In the 1980s, the gritty streets of L.A. were conquered by drugs and gang violence. Police, aka 5-O, were racial profiling Blacks and enforcing police brutality. CRIME including homicide was at an all-time HIGH. This is COMPTON! When you are from this neck of the hood, you have limited choices to survive. The school systems aren’t the best with dropout rates, gang wars and drug dealing. Meet five friends whose lives become bigger other than a statistic of their hood/society.
Eric Wright aka Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) is a local drug dealer who sees selling as the only way out. Andre Young aka Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) is a teenage father with a passion for music. He loves to DJ and creates beats for cheap labor. Then there’s O’Shea Jackson aka Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) whose freedom of speech turns into rhymes. Along with these young men are DJ Yella (Neil Brown Sr.) and MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) to form the politically correct rap group N.W.A Managed by Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti) under Ruthless records (Eazy-E’s label) unfolds the story of one of Hip Hop’s biggest groups to ever change the game. Art imitates life as N.W.A battles betrayal, rivalries, police, corruption, riots, and anyone/anything that tries to stand in their way. One man’s voice creates a movement to stand up for what’s right.
O’Shea Jackson Jr. gives a riveting portrayal as his father leading this fresh faced cast. The portrayal of these characters gives chills as it foreshadows our current events. Bringing it back to real Hip Hop and the state of music. Raw and edgy as one of the best music biopics to date. Director F. Gary Gray’s cinematic sequence relives America’s worst nightmare. You can take me out the hood, but can’t take the hood out of me.
Rating: A+
Genre: Drama
Directed By: F. Gary Gray
Run Time: 2 hr. 30 min.
In Theaters: July 14, 2015 Everywhere