"You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge" — so goes the first line of N.W.A.‘s musical statement "Straight Outta Compton," the single that put gangster rap on the map, panicked parents and authorities everywhere, and announced the arrival of a hip hop group that would cause a seismic rumble in the genre. And now, their story is being told on the big screen and the first trailer is here, powered by their breakout song.
O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell play Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E respectively in the F. Gary Gray directed drama, that will track the rise of five young men who brought inner city life to the mainstream in a way that had never been done before. Paul Giamatti is also on board playing music manager Jerry Heller who guided the group during their rise to fame, but later caused friction within N.W.A. by favoring Eazy-E in business decisions. And this first look certainly seems to capture the chaotic and wild milieu the group came from and shared through the mic.
"Straight Outta Compton" opens on August 14, 2015. Watch below.
Regardless of whether you\’re a fan of their music, N.W.A. was one of the most important and controversial hip hop acts. It makes for fascinating subject matter and I hope the movie goes beyond the typical music bio film. For the first commenter, shouldn\’t you be posting comments like this (or, better yet, don\’t) on Breitbart or something, not Indiewire?
This story comes from your human brothers. Though they may be of different race and background, they\’re human experience is your human experience. You should be learning from this story rather than ridicule. The problem with white privilege is that is goes unchecked, unreported. Like a wildfire, it grows wild and consumes all. The same disregard you feel toward the humans in this movie is the reason they became successful: by exposing rampant disregard of their existence because of the place they were born. Humans are naturally against feeling abandoned, and often rebel when that feeling goes on. Any person would feel the same way. White privilege is the absence of neglect, which explains why your opinion of this movie seems so disconnected from reality. However, you are entitled to your opinion, even if it is wrong.
That looks incredible!!!!!!!!
Whether it\’s glorifying gangsta rap or mixing it into a message of overcoming odds, it has to be watched. Sometimes the worst thing we can do about a movie we haven\’t seen from the debut to the end is to judge it. Don\’t judge, go watch it and then form an opinion. If it\’s about glory; everything in capitalism-oriented societies is about glory or a form of it (i.e.: success, fame, praise, power, etc) so that shouldn\’t surprise anyone. Secondly does that mean we continuously have to have another story about romance, another science-fiction flick or one based on a coming-of-age teen? We need diversity, even if we don\’t like it, the message or part of the message that it conveys, it is still needed. Cinema is an art and through it, people get educated; maybe not the best of ways but they still somehow do; if they don\’t get educated they get entertained – whether through appreciation or even derision. Let\’s not thrash art based on our own standards of what should or should not be projected on the silver screen. If we do, just as we\’ve decided to avoid watching it we should avoid making comments about something we know nothing or not much about, even if we think we know.
Didn\’t they already do this when they did CB4
Wow Really , Glorifying Gangsters, it was real life ,and Very Few made it through all that Death,Drugs and Corruption to become something most people will never reach , instead of Hang\’n on the Corner , Doing Drive Bys these guys grab a ladder and climbed out of all that Sh&$tT,to give back to a society that needed Strong, Hard, and Influential MEN! Your telling Me That all those John Wayne Movies wasn\’t Glorifying The Wild West and the Racism of Native Americans and the Abuse of Women and Children and Wall Street wasn\’t Glorifying Rich Folks Who get Greedy ,Self absorbed and Would rob from their Own Family for the Luv of The $. Open those minds a little and see thru the Obvious and Get into the Hearts of Why People Do What They Do! Or Keep Believing That Harry Potter is real and You might be apart of The Hobbit Family Long Ago!
Life Is Real and If Ya Can\’t Hang With The Real,Then You\’ll Never Find Respect in Those That Live Life Everyday In The Streets ,We Call The Jungle and That\’s in Any City!
Uh, will you shutup Penguin. Before I slap you
"We need more black people in movies."
"LEt\’s make a movie about gangsters and rappers"
"Isn\’t that racists?"
"Do you want more black people in movies or not?"
"Good point."
Wow, as a black man, I feel the need to apologize for Penguin\’s comment. We\’re not all like that. MRMAN\’s comment had absolutely nothing to do with race, all he said was that maybe it\’s not a good idea to glorify young men who built their wealth by bragging about, and encouraging, crime and delinquent behavior, and that the type of people who worship them probably aren\’t particularly law abiding people. People of all races are evil, and there are people of all lives who are good. Might I remind you that there are still thousands of us looting and rioting because a young man was shot trying to steal an officer\’s gun? All because he might have put his hands up for a split second to throw the officer off guard before attacking again? You\’re just as bad as any white racist.
No, that would be a white person in Aurora, Colorado. Or another white person in Florida because of flying popcorn. You guys are forever the trendsetters in degeneracy.
Ugh. Must we read another comment like yours. People are entitled to express themselves in ways that may not meet your approval – which is actually part of their message. Just because you don\’t agree with &/or like it, doesn\’t make it trash or any less important.
Do let us know how you would prefer us all to conduct and express ourselves, though – muppet…
This person is so ignorant, their opinion is insignificant, that is all, this is a story about coming from nothing & becoming something in this World, an incredible story of overcoming odds, MrMan aka Loser has never had to overcome anything in life exoept being a piece of trash internet troll loser
Ugh. Must we continue to dumb-down society by glorifying this ghetto trash. I can just see thug trash blasting each other in ghetto theaters throughout the country.