Straight Outta Compton (2015)

When it comes to westcoast hip hop there is one group which managed to put California on the map: N.W.A. with their debut album Straight Outta Compton. The group consisted of Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr.Dre, DJ Yella and MC Ren and they stood out because of there violent and controversial lyrics. As the group was formed at the end of the eighties not everyone will be familiar with their story (although most people will know Dr.Dre and Ice Cube). This movie changes that.

The movie shows how the members of the group came together, manage to gain success and shows the issues the group had both between the members as the outside. There contractual issues are part of it, the problems they had with the police and of course the controversial nature of their music. The focus of the story is mainly on Eazy-E, Ice Cube and Dr.Dre. The other members of the group are there, but don’t get much screentime or an important role in the story. That choice is understandable given the popularity of the individual members and the period of time this film tries to show.

With a running time of almost two and a half hours this might seem like a long movie, but it is far from it. The various important events are close to each other, not giving the viewer time to breathe. In retrospect I would have liked the movie to be a bit longer allowing from some storylines to have more depth to them. There are moments which are so short that you’ll quickly forget them (like the riots in L.A. or Dr.Dre’s relationship with Suge Knight). It is a problem many biopics have, so I can forgive the movie for it. It is still a successful film and a must see for fans of hip hop.