Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Straight Outta Compton is a perfect example of a primary source on our present society. Sure, you can view it as a secondary source on the 80s and 90s West Coast hip hop scene. But the movie itself is a product of our time. The influence of our society is overtly present throughout, giving this movie more importance than at first glance. Any African American could tell you that police brutality has been an ongoing problem in their communities for decades. But for many who live in Ta-Nehisi Coates's suburban dream, the recent incidents of police brutality caught on video have been a startling wake up call. This is the reality that minorities live in this country. What has changed is the quick access to video.  Rodney King's brutal beating was caught on tape, otherwise we may never have heard his story. Camera phones can capture video in an instant and the video can go viral on the Internet the next day.

NWA tried to convey their struggles through music (simple exercising their first amendment rights that even the FBI tried to curb) to the suburban teens who knew of no such struggle but listened to gangsta rap. This movie puts visuals to their visceral rhymes. From the outset, F. Gary Gray captures the raw toughness of the streets of Compton.  It looks like a war zone, complete with a tank-like battering ram. The threat of gangs is real and close to home.

Considering the original members of NWA served as executive producers, the film is surprisingly candid. The group is not uniformly portrayed in a positive light. It is a brutally honest movie. I loved the casting of O'Shea Jackson Jr as his father. In fact, the whole cast made a very convincing ensemble. Including Paul Giamatti who is seemingly typecast as the evil music manager; it is just something about his look and his mannerisms that make him a fitting choice.

Finally, the film does a good job at portraying the immense influence of the revolutionary group NWA. Their seminal album Straight Outta Compton changed hip hop music. What I didn't know before was just how brilliant Dr. Dre is as a businessman. He first found success as a founding member of NWA. Then he left that for Death Row Records where he found more success before throwing that money away to found Aftermath Records, which still operates today. That is not even to mention the massive moneymaker Beats. It's astounding that someone with such business savvy let himself be cheated out of money early on in his career. It was Ice Cube that saw through the mirage and so he took his lyrics genius solo. And individually these giants of rap each shaped the music industry in their own ways.