I really wanted to like Straight Outta Compton, and in many ways, I did. But in many other, more important ways, I did not. The fundamental problem with any biopic that’s produced by the people it’s telling the story about is that you’re getting an incredibly sanitized, white-washed version of events which goes to extreme length’s to paint it’s protagonists as flawless saints who can do no wrong. According to this film, N.W.A. were all innocent, perfect human beings who were the victims of the evil, calculated machinations of Jerry Heller, Brian Turner and Suge Knight.
Does anyone really believe that Dr. Dre is just a guy who wants to make great music and was in no way complicit with any of the fuckery that took place at Death Row? Or that Ice Cube is simply a hard working, talented writer who’s all about a fair shake in the music business? The same guy who has fallen out with almost everyone he has ever worked with or managed? At times I felt like I was watching a rap version of a Hallmark ‘Movie of the Week.’ For a film about ‘the world’s most dangerous group,’ Straight Outta Compton is disturbingly lacking in grit.
Considering that the film runs for two and a half hours, it would have been better served going into more detail about the NWA and The Posse era, when Arabian Prince was still part of the group, rather than spending so much time on what happened after N.W.A. broke up. MC Ren predictably gets the short-end of the stick, despite the fact that he was a key member of the group and wrote five of the songs on Eazy-Duz-It. The two scenes focusing on Dre wooing his wife felt completely tacked on, while the dreary business of Eazy E’s paperwork problems was mind-numbingly boring. It also didn’t help that the actor playing Jerry Heller was poorly cast, coming across as a goofy, well-meaning fellow who just happened to rip everyone off. They may as well have used Jon Lovitz in a wig.
The most laughable part of the film was Eazy’s AIDS cough, which now means that anytime I hear someone suffering from any kind of chest congestion I’m immediately calling an ambulance while yelling ‘You’ve got the bug!’ Things get so cheesy at the end that I found myself muttering ‘fuck outta here’ in the cinema while O’Shea and Andre patted themselves on the back for making headphones and starring in films of variable quality. Not to say that there weren’t some great moments – the first hour or so is excellent entertainment, and does a great job of taking you back in time to LA in the late eighties. If only the film had spent more time focusing on the early struggles and less on the tired drama of contracts and record label politics – as well as portraying the three leads in an honest, ‘warts and all’ fashion, it would have been a far more fulfilling experience. As it stands, Straight Outta Compton is a good film that wishes it wasn’t constrained by the shackles of it’s subjects hubris.
Bonus! Lord Ali Ba-Ski rates the cast:
Ok, so I saw Straight Outta Compton and here is my critique: The movie was excellent and here is how on a 1-10 I rate their choice of characters.
Ice Cube with hat on: 9
I’ve Cube with hat off: 6
Easy E without the shades: 6
Easy E with the shades: 9
Snoop: 3
Yella: 5
Dr. Dre: 9
Ren: 7 too dark!
Suge: 7, but he wasn’t scary!
Heller: 9
Tupac: 6
D.O.C.: 2
What bothered me about the movie was that it was totally inaccurate. If you watch all the DJ Vlad Interviews with people in or associated with NWA you’ll realize that most of the movie is fantasy.
The moments that they got sort of right are just basic common knowledge stuff. It was like a wikipedia page and about just as enjoyable to view.
Yo,haven’t seen the movie but was listening to Eazy’s interview with Howard Stern from 1993. The cough is persistent and eerily captures Eazys state of health at the time
Haven’t seen it but was really surprised that Ren bothered to show up to the premier and participate at all.
Thought it was pretty great to be honest, we don’t get many hip hop films like that, I enjoyed it.
