What do you get when you bring in five hip-pop artist from the streets from Compton, California? Straight Outta Compton portrays how Gangsta Rap, popularized in the 80s by NWA, brought it to a whole new level.The film documents how rappers Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, DJ Yella, and MC Ren formed NWA and rose to fame in the unstable environment of Compton, California during the 1980s, showing their struggles with police brutality, street crime, and drugs.

The casting of the film could not have been more accurate. In order for the cast to get into depth of their characters, they re-recorded Straight Outta Compton. Every single actor bears a striking resemblance to his real-life counterpart, and plays their character in a convincing and strong manner.In fact, Ice Cube’s son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., plays the role of his famous father. Jackson’s physical resemblance to his father “hit the stop”, according to Ice Cube. The film also portrays the ups and downs of the rap group, with a particular focus on Ice Cube’s split from the group, Eazy-E’s feud with notorious producer Suge Knight, and Dr. Dre’s relationship with his brother and family. The scenes were super intense because it shows reckless violence by showing police brutality and gang violence. Corey Hawkins, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown, Jr., and Aldis Hodge, who play Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, DJ Yella, and MC Ren, respectively, did a magnificent job in their portrayals.  

The film has also sparked a bit of controversy, with critics arguing that police have been portrayed too negatively, even pushing the LAPD to protest the release of the film. In addition, the film shows how police brutality has and hasn’t changed over these 30 years  Also, there have been some claims of the film leaving out undesirable aspects of the rappers’ lives, including Dr. Dre’s domestic abuse allegations. These few flaws could detract from the legitimacy of the film, but they are not enough to make the film unenjoyable or unwatchable.

Straight Outta Compton does a fantastic job describing the trials and tribulations of the characters’ lives while also remaining engaging and interesting to its audience. The biopic has bits of comedy, action, drama, and rap music interlaced into the main storyline, making this movie one of the hits of the summer. The soundtrack couldn’t be any better. Every song went along with every scene and the mood of the scenes. It’s controversial explicit lyrics glorifying drugs, sex, and disrespecting women brought the group a lot of attention. 

Straight Outta Compton is rated R for language throughout, strong sexuality/nudity, violence, and drug use. Overall, I give the film a 5/5, it was very enjoyable to see the rise and fall of NWA., who made gangsta rap very popular.