“Our impact is to show the people that you have a voice”.
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As for how the young actors prepared, they each had their own methods.
The rise of N.W.A, and the life and times of its members, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren and DJ Yella, is the basis of the biopic.
After producing a string of films including the “Friday” franchise and “Ride Along”, Ice Cube’s N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton” opens later this month.
Rocky also weight in on the issue of ghost writing in hip hop. There are moments in Straight Outta Compton when the music is so thrilling and fierce, it’s enough to give you goose bumps – like a scene near the mid-way point of the film when O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Taking us back to where it all began, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON tells the true story of how these cultural rebels-armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent-stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most unsafe group, N.W.A.
Dr. Dre and Ice Cube are such legends in the hip-hop world that it’s easy to forget both rappers once sang together in the same group. In speaking to Dr. Dre, Corey Hawkins got the advice “don’t worry about looking like me or sounding like me”.
Jason Mitchell: Well, by me not being from California, the first thing I had to do is transform to be able to understand the culture.
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The film, which was a half a decade in the making, was made possible by several variables, including the large contributions from F. Gary Gray. There are tons of guys who look and sound like me. As NWA goes on tour to promote Straight Outta Compton playing to packed houses, partying with a parade of naked groupies, and becoming the outlaw provocateurs of Gangsta Rap, Gray’s film gathers force, hinting at the beefs and betrayals to come. We had to do things that brought us together as brothers, and by the time production started, we were N.W.A. For me, it’s all about inspiration. We don’t want people to think it’s just this serious documentary about the police or however it works out. Inundated with multi-platinum misogynist hip hop and rap, these girls have grown up with the pervasive message that violence against black women and girls is normal, natural, and justifiable.
