Like several remakes of popular movies, Straight Outta Compton relies heavily on nostalgia and casting for success, instead of addressing glaring problems in the NWA narrative, and film.

‘Cruisin’ down the street in my ’64’ was a line that defined rap in 1988, the year I was born. Now, because I wasn’t there when the NWA wave was starting, take this review with a pinch of salt. That line was the first line of Boyz In The Hood, an NWA collaboration that spawned their short-lived sucess into the early 90s before Eazy E passed away of HIV/AIDS related complications. Straight Outta Compton is the movie that attempts to chart that trajectory of a brilliant flame that had an equally brilliant burnout.

The movie starts with Eazy E in a drug bust, Ice Cube having a confrontation with gang members on his school bus and Dre really wanting to pursue music in spite of his mother’s objections, setting the stage for the formation of a group that went from zero to hero real quick, amassing fame and money quicker than they knew how to spend it. It chronicles the formation of Ruthless Records, NWA (Niggas With Attitude, which consisted of Ice Cube, Dr Dre, Eazy E, MC Ren and DJ Yella), Death Row Records (with Suge Knight) and even features a nod to Tupac (p.s. they want to make another biopic on the Dogg Pound, Snoop and Pac et al…seeing as this one has blown so many records and Hollywood can’t resist).

The storyline has gaping holes. Some plot lines don’t connect for me at all – you can clearly see that F Gary Gary, the director who was actually there when all these things were happening, skipped out a lot to make the film ore palatable. I suppose that is what happens when someone dies and the rest of the bandmates are the producers of the movie – some things get skipped or not included to make everyone else look better. The graduation into violence, by the group, did not connect for me at all; neither did the complete lack of conversation between the band members concerning NWA contracts or affiliations. To be fair, the exact same thing keeps happening – you’ve watched the TLC biopic? The third best selling girl group in the world was broke at the peak of their success.

Two words: Dee Barnes. F Gary Gray, who was PRESENT during Dee Barnes’ assault, didn’t bother to include it in the movie. Who was assaulting her? Andre Young, a.k.a. Dr Dre. Int he weeks following the movie, a lot of furore has been heard concerning the fact that Dre’s abusive misogynistic behaviour was not even hinted at. With Dee Barnes, he banged her face into a wall and threw her through a door at an industry event, because of crossed lines concerning Ice Cube’s departure from NWA. Who was the person who caused the confusion in the first place? F Gary Gray. In addition to the assault of Dee Barnes (which resulted in head trauma -she still suffers from migraines today), he also attacked, to our knowledge, Michel’le, his one time girlfriend, among others. Dre has come out and apologized for his actions. At the time, MC Ren and Eazy were on record saying Dee Barnes got what she deserved, what was coming to her. Basically – the lyrics were the reality – NWA were a revolutionary voice, but they were also a very misogynistic violent voice -something the movie completely ignores. You know what else they ignore? All the other groups on Ruthless Records who were a part of its hugeness – groups like J. J. Fad, who set the tone for NWA to have an audience when their album came out, and female rapper Tairrie B – all the while assuming that we already knew everyone who was in, and relevant to, the movie – e.g. H.B.O., the band that the single Boyz In The Hood was originally written for.

It was so great to see some really great songs being made, though. I loved watching California Love being made, and Nuthin’ but a G thang. And, of course, the backdrop from which Bone Thugs n’ Harmony sprung. (also, Suge is crazy.)

My favourite part of the movie though, for me, was the absolutely stellar casting. Ice Cube Jr (who is also a rapper himself) plays Ice Cube (real name O’Shea Jackson), and it looks like a photocopy of his father’s face. He looks more like Ice Cube than Ice Cube did when NWA was coming out. When you put the poster for Straight Outta Compton next to the album art for Straight Outta Compton, the differences are evident but not garishly so – different in a good way, that it is clear enough that these are different people in the same game. Even the guy playing Tupac, may he RIP, looked like him. (the guy playing Snoop, though, erm) MC Ren – I was surprised to see the guy from Leverage, who I still think is a bad actor, but more power to him.

This movie gets a 6 from me.