The general buzz around Straight Outta Compton online was very positive so I was excited to go watch the movie on my first weekend back. I wanted to see how well the movie managed an ensemble cast of characters while keeping the plot moving.

The introduction to the characters was a little rough as it was hard to distinguish important characters, and their motivations. However, the movie quickly recovered as the lead characters united and started their journey. The performance by Jason Mitchell, Eazy-E, was more or less  the center piece of the story. As you got to see his rise with the rest of the group, and ultimately his fall as his friends abandoned him due to the embezzling manager. The portrays of Ice Cube and Dre were also strong. It is rare to have such a large cast and have so many successful performances.

Another strong point was how the story was kept moving and never stayed in one spot too long. Of course, it stayed in few parts for too little of a time. It would’ve been fun to see more screen time of the beginning of the group; however, that would’ve detracted from the ending.

One of my favorite things was the movie showed us glimpses in the personal lives of Dre, Ice Cube, and Eazy-E which helped highlight their growth through out the story. Overall, I really enjoyed the story itself, but moreover the acting and directing. It is not often that a movie gets so many little things right.

As I walked out the film, Straight Outta Compton, I was surprised by the conversation of two white individuals behind me. I couldn’t help but smile at the stupidity and ignorance that easily escaped their mouths. Their conversation existed somewhere along the lines of comparing this film to every other “black music industry” movie. And somehow, because Dream Girls, Cadillac Records, and Ray were are all widely acclaimed, they saw no reason for this film to not receive the same recognition.

And now, this brings us to topic of the #OscarsSoWhite movement. While I do appreciate my classmates for their attempts at a conversation regarding race, I struggle to accept it as valid because it missed the mark. It wasn’t about the system and politics that favors white people, white art and white money. It was a conversation that compared the similarities between movies that center around black people and music.

When some look at a film like Straight Outta Compton, its easy to just see a bunch of black people rapping and doing “black people things.” But for me, I saw something else. I saw the tale of a group of young men learning what it means to trust yourself and those around you with secrets, power and money. It was a coming of age story, that is applicable to all.

Why is it that I see so much diversity among the films titled “black music industry movies” by my classmates and a lot of similarity between “white films?” It comes down to the vastly different realities that we all experiences. Films and music tend to reflect our lives in many ways. They highlight the ups and downs with authenticity and accurateness.

O’Shea Jackson Jr., who plays his father, Ice Cube, said in the movie that “our art is a reflection of our reality.” He couldn’t have been more true. I can’t expect a cabinet of older white men to understand and resonate with the characters of Straight Outta Compton. This move was a honest depiction of a life, that for many remains unknown and only discovered through the nightly news. It isn’t real. Even for me, the character’s lives didn’t resemble mine the slightest. But, there was a shared experience. Similarly to Eazy-E, I’ve cried over broken black bodies. And similarly, to the entire cast, I’ve cried over the loss of someone you love.

I do not expect people to understand me. Or my life. However, is it crazy to want people to understand that  black artists, writers, students, teachers, architects, scientists are individuals? That we live our lives shaped by are blackness but never defined by it?

Its funny because I felt as if I had my “black” card revoked because I was slow to watch Straight Outta Compton. But now, I feel as thought I had it ripped away when I casually let two of my classmates walk away with their reality, never to know mine.

We never covered modern culture in American during history class. I knew little about the NWA, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube. In fact, everything I did know was through my involvement in the hip hop dance community. It’s an interesting coincidence that a BreakFree Hip Hop performance at the Cornell Cinema led me to attend the Rose Scholars event.

Straight Outta Compton incited many feelings about the horrors of stereotyping, bias, and not being able to move up in the world. While I grew up in a well of neighborhood that was not very diverse, the dance community, and my families ties people of all cultural backgrounds, kept me extremely open minded. Knowing that a couple of my close friends are actually straight out of Compton, or a locality alike, it made me very angry that we did not learn about police brutality, the makeup of such neighborhoods, and what life is like, when we learned about black history. This is very real to the black community, and it is really horrible that the only way a major population of the US can become aware of the issues that were and are prevalent is through a Hollywood movie. And many millennial did not even watch the movie, so they have exposure to these ideas. Most of my peers refused to watch it because they were “not into rap.” As a millennial, it really frustrates me when I meet close minded people. However, many things in society and media are not conducive to open mindedness. If American’s are not shown different cultures, traditions, and real images from history, they will not be able to develop an open mind.

Ah, the biopic. Too possessed by the narrative spirit to remain a documentary, and yet too beholden to historical fact to become a fully fictitious film. How you frustrate me so.