Aside from a lot of the things that Robbie said, timelines really bothered me! Eazy-E died in March ’95 and Pac got outta jail in October ’95, yet they made it seem like Eazy was still around when Pac was in the studio. Also, WTF was up with them havin Pac recording “Hail Mary” when he didn’t record that shit until what, Summer ’96? GTFOH!! And no mention of the diss tracks like “Dre Day” vs. “Real Muthafuckin G’s”. Also, didn’t The D.O.C. become one of the main writers after Cube left?? And of course the story that got headlines, the hats!! haha Don’t get me wrong, I liked it just cuz, I mean I was 14 in ’88 when Straight Outta Compton dropped and bumped that album with friends for damn near 2 years. But anyways…
“Let Ren Down” lol I still haven’t seen this movie but this pretty much confirmed what I thought it was gonna be.
Is Tim Dog mentioned?
The first 1/2 was pretty good but I felt by the 75 minute mark they were like we have to get all the way to Aftermath in an hour we better hurry up. Also Eazy being handed a Bone tape in the hospital was wack; Eazy was around for Bone’s first EP and first 2 big hits. And Eazy didn’t meet Jerry in a record pressing plant but maybe that was fictional so Jerry can’t sue?
Amongst other thjngs, Timeline…that white sox hat eazy is wearing in the scene dubbed “1986” wasn’t out until 1991. F Gary Gray should have caught that.
I enjoyed the movie but they made seem like Eazy, Dre and Cube were all Gladys Knights and Ren and Yella were the Pips. Well, Yella maybe but Ren? Not so much. No mention of D.O.C.’s album, Arabian Prince, JJ Fad, Michel’le, Tairrie B, etc…Agree with Wicked, the chronology was obviously off to those who know…
…Then again, I think the movie was made more for those who didn’t know their story so more liberties were taken with the fiction and omissions. Plus, tryin’ to fit 5 or 6 years into 2 1/2 hours (originally it was 3 1/2, I heard, before F. Gary Gray trimmed it down; lost footage in the director’s cut on the upcoming DVD) is a hell of a job…
Is Above The Law in it or at the very least mentioned?
@EonsOne: They only feature in the NMS brawl with the Lench Mob.
Pretty much everytime Dr Dre was on screen with a woman I was like “is this the time where they show Dre putting a shoe on a woman?”
Movie was great entertainment, but had some crazy timeline problems and like NO women in it. You get Tomika Wright, you see Cube’s manager, but that’s about it. No Michel’le, JJ Fad, Lady of Rage, Yo-Yo, etc.
In the directors cut, out in a few months, there’s supposedly scenes at the very beginning of Dre wearing sequins, make up, and wigs. Then he meets Eazy and they record Boyz N The Hood. I was really surprised Dre would allow this to be filmed.
It’s pretty good up till 89-90 (1st act) but there’s so much bowdlerised revisionism for the remaining hundred hours of the movie (Man it’s loooooong), the overall aftertaste is bitter disappointment. The acting was surprisingly good but the script and storyboarding was at best functional. Certain songs/issues got repeat airings while a lot was airbrushed out (Mobstyle, Tim Dog, Will I Am/X, Del, Michelle, ?D Barns, etc, etc). The controversy/court case re Niggaz 4 Life never mentioned. If the movie is to be believed, Ice Cube and Dr Dre are standup guys who’d never screw anybody over (I reckon Da Lench Mob, Kam, Del, Last Emperor, Rakim, Bishop Lamont, Stat Quo, RBX, etc-etc would tell a very different story). The movie gives the impression Dre/Cube weren’t talking until Eazy’s in ICU so no mention is made of “Natural born killers” nor their aborted “Helter Skelter” album. The biggest disappointment is that the movie doesn’t end with an NWA reunion song. Not sure how/why this opportunity was missed. But yeh, The DOC has a bigger role/storyline than MC Ren in the movie. Not sure why. Anybody know?
A few other things missing from/wrong with the movie…. Why did Arabian Prince leave the group on the eve of blowing up? (Surely there’s a Pete Best of rap story in there?) Snoop was reportedly in the studio when NWA were recording Efil4Zaggin but the movie portrays Dre meeting Snoop in 92. Didn’t Colin Woolfe do the synth lines on “The Chronic” (the movie portrays Dre doing them). Above the Law got mentioned but that was about all. I guess I must have imagined Tairie B, Yomo & Maulkie and Blood of Abraham.The “you have to simply/you can’t fit everything into a movie” defence wont stand because SOC was ridiculously long. Like TV mini series long.
