Straight
Outta Compton, for me, plays more like a documentary than just a movie. I lived
this era in music. The movie depicts events in time that changed the entire landscape
of music. In 1986 urban radio was playing funk, R&B and ballads. Artists
like Cameo, Janet Jackson, Morris Day, Levert and Michael Jackson ruled the
airways with a mixture of dance, pop and some hard driving funk. That all
changed when NWA hit the scene. It was literally a “fork in the road” for urban
music. An entire genre of “Reality Rap” followed. NWA was the first to “report”
on the situation of the inner city. Their music reflected their environment.
Ice Cube and
Dr. Dre, as executive producers of the film, got it all down on film with
Straight Outta Compton. I’ve never seen a more accurate depiction of what
really occurred during the late 80’s in Hip Hop. The movie starts with NWA and
goes into the evolution of the L.A. hip hop “gangster rap” scene from The
D.O.C. to Snoop Dogg and further. But this movie begins and ends with Easy E.
It shows how Easy bankrolled the group, with his stash of money as a drug
dealer, to the tragic end to his life of excess with his death in 1991 at the
age of 31 from AIDS.
The cast,
including Ice Cube’s son playing his dad, is right on point. You feel the
emotions of the rappers from Straight Outta Compton. You see the genuine love
they had for each other before contracts and money issues tore them apart. And
then of course there’s the music. That old school gangsta hip hop still rocks
the house.
The movie is
rated “R” for strong language, nudity, sexual situations, violence and drug
use. (This movie is hard core!) And it runs a little long at 2 hours and 27
minutes. This will be a huge movie and I am already predicting an Oscar
nomination (it’s that good). Straight Outta Compton gets my highest rating on
my “Hollywood Popcorn Scale”. I rate it a JUMBO (with extra butter). Go see it!
Hollywood
Hernandez 
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