**Spoiler Alert**
Director: F. Gary Gray/Starring: Paul Giamatti, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr. and Aldis Hodge
Back in the mid-to-late 80s' and early 90s', a hip-hop group known as N.W.A. emerged as a force in the music industry. Out of Compton, California, the group's hard-hitting, gritty lyrics about the dangerous life of the streets and their crude denunciation of police brutality and intimidation stimulated record sales but also earned them notoriety and the enmity of law enforcement nation-wide. In spite of the group's relatively brief existence, their legendary status has helped make them the subject of director F. Gary Gray's electrifying new film Straight Outta Compton.
The story begins in the mid-80s', when the Crips and Blood gangs waged mutual war in Compton and other black neighborhoods in L.A. The violence was further escalated by the L.A. police, who bullied and brutalized blacks with impunity.
In this seething cauldron of hostility were a group of young Compton men: Eric Wright, A.K.A Easy-E, Andre Young, A.K.A. Dr. Dre, Antoine Carraby, A.K.A. DJ Yella, O'Shea Jackson, A.K.A. Ice Cube and Lorenzo Patterson, A.K.A. MC Ren, who came together to form the rap group N.W.A. (Niggaz Wit Attitude). Prior to the group's formation, the individual members performed locally at clubs. Dr. Dre honed his DJ'ing skills in dance clubs while Ice Cube wrote and performed his own material.
As the various talents joined creative forces, the N.W.A nucleus coalesced with Dr. Dre's DJ expertise, Ice Cube's lyrics and Easy-E's on-stage presence. In time, N.W.A. drew the attention of businessman Jerry Heller (an excellent Paul Giamatti), who cajoled Easy-E into becoming the band's manager.
Heller is soon made privy to the discrimination blacks suffered from L.A. police. In a particularly affective scene, we see the group standing on the sidewalk, outside the studio where they've taken a break from recording their first album. A cop car pulls up, followed by another. The cops harass the group; asking them why they happen to be in the neighborhood. The group explains themselves, to no avail, until the police humiliate them by making the group lay on the pavement. Heller steps out to see the ugly scene developing and protests vigorously. The cops, unconcerned with basic civic rights violations, force the group back into the studio after Heller threatens legal action. It is plain to see how the group's antipathy for law enforcement, which is entirely justifiable, fueled their lyrics.
Following the release of N.W.A.'s landmark hip-hop album; Straight Outta Compton the band seizes on their nation-wide popularity to embark on a tour. Their controversial song; Fuck the Police, draws criticism from law enforcement and the media, who accuse the group of fomenting anti-police sentiment. In a particularly stirring scene, we see the group sitting before members of the Detroit police force before a concert. The head of the police warns--threatens--the group that a performance of their song will result in arrests. In an inspired act of disobedience, the group says-in unison-"Fuck the police." Anticipating trouble, members of the police stand in the audience. Ice Cube (portrayed by the Ice Cube's son O'Shea Jackson Jr; hence the uncanny resemblance), rails against police harassment before the band kicks into a rousing version of their song. The concert soon devolves into chaos as the police approach the stage, seeking arrests while the band escape to their tour buses, only to be met by the rest of the Detroit police force.
In another scene, we see the group sitting before the press corps, answering questions about N.W.A.'s putatively violent lyrics. Ice Cube defends the band's lyrics; contending the violence is merely a reflection of what they see everyday.
But the film isn't merely about the social conditions that inspired N.W.A.'s message; the film is also about the problems that plague most musical groups when they find success; namely, mutual distrust, jealousy and resentment. As Easy-E (Jason Mitchell) and Heller form a close working relationship, Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), Ice Cube, DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.) and MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) find their chummy business partnership suspect. Further cracks in the foundation form when Suge Knight (R. Marcos Taylor), the group's bodyguard, becomes involved in N.W.A. affairs.
Before long, Ice-Cube leaves the group; his frustration with Jerry and the group having reached its peak, and sets out on his own. Confident Ice-Cube's solo venture will fail, N.W.A. forges on, secure in their belief that they can manage without his biting lyrics. To N.W.A.'s dismay, Ice-Cube's album is a success and his alienation from his former group prompts the remaining members to snipe at him in their songs, which prompts a swift reprisal.
But Ice-Cube's success doesn't come without its own problems, for he discovers the head of the record company has cheated him on royalties. A subsequent scene where Ice-Cube makes an eloquently aggressive plea with a baseball bat in the executive's office is both amusing and a little scary.
Meanwhile, Dr. Dre and Suge Knight form the infamous Death-Row Records; a successful venture that netted talent such as D.O.C, the legendary Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg. But trouble is always nigh, for Dr. Dre discovers that Suge Knight has created a culture of violence around the label. We see their offices become a haven for dog-fighting and all manner of boisterous revelry, which tries Dr. Dre's patience. Dr. Dre also learns that Suge himself is given to violent episodes. When Suge discovers a man has parked in his space, he beats him savagely; much to the horror of Dr. Dre, who witnesses the assault. Suge's thuggish behavior extends to the business world, where he and his associates beat-up Easy-E in an effort to coerce him into releasing Dr. Dre and the other N.W.A members from their contracts.
In time, Easy-E realizes that Jerry Heller is less than trust-worthy and dissolves their partnership. In financial free-fall, Easy-E hatches a plan to reunite the members of N.W.A., which other members of the group agree to eagerly. But before the plan bears fruit, Easy-E learns he is HIV; a diagnosis that carries a swift death sentence.
I found F. Gary Gray's film to be quite compelling. He keeps the drama simmering when it doesn't boil and it is easy to be drawn into a story told so well. Of course a powerful story like N.W.A.'s needs screen-scribes who know their way around the material, which writers Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff handle with aplomb. This isn't a lurid, VH-1 Behind the Music melodrama but a film that reaches for authenticity. The violent world N.W.A. raps about is never far from their doorsteps, which the film effectively dramatizes. The Rodney King incident, which seems inevitable, given the L.A. police's history of brutality, is an issue the film doesn't shy away from. The harassment we see in the film also has a unsettling resonance when we think about the number of black men shot down by cops the last few years.
As is always the case with films about black culture, Straight Outta Compton is getting limited screen time at the local multiplexes. I suppose we should be pleased that it's being distributed at all when one considers the unbreakable grip of the white-dominated American movie industry. This is a film that needs more attention, which I supposed it will attract on demand and on DVD. Suburban audiences might avoid it, thinking the film might be a celebration of violence. What Gray's film is exceptionally good at is giving us a sense of how such a violent, bigoted culture might produce something as angry and moving as N.W.A.