Ice Cube did NOT write Friday alone!!! DJ Pooh got screwed!!!
Every comment is on point. Totally agree. They should’ve at least touched on Ren making Kizz my black azz and more Above the Law.
Good to hear the nms scene makes it in.
Dino what is the will i am/x thing about? I would have thought that guy from black eye peas was too young to be down with nwa back then.
@oneam
Black Eyed Peas were on Ruthless Records back in the day. They were known as A.T.B.A.N. Clan or sum shit back then and were on Eazy’s 5150 Home 4 Tha Sick
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atban_Klann
I have an Unkut request. Being that the “soundtrack” is inspired by the movie but only festures 3 ppl from Compton i was hoping Robbie could put together a compilation of all Compton rappers that have a song dedicafed to Compton or at least has Compton in the title of their song. Only Unkut can pull this off. And aptly title it SOC. (You can still include any and all members of nwa solo or group wise. Lets go.
@Malmoe: Interesting idea, I’ll see what I can do.
And for the record i hate the way RenN was portrayed with small lines and just shaking his head like he couldnt speak. Dude didnt even look like him but i know he is a decent actor who deserved more lines just as Ren role in the group deserved more credit. Dude was Easy’s right hand man.
Movie was half- way decent in a ” political entertainment ” type of way , but without mention of the Rodium, the KDAY mixmaster show, 40 ounce brew culture, DJ SPEED, other members of the world class wrecking crew, Ice T, or Toddy Tee and several other key players , It comes off as awkward…
For nostalgia purposes I got a quick boost somewhat, yet it is impossible to fully recreate the frequency of that particular era…..Impossible……People forget that it was practically a war zone in Southern California at that time…A whole generation of people were ushered into the penile system, an early grave or zombified by drugs….
They glossed over this dynamic which made it harder to understand why they made the music they made in the first place…..Anyway you are spot on with your critique….They had a chance to do the right thing and they dropped the ball, but are you surprised? Dre and Cube have been making questionable moves since the early 90’s……
If I was Ren, I would be beyond disappointed in my former crew mates- I hear they are doing a tour with Eminem replacing Eazy….And here is the kicker, Ren is not even on the bill….FUCKERY
@Mobs: Are they billed as NWA + CAC?
@Malmoe: I had a quick look and that compilation would end up being 75% C.M.W. songs with a bit of DJ Quik and B.G. Knocc Out & Dresta.
Dang. We got king T, the game, dr. Dre, kendrick, dj quick, mc eight, yg, compton menace, ren, easy, (cube dont count), yo yo, tyga, and theres gotta be someone im forgetting. But dang its a dope list to represent soc old and new. Even if the title doesnt contain compton in it they gotta have an ill joint at least.
Dang. We got king T, the game, dr. Dre, kendrick, dj quick, mc eight, yg, compton menace, ren, easy, (cube dont count), yo yo, tyga, the ppl u mentioned and theres gotta be someone im forgetting. But dang its a dope list to represent soc old and new. Even if the title doesnt contain compton in it they gotta have an ill joint at least.
@Malmoe: Fair comment I’ll try and put something together.
Spot on as usual.. It was entertaining in ways.. a whole lot of “yeah right” moments tho..
Imagine a Beatles Biopic where all the songs were credited to Epstein and Ringo and George Harrison has a smaller role than George Martin. That’s “Straight Outta Compton.” It’s been a whole week since I saw the movie and I’m still irked about it. During the movie Cube remarks “We left a lot of quality songs on the table” so where are they? Where are these shelved/unreleased tracks?
Does anybody remember the comedian who would open up for NWA on the Straight Outta Compton tour? One of his jokes was that NWA stood for Niggaz Wit AIDS. After Eazy got AIDS, I always thought about that.
This movie is corney as fk! Like a made for cable TLC movie. An after school special. You cant be making movies like this till the members are deceased or very old. Way too early!
