Before1988, people had no idea what was stirring in the ghetto and about to hit them in the face. Low level politicians, in partner with the ever-control hungry FCC, where nit-picking the fledgling genre of music called RAP. The powers that be where terrified of groups like the Fat Boys, who they thought were telling kids it’s ok to be obese ( looking back now, they were about as big as the average American today) and the Beastie Boys, who were pushing our youth to fight their parents for the right to party. They thought music was spiraling downward and they were on the verge of having a hold on what went over the airwaves.
Enter NWA and the gritty, gangsta curse words of the street. Not only did they rap the way they talked on the block, they didn’t care what was PC, or what was “allowed”. They did it their way, and it worked. Kids flocked to the record store to buy the newest and greatest way to piss off their parents. And it stuck with the parents too. I know it did with mine.
This new type of in your face, ” I don’t give a f***” attitude stuck with a generation so tight, that over 25 years later, a major motion picture is bringing that hype across generational boundaries…
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
I can’t remember the last time I was so excited about a film. NWA shaped my youth and taught me to “know nothing in life, but to be legit”…and it actually lived up to the hype!
SOC tells a pretty complete story, filling in some gaps that the lack of the Internet at the time left looming for so many years. The film gets to the nitty gritty business end (the money) and what Hip Hop heads like me wanted to see (the studio sessions). It even explores the far as the end of Eazy’s life and Dre giving the middle finger to Death Row Records.
There is some glossing of a few key historic points however. Like the diss tracks between Eazy and Dre after the split- but did get into detail of one of the best, if not THE best diss track, Ice Cube’s “No Vaseline”- and Mc Ren’s solo album.
The entire cast does a great job, portraying the musicians I can remember from my childhood. Especially Oshea Jackson Jr, who looks just like his father, Ice Cube and Paul Giamatti, who will get some of the Hollywood elite in the seats for this gangsta ass movie.
If you’re a real Hip Hop Head, you’re already going to see this movie. If you are a music fan in general, you SHOULD see this movie. A movie about a group that created a genre of music that has grown exponentially, pushed the limits of what artists were told they could do, and is remembered by not only the people who listened to it, but everyone who paid any sort of attention to anything in the 90’s…
..but don’t quote me boy, cuz I ain’t said shit..