‘Straight Outta Compton’

IN his highly anticipated musical biopic, director F Gary Gray tells the story of the rise and demise of seminal gangsta rap group N.W.A.

Taking its name from Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella and MC Ren’s debut album, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ (2015) is the true origin story of the collective of eventual rap gods who radicalised, revolutionised and redefined hip-hop during the early 90s.

An easily compelling telling of violence, in-fighting and ego trips, the film’s definitive pull is its cast who eerily and engagingly embody the super group but none so uncannily as O’ Shea Jackson Jnr who plays his father Ice Cube.

Also starring Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Aldis Hodge, Neill Brown Jnr and Paul Giamatti as music manager Jerry Heller, the film wins on casting but loses in its inability to focus and its glossing over notorious N.W.A. issues of misogyny and violence.

Instead, the crew is presented as a group of relatively nice boys from the hood who write and rap in their mothers’ houses and at a club before meeting a nice Jewish guy who kicks off their career.

Offering little insight into what inspired their debut album’s hard-hitting lyrics besides setting the stage for the writing of ‘F*ck the Police’, the plot is a little thin, a little overly sentimental and much tamer than the lives behind the album ‘Straight Outta of Compton’ puts forth as ‘reality rap’.

Still, you can’t mess with pure nostalgia and the thrill of re-imagining these rap behemoths in their heyday within the premise of some of N.W.A.’s most successful and notorious performances placed within the backdrop of the brutal beating of Rodney King and the rampant police brutality in the run up to the LA riots.

Released in the aftermath of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown in the era of the Black Lives Matter movement, a film that sees sold out early 90’s crowds yelling “F*ck Tha Police” is cathartic and sadly all too reminiscent of the continued targeting and harassment of black American men and boys over two decades later.

Full of great music, excellent acting and some sense of the eventual rap kings orbiting around each other in the early 90s, despite some issues with plot and amnesia, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ is the must see movie of the season.

Head here if you’re a hip-hop fan, a Dre fan or if you think Ice Cube’s main claim to fame is ‘Barbershop’.

‘Straight Outta Compton’ is now playing at Ster-Kinekor at Grove Mall

– martha@namibian.com.na; @marth__vader on Twitter and Instagram

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