Going into the theater, I knew little about NWA. They were a gangster rap group and they made “F*ck tha Police” and their members included Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. Beyond that I was more or less clueless. Fortunately, Straight Outta Compton is a rather extensive biopic, covering the origins of the band to the death of member Eazy-E by AIDS. I may be unable to attest to the wisdom of any choices made in the process of crafting its screenplay from history, but the final product seems satisfactory.

The direction of F. Gary Gray largely succeeds in making the goings-on of the 1980s and 1990s feel very, very relevant to the present day. Instead of dating itself like many a historically set film more interested in contrasting the past with present, Straight Outta Compton wants to assert how little has changed. There is no reassurance that police have stopped abusing their power here.  The performance of “F*ck tha Police” is foreshadowed with managerial mutterings about how the song will attract trouble, only to be rebutted with reminders of how the reaction proves the song’s importance. The audience knows just what it’s about to get at the sound of “Yo Dre, I got something to say”, but it is still cathartic and as fresh as it was to the contemporary audience.

It is this social awareness that elevates this film above the standard biopic. Sure, it probably plays too close to the prototypical band movie plot for my taste (I don’t care if that’s actually how it happened; it is still the job of the writers to decide what exactly goes in the film. With enough finagling and less ambition, a tighter and smaller story can be told within a large one.), yet the content of that plot outshines any problems I have with its structure.

Last Sunday, I saw the movie Straight Outta Compton at the Cornell Cinema. The movie, which was co-produced by Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, tells the origin story of the rappers of N.W.A., their rise to fame and their fall-out.

The movie goes beyond chronicling their many accomplishments as it details their tumultuous lives. For N.W.A. music was intertwined with their own life stories. When a reporter asks why their music “glorifies” gang violence, a young Ice Cube retorts, “our art is a reflection of our reality”. This is a central tenant of the group, who changed the rap scene with their candid expression of Compton city life. The film tackles deep issues such as the police brutality and the AIDS crisis. The movie came out in the midst of a national discussion about race and police brutality. Several times throughout the movie, the footage of LAPD beating Rodney King plays on TV screens which seems eerily similar to today’s media playing footage of the deaths of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and other black citizens at the hands of police. The officers charged in the Rodney King case were later acquitted similar to the cases of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice where the court failed to indict the officers involved despite the fact that all these instances were caught on camera. It’s disheartening that so little has changed in the past few decades and that police brutality is a common daily occurrence. The phrase “F—k Tha Police” from Ice Cube’s song, written in response to police harassment, was a rallying cry during the 1992 LA riots and we see it written on walls in the midst of the chaos. In a particularly poignant moment, two members of rival gangs stand united, joining their red and blue bandanas as they stand against the police. This reminded me of a recent moment after the death of Freddie Gray in which rival gang members in Baltimore also came together to protect their communities.

However, for all their talent and all they did to shed light on the realities of police brutality, the rappers of N.W.A. were not without their faults. The film is rife with misogyny and a common criticism of the film was the lack of acknowledgment of the acts of violence and abuse Dr. Dre committed against the women in his life. However, this wasn’t a story about angelic heroic leaders of a civil rights movement but about the real-life stories of flawed human beings with a powerful message to share with the world, a message that still rings true today.

Straight Outta Compton was a well written film. The screening was preceded by a performance from Break Free. The performance was a pleasant surprise. The performers were really good! They had a lot of energy and set the stage for an exciting movie night.

The film was pretty good in terms of evoking emotions and making the audience feel the passion and even the anger each character had. The main catalyst of events was the police brutality cases and in my opinion was why the movie was created in the first place. Sure, the story of each character’s journey through thick and thin was heartfelt and touching. However, the main message, in my opinion, was that even though all of these life changing events happened, police brutality still exists.

While not a big fan of rap music or not a follower of what’s new and good, I do know that rap is a form of art and when bars are written well, they can elicit many emotions and feelings. I have to say that the movie incorporated tracks that fit nicely into the story and highlighted key points in each artist’s history. I also enjoyed the ending scene where they show where are they now and some of the successes of Dr. Dre and Ice Cube.

Overall, I’m glad I went to see the film as it was highly regarded. I do agree that the film was greatly made and it was interesting to see the starting of some great artists today!

I remember watching the trailers on TV for the movie Straight Outta Compton when it was first released. On social media, people posted creative memes that utilized a part the film’s title (e.g., Straight Outta Cornell). Although I wasn’t too eager to watch the movie at the time, I didn’t mind watching it at some point later on. I never imagined, however, that I would watch it at the Cornell Cinema as part of a Rose Scholars event.

