‘Straight Outta Compton’: The Problem With Music Biopics

[News]

Straight Outta Compton - Official Trailer (HD)
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‘Straight Outta Compton’: Dr. Dre’s Assault on Dee Barnes and the Problem With Music Biopics

By Stereo Williams
August 12, 2015 - thedailybeast.com

Why do we deify our musical heroes instead of offering honest, warts-and-all portrayals?

It’s amazing what a few decades can do.

The forthcoming N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton is one of the more buzzed-about films of the summer, as hip-hop fans look forward to F. Gary Gray’s dramatic retelling of the rise of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, MC Ren, and DJ Yella—the quintet of rap rebels who took the genre by storm in the late ’80s as Niggaz With Attitude. N.W.A became notorious for their explicit tales of street life in Compton, California, and though the group only actively released music for less than five years, their legacy stretches far and wide throughout hip-hop. Great hip-hop artists ranging from Snoop Dogg to Del the Funkee Homosapien to Bone Thugs N Harmony to Eminem have a direct connection to the lineage of N.W.A. Even pop-rap superstar Coolio was once affiliated with Cube’s Lench Mob as a member of W.C.’s Maad Circle.

And Straight Outta Compton celebrates that obviously important legacy in masterful fashion. But along with infusing hip-hop with “the strength of street knowledge” via hardcore rhymes about bangin’, slangin’, and county bids, another important facet of N.W.A’s legacy is one of blatant and rampant misogyny. From Cube’s declaration that “A Bitch Iz A Bitch” on 1988’s landmark Straight Outta Compton to the Slim Shady-esque murder fantasies on the hateful “One Less Bitch” from their uber-controversial sophomore album Niggaz4Life, N.W.A presented a casual contempt for women that foreshadowed what would become a recurring theme in even the most mainstream stars of the genre.

And, most egregiously, Compton opts to completely ignore the more toxic elements of Dr. Dre’s history in regards to women. The legendary producer was the musical architect of N.W.A.’s sound, and in 1991, Dre physically attacked television host Dee Barnes at an industry party in Hollywood. The assault landed Barnes in an emergency room after she was brutally assaulted by a drunken Dre.

Full Article : thedailybeast.com

[News]

Age of ‘Compton’: N.W.A With Artificial Sweeteners

By Wesley Morris
August 14, 2015 - grantland.com

How helpful of Straight Outta Compton to let us know where in South Los Angeles we are, and in which year, and the names of the various characters. We see a guy chilling, prone, on a carpet of LPs wearing a set of headphones and some type lets us know that this is Andre Young, also known as Dr. Dre. And that little dude with the juicy Jheri curl who just barged into a dealer’s drug den looking to get paid? That’s Eric Wright, who goes by Eazy-E. When their five-man rap outfit, N.W.A, defies law enforcement’s pre-concert demand that “f*** tha Police” go unperformed, we’re told we’re in Detroit.

The exposition shows up for other things, too. For instance, I, at least, was happy to know that the poolside bouncing and jiggling we see at some point is at “Eazy-E’s Wet N’ Wild Party” and not some other thing at, say, Bobby Brown’s house. Then there’s the melee at “The New Music Seminar” between former N.W.A lyricist and snarler-in-chief Ice Cube and the group’s loyalists. The tags are as selective as the film’s memory of events. There’s one that reads “Death Row Records, 1991,” yet, given the robustly compromised corniness afflicting this movie, none for such unavoidable Los Angeles–movie enclaves as East Cliché and West Gollywood.

Full Article : grantland.com

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N.W.A Tell All: Inside the Original Gangstas' Rolling Stone Cover Story

By By Rolling Stone
August 12, 2015 - rollingstone.com

EXTRACT:

Dre addresses the 1991 incident when he assaulted TV host Dee Barnes, as well as recent charges of physical abuse by his Nineties girlfriend Michel'le.

"I made some f***ing horrible mistakes in my life," says Dre. "I was young, f***ing stupid. I would say all the allegations aren't true – some of them are. Those are some of the things that I would like to take back. It was really f***ed up. But I paid for those mistakes, and there's no way in hell that I will ever make another mistake like that again."

Cube laughs off N.W.A's lyrical treatment of women (which, to be fair, got way worse after he left the group).

"If you're a bitch, you're probably not going to like us," he says. "If you're a ho, you probably don't like us. If you're not a ho or a bitch, don't be jumping to the defense of these despicable females. Just like I shouldn't be jumping to the defense of no punks or no cowards or no slimy son of a bitches that's men. I never understood why an upstanding lady would even think we're talking about her."

Full Article : rollingstone.com