Directed By: F. Gary Gray
Written By: Jonathan Herman, Alan Wenkus, S. Leigh Savidge and Andrea Berloff
Produced By: Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Tomica Woods-Wright, F. Gary Gray and Scott Bernstein
Starring: Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Aldis Hodge and Neil Brown, Jr. and Paul Giamatti
Production Company: Legendary Pictures, Cube Vision & Will Packer Productions
Distributed By: Universal Pictures
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Straight Outta Compton is a biopic directed by the incredible F. Gary Gray (Friday, Set It Off, The Italian Job, A Man Apart, Law Abiding Citizen). The film follows five young men from Compton, California in the mid-1980s, and their quest to create reality rap. Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson, Jr.), Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell), MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) and DJ Yella (Neil Brown, Jr.) use their experiences with police brutality, women and life in the hood to speak truth to their audience. Coming together as N.W.A., the group changed the music industry by speaking honestly about issues that were banned during that generation. Figuring out the business, who to trust and how to survive as a family are all aspects at the forefront of this story, and it’s one we can all understand.
The performances in this film were absolutely incredible. The casting was spot on, and almost made you feel like you were watching the real N.W.A. The dialogue had the entire theater laughing during a lot of the scenes, which was great. If you’ve seen any of his other films or music videos, you already know that F. Gary Gray has a genius eye for filmmaking, and this film was no different.
I’ll admit that, going into this film, I didn’t have very high expectations, BUT after watching it…I can honestly say that I loved it! It took me back to a time when real hip hop with actual lyrics was important, and we got to see how these labels and careers really took off with no regard to the abusive authority figures that were trying to hold them down because of the color of their skin.
After the film, there was a Q&A with F. Gary Gray, Ice Cube, O’Shea Jackson, Jr. and Jason Mitchell that was hosted by DJ Laz, and it was nothing short of amazing. You can tell the group really got along and worked hard to put this film together. Please see the video of the Q&A below:
Make sure to see Straight Outta Compton in theaters on August 14, 2015.
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