Krush groove was a half truthful story on defjam, this is the approach that should have been used for SOC.
movies that need to be made, in 20 years, the run dmc story, the real defjam story, the puffy story…in 20 years!
Watever is made, should be truthful, without the washing of dirt.
This SOC movie is mostley about Dr Dre! This movie should have went straight to cable man, gtfoh!
I thought the movie was good, it was amazing to see a group like N.W.A actually getting a movie on the big screen in this fashion. There was definitely some things missing but it was a hell of a lot better than Notorious… But Hollywood will always be Hollywood. I would like to see a movie about Eazy on its own
Why didn’t they replace the graffiti in the first part of the movie by some old school pieces done by oldschool LA graff writers??
I give it two thumbs up.
I was 14 when NWA came out so I remember most of that stuff as it happened. I don’t know what you guys are complaining about, they told a 10 year story in 2 1/2 hours. Obviously some stuff needed to be left out.
And they changed a few things around but all in all it was a dope movie.
Although I will admit that MC Ren got left out
i wanted to like this movie but with the image protecting and reality defying that was done it’s something i can’t really do. parts of it is really good (mostly in the first half), but then the images of these ‘former gangstas’ have to be protected so cube can keep making his shitty kids movies and dre can sell his inferior headphones for the hipster crowd. the timelines are wonky as hell and now there’s talk of a sequel to get the death row/snoop/tupac story on screen as soon as possible to vacuum money out the pockets of those who are easily entertained. i learned my lesson with soc and will not contribute to the mighty coffers of fake gangstas. i guess i shouldn’t be surprised about the oscar talks the movie has gotten since it debuted, but if i have to see phony fucks gush about how ‘revolutionary’ this movie is i’ll puke.
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON MOVIE JUST DOESNT GET ENOUGH ATTENTION LOL……
What a horrible after school special movie with curse words and nudity. Most overrated movie ever fucking made. THE TRUTH doesn’t get in the way of this story.
Nobody was fucking with NWA after their first album, they were gimmicks we are laughed at who suburban kids all listened to.
Dre is the most overrated producer in the history of music (especially since he hasn’t made a single beat since 1989 but has had his ghost beat makers).
WORSE Editing I have ever seen in a movie and the acting was HORRIBLE.
The acting in BREAKIN was better than this lol.
Never heard NWA songs on respectful DJS mixtapes.
Surprised this site is even talking about those Gimmicks.
After reading this article and the comments here I’m glad that I’m in no hurry to see this movie. But then what did we all except. Hollywood ain’t gonna show the real shit anyway! I rather see a NWA documentary…
*expect
Finally got around to seeing this ….
Actually Ren got more script than I was expecting (after reading the above comments). But he still did not get the credit he deserved. For anyone in the audience who did not know the history it would be hard to know who was actually in the group / & who contributed what like writing for eazy etc. Also cannot believe that on the promotional posters I have seen around it only lists nwa as being dre / eazy / cube – WTF.
DOC – to me they should have either expanded his role or not even bothered having him in there. Again for the average joe in the audience I don’t think they would get a clue who he was / how he fit in. May as well omit him like Arabian Prince etc.
The actor of Dre to me was the best fit apperance wise. Something really bugged me about cube. Like he was 65% perfect fit but the imperfections made it annoying – think it was the ears, face too lean and lack of the ice cube trademerk scowl.
Still it was worth my 10 bucks for the entertainment. Agree the label politics / cash flow issues got too much screen time.
@oneam you realize that the actor playing Cube is Cube’s actual son right?…
Yeah I know but to me for some reason I found him annoying as cube.
Hey I saw something the other day about dre publicly apologizing to dee Barnes after all these years. Apparently she laughed it off like he’s only doing it for more publicity for the movie. Suddenly it clicked to me why they included those couple of romantic dre scenes. Once again trying to rewrite history.
Blood Of Abraham. A nice little gem, debut album, with extremely dope production. The beats are seriously good. Very slept on…