The United States is currently in the midst of movements, such as “Black Lives Matter,” that seek to shed light on the struggles of African Americans, particularly with law enforcement. In the movie, members of the N.W.A constantly encountered police brutality, threats, and discrimination. “Our art reflects our reality.” I enjoyed the film and the backstory behind one of the most influential groups in the music industry. The acting was great and the movie also had its share of emotional moments. I also enjoyed the surprise appearances by Snoop Dogg and Tupac. The movie certainly deserves its share of awards. I recommend watching Straight Outta Compton, especially if you’re a fan of rap!

This Sunday, the Cornell Cinema screened Straight Out of Compton with a special live performance by Cornell’s BreakFree Hip Hop Dance Troupe. As a member of BreakFree, I must say that it was wonderful getting to perform with my dance family to introduce a film that speaks truth about the history of rap. From the very beginning of the film, one can see that the people involved in this type of music genre came from the tougher areas of the neighborhood. During the mid 1980s, this music defined the struggle that many black communities faced in upholding their rights against law enforcement. Rap became an avenue for people to express the injustice they faced for the color of their skin and the assumption that they were less than upper working class individuals in society.

As a dancer, rap not only started a new generation of music, but it influenced an entire community of artists. Styles such a Krumping, Popping, and Wacking evolved with this genre of music and the modifications it has gone through over the years. It is said that “dance is a conversation between the body and soul of a person.” It is an art form that allows on to speak their voice without resorting to violence or illegal measures. Straight Out of Compton provides a realistic portrayal of racial discrimination a little over thirty years ago, which in a way demonstrates how much society’s views have changed over a short period of time. It is inspiring as an artist to see how people struggled to believe in themselves and risked society not accepting their passion as a way of life. It humbles me to see where the roots of rap and R&B began in a way and the dedication that went into striving for a better way of life.

Overall, I highly recommend everyone to watch this movie, children preferably with an adult due to some explicit content. It is funny, it is raw, and it demonstrates how far a person can go to fight for what they believe in and how it can have a rippling effect for many years to come.

The movie Straight Outta Compton follows a group of aspiring rappers on their rocky journey to fame and fortune. The film, which is set in the mid-1980s, depicts many issues surrounding race and law enforcement that remain important issues to this day. Numerous scenes in the movie show the challenges that the artists faced solely because of their race. In one scene the group is taking a break from recording a new song when the police arrive to question them about their activities. Even though they had done nothing wrong, they were targeted because of their race. The police harassed and forced them to the ground before letting them go.

Unfortunately, the portrayal of racial discrimination highlighted many similarities to the present day. I was struck that 35 years later many of the scenes depicting racial tension could, and do, still occur to this day.

Despite the challenges of being a minority from a difficult area, the group was talented enough to make it big. The group’s nationwide recognition led to concern that the lyrics in their songs promoted violence. However, the group never held back any potentially troublesome lyrics which led to a greater following and more confrontation with police. Lyrics such as these are still widely used and still are the subject of debate. However, unlike in the movie where the police shutdown a concert over inflammatory lyrics, today the free speech rights of rappers are more respected.

Ultimately, the group broke up thanks to an agent who pretended to work for the performers’ best interest, but in reality only wanted to enrich himself. I was frustrated that the agent would take advantage of the group’s hard-earned success in order to line his own pockets. I could not help but think what could have come if the group was able to stay together and productive. However, it is a good lesson for viewers to remember that when large amounts of money are involved people may not always have your best interests in mind.

Since it hit the theaters, people have been raving about Straight Outta Compton. On Sunday, I got to find out why.

Straight Outta Compton was everything I wanted and more. The story of N.W.A. was properly immortalized. I was captivated by the trials that the group experienced. I was routing for them, right along with the rest of the theater. But this film was so much more than just good.

The story of N.W.A. was a backdrop for an even bigger phenomenon. Police brutality was the true catalyst for the story. Through the movie, the members of N.W.A. were assaulted, beaten, and terrorized by the police. They dealt with this mistreatment throughout their lives, from the time they were growing up until they were huge stars. Though relationships and loyalties changed through the movie, the intolerable behavior of the police remained constant.

The reason that the inclusion of police brutality was so hard hitting is because it is not a problem from several decades ago. Its a real, enduring danger to millions of people.

Throughout the film, real news footage of police brutality was included. Though this footage was from the 1992 beating of Rodney King, it could have been from any one of a number of recent cases of police brutality. For me, the most chilling moment of the film was when someone said, “At least they got it on tape, now the LAPD is in trouble.” Obviously in the Rodney King case, just like in so many cases today, this was not true. The police got away with senselessly beating an unarmed black man, just like they do every day all over the country, regardless of video recording.

