Straight Outta Compton

Grade: B

Director: F. Gary Gray

Starring: Corey Hawkins, O’shea Jackson Jr., Jason Mitchell, Aldis Hodge, Neil Brown Jr. and Paul Giamatti

MPAA Rating: R

Running Time: 2 hr. 27 min.

Straight Outta Compton, about a rapper named Ice Cube

And the group called “N**gas Wit Attitudes”

Their raps are still strong, though the film’s long

Only a self-serving second half goes wrong

Opens in Compton circa 1986

Drugs and gangs causing everyday conflicts

On top of that is police brutality

It's the Crips and the Bloods and the LAPD

Cube, Andre Young and a dealer named Eric Wright

Were N.W.A.’s founding members as it took flight

They were joined by MC Ren and DJ Yella

Along with their double-dealing manager Jerry Heller

Wright, aka Eazy-E, formed Ruthless Records

The label behind N.W.A.’s iconic efforts

With beats by Dre backing incendiary lyrics

The group’s stardom hit the height of hysterics

Their titular debut album struck a chord

With a marginalized minority that long felt ignored

Gave voice to struggles we still face today

“F**k tha Police” could have been written yesterday

Heller, as played by actor Paul Giamatti

A smart businessman but financially naughty

He promoted the group, even arrested in Detroit

Until Cube then Dre felt targeted for exploit

Heller’s portrayal is intentionally complex

Took ‘em worldwide but still bouncing Eazy’s checks

Speaking truth to power is how N.W.A. made good

Not too shabby for five “Boyz-n-the-Hood”

Straight Outta Compton

Straight Outta Compton, falters after the group breaks up

Battle raps fly and Cube’s album charts way up

Dre goes to Death Row with crazy Suge Knight

You parked in Suge’s space? Well, then, good night

Dre and Cube are rolling in the dough

Death Row and Lynch Mob make Ruthless eat crow

Eazy, Ren and Yella cast their lots with Heller

Then watch as their careers go into the cellar

Coincidence? I highly doubt it

Cube and Dr. Dre made the film, so they flout it

Director F. Gary Gray worked with Cube on Friday

Cube’s son plays dad, so it’s like Freaky Friday

The soundtrack turns into Dre’s greatest hits

It’s Snoop! There’s Tupac! Suge and Dre call it quits

But Dre got in Suge’s face and said go to hell?

I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn that’s priced to sell

This is even a hagiography of the E

Who has an epiphany before HIV

Eazy’s girlfriend outs Heller as a user?

That’s because she’s also a producer

Despite the film’s depictions of debauchery

It never grapples with a legacy of misogyny

But questions about an attitude of defiance

Go out the window with the Rodney King riots

Quibbles aside, this is an epic about an epoch

A musical revolution, not some rap group relic

Even with all their fame and dead presidents

What endures is their multi-generational relevance

Straight Outta Compton