The shotgun blast of fury that first emanated from South Central Los Angeles in 1988 still packs a punch.
The new, very much authorized biopic of N.W.A, “Straight Outta Compton,” aims to cement the legacy of the pioneering hip-hop group that brought gangsta rap to the mainstream and sparked endless culture debates.
Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Easy-E — the three most central members of the five-some — were, from the start, the savviest of self-promoters, casting themselves as violent gangsters and exalting the hard streets they came from. So it’s fitting that they should shape their big-screen treatment, too, in a commercial package that’s brashly winning and unapologetically self-serving.
What has time done to N.W.A? Like everything else in their complicated but powerful history, it cuts both ways.