As I left the theater, names flooded through my head. Names of people who had died at the hands of police. I was shocked at how many I knew. I was even more shocked at how many more there are that I don’t know. In 2015, an estimated 1202 citizens were killed by police officers in the U.S. (copcrisis.com).

The U.S. has made no progress on combating police brutality in the two decades since Straight Outta Compton took place.

The first popular/mainstream song I ever heard was the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” played on a purple cassette tape in 2003 in the back of a minivan on a roadtrip to Atlanta. I then ventured into jazz and classical with Fats Domino and Beethoven on the radio. But I always was on the hunt for new genres, and upon my entry to middle school, I discovered hip hop. First it was 808s and Heartbreak, then I jumped back to The College Dropout, then the Chronic, and the rest is history. Hip hop has been a central part of my life for over a decade–though I couldn’t relate (and sometimes, didn’t understand) to some of the lyrics–the production of hip hop cemented its position as one of my favorite genres from the first beat.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I sat down to watch Straight Outta Compton. I had listened to a significant amount of Dre and Ice Cube’s music before, but admittedly I wasn’t as familiar with the rest of the members of NWA, and I was completely ignorant of the background of West Coast hip hop besides knowing there was a rivalry with the East Coast.

The men who later become legendary godfathers of hip hop had humble beginnings–in the opening minutes, Eazy flees a raid on a crack house, Dre’s still living at home, and Cube’s riding around on a school bus. But even starting from the bottom, one thing is starkly clear: they all have extraordinary raw talent for music. Their meteoric rise to fame and notoriety shows a young, talented group which loses its way amid the chaos of partying, drugs, and violence. Even at the peak of their success–their 1989 tour–it was painfully clear that the system was not in their favor.

Straight Outta Compton is more than just a biopic on the supergroup N.W.A. It also examines a battle for equality that has been ongoing since the inception of this country. The film used real footage of the LAPD’s beating of Rodney King and several scenes show LAPD’s clear racism and violence towards N.W.A. And although this movie is set in the late 80s/early 90s, any of the scenes involving the police could have taken place today–and are taking place, all over the country. The genius of Straight Outta Compton is that it superbly depicts the importance of hip hop within American society; not only do hip hop lyrics explore political themes and societal critiques, but the very fabric of the production itself demonstrates how the genre grew from culture. Delivery, breaks in speech–all parts of hip hop, especially gangster hip hop, contribute to its influence as a social indicator. Hip hop exposed main stream audiences to a wider range of issues which, until the rise of N.W.A., were largely relegated as problems that happened in the “hood”.

When hip hop is no longer dismissed as noise “…blasting from car speakers…[that] wakes up [someone’s] wife and kids” (Dr. Trisha Rose, Black Noise), that’s when Straight Outta Compton will have done its job in cultivating an understanding no longer steeped in the internalized racism of our society. Until then, we’ll have to continue pretending we’re surprised it didn’t garner more than a nomination for Best Original Screenplay when it easily should have claimed several others.

One thing that can’t be disputed is how many rappers past and present have chronicled injustices experienced by urban and African-American communities in the U.S. through their music. Few of them, however, have been as groundbreaking as N.W.A., the quintet who rhymed about the grim realities of their immediate, volatile surroundings. Formed in the late ’80s out of South Central Los Angeles, the group put the West Coast, specifically the city of Compton, on the map during what had been an East Coast-dominated hip-hop scene. While critics of their hardcore and vulgar lyrical content ranged from white politicians to conservative black community leaders, their message and meteoric rise, chronicled in Straight Outta Compton.

Straight Outta Compton is an explosively entertaining hip-hop biopic that raps home truths about race and police brutality as timely now as they were during the 1980s in Compton, California. The atmosphere is charged as cinematographer Matthew Libatique creates striking visuals that pull us into the fray. For me, the film’s righteous highlight is a Detroit concert where the cops threaten to jail the bandmates and shut the place down if they sing the rap that has demonized N.W.A to Middle America. Of course they sing it. And the crowd roars. The movie is never as potent as it is in that groundbreaking moment, when artists and audiences connect.

I throughly enjoyed watching Straight Outta Compton, especially at the Cornell Cinema, where Cornell’s very own BreakFree Hip Hop group put on a phenomenal performance to introduce the movie.

