‘Straight Outta Compton’ remained No. 1 for the first three weeks after its opening weekend.
Box office ticket receipts then dropped this past weekend still pulling in a whopping $10,849,930. After seeing the movie myself, it definitely lives up to the hype.
The movie’s director F. Gary Gray did a great job of showing the grit and heart that all members of N.W.A. had.
Each actor stayed true to the real-life characters they were portraying from their clothes down to their accents.
Right off the bat, the movie gets into the action. It is the type of movie that locks your eyes to the screen immediately. Between drug busts, gang violence, fighting and shoot outs everything keeps your nerves on edge.
The police brutality expressed by the Los Angeles police department is shocking to see. The racism, oppression and relentless misuse of power by the police shows the troubled times in Compton of the 1980’s.
Background on every member of the group is given in the opening. Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, DJ Yella and MC Ren, all original members of the group, are pictured in their younger years . Heart, confidence, determination and honesty are all displayed within the music featured in the movie.
One song in particular, ‘F*** tha Police,’ off the group’s 1988 album rightfully titled ‘Straight Outta Compton’ gained a lot of attention on the airwaves both in negative and positive ways.
The song was a true reflection of the group’s feelings towards police. These honest efforts earned them worldwide recognition and much respect.
The song later caught the eye of the FBI, who filed a cease-and-desist order on the live performance of the song in concert. Refusing to follow the law at their 1989 concert in Detroit, N.W.A. was arrested halfway through their performance.
The fight for gangsta-rap to be heard and taken seriously at that time was no walk in the park.
I enjoyed the movie because it was honest about what happened during those times and showed the resistance it took to really make rap its own genre.
The message I took from the movie was determination and knowing when to stand up for your dreams. The members of N.W.A. started out with next to nothing. However, they knew that they wanted more then what they experienced growing up.
N.W.A. went from making small time rhymes in a notebook and recording in a garage to selling out arenas. This is a movie that grips hold of the eyes, heart and funny bone. I would definitely have to say go look up showtimes right now.
