightening picture of how Hip Hop
came of age.
Grade: A By Donna R. Copeland
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