The big thing to remember is NWA talked frankly about the issues of police violence and the depression and suppression of black men long before people started filming and posting the problems on Facebook and YouTube. White establishment politicians and law enforcement did their best to suppress the group, including a smear campaign.
Straight Outta Compton tries to distill the essence of NWA's story. It has been criticized for not being accurate (Arabian Knight, one of the original members, wasn't even mentioned, and MC Ren and DJ Yella's roles were greatly diminished), but you would need a twelve-hour movie for nearly everything, and even then, someone would be upset.
The story mainly focuses of Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube, their rise and fall as NWA, and the subsequent fallout when they part ways.
O'Shea Jackson, Jr., looks and acts like his father Ice Cube so much so it's eerie. Paul Giamotti rocks as always, skimming the line between kindly Jewish grandfather and skeevy manager Jerry Heller.
And contrary to the real Heller's opinion, the movie does not paint him as the sole villain. The real Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E's widow Tomica Woods-Wright apportion the blame for more than a few of their problems on the guys' personal demons.
The movie does try to twist the story into a redemptive arc where the guys come back together shortly before Eazy-E succumbs to complications from AIDS.
From a white fan's point-of-view, the movie was a nostalgic walk through the past. A time when black artists, other than Michael Jackson, couldn't get mainstream attention on MTV, but still got heard through clubs and college stations. A time when rap was a force of societal change. A time when Suge Knight was power in the music industry, not a sad, bankrupt old man with blood clots. A time before Tupac died and Snoop Dogg became a game show host. A time before Ice Cube and Dr. Dre were millionaires and grandfathers.
Damn, I've gotten old.
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