**Spoiler Warning**

*I will be using the Double Toasted rating system which consists of

1.Better Than Sex

2.Full Price

3.Matinee

4.Rental

5. Some Ole BS

6. F You

To begin, I just want to state that I tried my best to view this film in a non-biased manner. I grew up on this music, heck my friend Daryl used to wear his hair like Easy E for years. That being said, Straight Outta Compton is a timely, rich, and layered film of the kind of magnitude as Boyz In the Hood and Kids. I can easily see myself in Oshea Jackson’s (a.k.a Ice Cube) shoes, right from the beginning where he is sitting on the bus watching all the rich kids with their nice cars and simply dreaming of the day where he’ll be able to experience a better life. I have to marvel at the fact that while covering such serious material the film managed to have plenty of comedic moments. The scene where Easy E is trying to get on beat and record the classic song Boyz in the Hood had me in stiches. The first half is like you and your boys living the dream while spreading the important message of free speech and showing the world what life is like in the kind of neighborhoods that most people avoid.  The second half is painful, the team splits up and life takes everyone in (sometimes) dangerous directions. I truly wish that NWA never split up because they were the dream team, they spoke the truth and even gave hope to generations of people who were stuck in bad neighborhoods.

The cinematography was beautiful, especially the scene in Detroit during NWA’s infamous performance. The passion that director F. Gary Gray brought to this project was obvious and in different hands this film could have been a disaster.  The scenes of police brutality where very poignant and of course have much significance today. The Rodney King Riots scene was almost surreal and will stick with me for quite some time. All of the actors were phenomenal but the star to me was Jason Mitchell as Easy E. I have no idea why the man hasn’t been nominated for an Oscar but he more than deserves it. Just like in real life, all of the characters were rich and layered with both their good and bad sides showing. Half the time I couldn’t make up my mind about hating or understanding Jerry Heller( played by Paul Giamatti) who is sleazy but did truly care about Easy E to some extent. Also, seeing Suge Knight engaging in some of his rumored evil behavior was scary yet enlightening, I see why he is so feared in the rap community.

My only complains are that fact that the movie was cut down a bit( including some scenes that were shown in the trailer) and the second half does fall a bit in terms of story. I feel that they should have touched a bit more on the creation of Dr.Dre’s 1992 classic The Chronic but that is just a fanboy nitpick. Also, as someone who has lost a relative to HIV/AIDS the scenes with Easy E in the hospital were very emotional and had me tearing up a bit. Simply put it was a very well done scene. Overall, this Rose Event was great and I hope all my fellow scholars enjoyed the film as much as I did.

My Rating: I give this film a very enthusiastic Full Price

**For a far better worded review of this film and many others check out http://doubletoasted.com/**

I have often found rap music difficult to relate to. The lyrics of so many rap songs seem to me to glamorize crime and promote immoral behavior, and I have tended to wonder why anyone finds this type of music to be “cool.” The songs by the group N.W.A, that the film “Straight Outta Compton” depicts, fit in pretty much exactly with the idea that I had of the rap music. As such I expected that I would not particularly enjoy the film. However, I found the movie to be riveting and enlightening.

As someone who has never intentionally listened to rap music or grown up around people that listened to it, I had minimal exposure to its community and the stories of the artists. “Straight Outta Compton,” however, provided a captivating account of some of those very stories. Although it is not unheard of, it was incredible to witness through this movie, the rise of a group of people living in the poorest conditions, some with criminal backgrounds, to the pinnacle of success. Not only did these guys have to overcome their economic situation, but also the culture they lived in, where violence, even deadly violence, seemed almost commonplace and being imprisoned was not an unordinary event. Even after the group became successful, the movie showed that the group never really left trouble and violence behind with the struggles of contracts and money. Watching the unbelievable story of these men unfold, I think, gave me a new perspective to view rap music in, at least parts of it. It’s almost no wonder that rappers seem to use crime and violence as common themes in their music, as some have experienced it throughout their lives. I can now see the possibility that rap songs do not necessarily glamorize crime and misbehavior to make it seem “cool,” but rather to reach out to the people that experience that those things in their daily lives. While I may not listen to any more rap music now than before I saw “Straight Outta Compton,” I think that I now appreciate better where it comes from.

This Sunday, some Rose Scholars attended a screening of Straight Outta Compton. The movie is acclaimed for raising awareness of police brutality and shedding a light on what it was like as a person of color in the United States in the 80s and 90s. And now.

In my opinion, this documentary, while humorous at times and invigorating at others, was released at the perfect time. It would be great to be able to classify this documentary as a historical one, but the motifs of police brutality and injustice and superficial discrimination still describe the United States today. Tragedies similar to the ones of Trayvon Martin and Freddie Gray still stain our nation everyday. Straight Outta Compton delivered a blatant message of a flawed and unfair system, and I think it is time that Hollywood produced an award-worthy film that wasn’t about black people in chains.