Post#898 » by j4remi » Fri Aug 14, 2015 12:43 pm
Went to see Straight Outta Compton yesterday and really enjoyed it. The nostalgia is extra strong on it, it really captures the 90's and the essence of hip hop at the time; where everyone had a point of view of their own and a distinct voice, where there was some message hidden in the lyrics even if it was going misunderstood like NWA's. The movie does a GREAT job of making that clear, that NWA was making music that was fairly misunderstood by the media and white America. It does that by juxtaposing the early life experiences of Eazy E, Dre and Cube over the songs (and behaviors) that relate to their experiences. It takes a really strong POV on police treatment of minorities that might turn some off, but serves to really say "look, when they were saying this stuff you thought they were exaggerating and glamorizing the issue" but the images and comments are so closely connected to the Black Lives Matter movement that it's damn near impossible to deny that these guys were on to something (they put the Rodney King situation in play as a way to sort of connect Dre, Cube and Eazy after they all split up but it also illustrates what their lyrics were claiming).
As for the fun stuff, you really get a glimpse of how things came together for these cats. Cube and Dre are treated as geniuses and visionaries (which could be because of their bigger input on it but it's not like it's far from truth with their success), but Eazy gets his respect and props too, they were pretty fair to him. If anything, Yella and Ren get a bit of the shaft on this. Watching the songs come together (not just NWA tracks, but Pac and Snoop coming into the booth with Dre too and No Vaseline gets pretty much a full play with everyone reacting) is a damned pleasure. They make Jerry Heller and Suge Knight the obvious villains and really stomp on them, which I can't say isn't deserved but it's clear that this was a one sided treatment of the story. They do gloss over some of the negativity, but this is a movie paying homage to their impact so I didn't mind. The tragedy of Eazy E's life ending is really well played too as well as the "what could have been" that probably sticks with every member to this day and really seemed to dominate Eazy in his life after Heller. I really enjoyed it for the nostalgia and fact that they drew connections to today with some subtlety. I can see a new generation bumping NWA tracks with a recognition that this was a voice for the culture that still has relevance today. It could be bias though, I won't lie, but I'll probably go see it again.
Sidenote: Ja Rule sat next us in the movie theater. He was cracking some jokes at points in the flick, but was actually funny. He rocked with the beats and clapped when it was over, nothing disrespectful. It was pretty funny though that the Pac cameo in the movie is him in the booth rapping to Hail Mary which was used so effectively to diss Ja later on (seen that performed live actually by Em, Fifty and Busta at Summer Jam).
PG- Haliburton | Schroder | Sasser
SG- Grimes | Dick | Bogdanovic
SF- Bridges | George
PF- Hunter |Strus| Fleming
C- Turner | Powell | Wiseman
