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In 1988 a rap group called N.W.A. emerged on the rap scene with lyrics that spoke brutal honesty about life in Southern Los Angeles at that time.  The movie “Straight Outta Compton” tells their story.

“Straight Outta Compton” exploded out of the box office on August 14, 2015 by earning over $60 million in its opening weekend. The wildly successful opening is a true testament of how compelling the N.W.A. story is.

“Straight Outta Compton” describes the lives of the self-proclaimed “Niggaz Wit Attitude,” and tells how five young artists, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, MC Ren, DJ Yella and Dr Dre, translated their experience growing up in Compton into authentic hip-hop music and in doing so, changed the entire rap genre.

T-Wayne, a notable rapper, who signed with 300 Entertainment in May of 2015 but has been pursuing rap since he was young, spoke very highly of the movie.

“It was my favorite movie. That movie was dope as hell; it touched me,” T-Wayne said.

According to T-Wayne, N.W.A. affected the genre tremendously. He went as far as to say they were the ones who started the modern rap genre. N.W.A. was saying things in their songs that no one had been saying to that point, giving a voice to the urban community. 

N.W.A. spoke truth about police brutality and racism in Southern Los Angeles in their song “Fuck tha Police.” They faced intense push back from law enforcement claiming that the song was advocating violence and assault.

Not only did N.W.A. affect the music industry itself at that time, but the group also created opportunities for other rappers who previously wouldn’t have had a shot.

“It opened the doors for a lot of people who wanted to make music,” T-Wayne said.

The movie was good not only because of the acting, but also because the message was powerful. It shows that people should never give up on their dreams, and according to T-Wayne, this is why modern rap fans, and society in general, should care about the N.W.A. story.

He said N.W.A. followed what they believed, and no one was able to keep them from pursuing their dreams.

“They just went against the grain and no one could stop it, not the police or anyone,” T-Wayne said.

Although the film was mostly accurate, there were some instances where it deviated from real life.

Firstly, the film said nothing of Dr Dre’s assault of two women. One in 1990, and one in 1991, a detail that was most likely left out due to Dre’s work as producer on the movie.

Another detail that was changed in the movie was the generation of the song “Fuck tha Police.” In the movie, police harassment of N.W.A. sparked the song, but in reality, Ice Cube had written the song long before the group was formed. The group was waiting for an opportune time to release the song.

Although the movie does leave out some details about the events surrounding N.W.A, the movie explains their story well, and most of all, it shows the tremendous impact that their music had on the rap culture.