With the release of the Straight Outta Compton movie, I
expect that NWA will have a bunch of new fans and people exposed to their
music; which is a great thing. Lord knows we need people exposed to real hip
hop and hip hop history. But while were caught up in the much deserved hype, it
was a great movie their were some things that the average person that saw the
movie probably overlooked/ didn’t know, and some of them are great lessons/ messages
that shouldn’t be overlooked, regardless of all negative things people have
wrote about. * Warning possible SPOILER ALERTS
1. The Importance and
complete leaving out of certain members. If you’ve seen the movie, it's
heavily focuses on Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Easy- E; the three best known members.
But the movie kind of makes it seem as if MC Ren and DJ Yella were just back
ground, which is not at all true
For those that don’t know MC Ren is one of the primary
writers for the group, especially after Ice Cube leaves. In the movie DOC is
given his props but not so much Ren. Also after the group breaks up, Ren has some
solo success, his first solo album approaches gold, and his first EP goes
platinum.
DJ Yella was the primary turnatablist for the group, but he
was not just the dj. He was also a producer, often co producing with Dr. Dre.
His work as a producer is on every NWA album, including Easy-E’s solo album
Eazy-Duz-It. After the group split he overlooks the making of Bone Thugs N
Harmony’s album and produced their hit “Foe tha Love of $”
Now the person you may not know and who was completely left
out the film was a lesser known founding member named Arabian Prince. Why he
was left out of the film entirely, who knows? However he was a kind of a do it
all member providing writing, and production. He left the group in 88, but his
work, vocals and contributions can be found on Straight Outta Compton, the
previous lesser known first album NWA and the Posse.
2. Knowing the
business. The people that were successful were the ones that knew the
business and stayed up on the business. Ice Cube was insistent about getting
his fair share and signing his contract. He noticed when he and the others were
being exploited early on. When it was time to sign his contract, he insisted on
letting a lawyer review it because he knew he didn’t understand the
language. He did the same thing with his
solo career. He knew the difference and importance between being a worker and
owner, when no one else did or would listen.
Dr. Dre would learn this lesson the hard way, and learn that
Ice Cube was right. And it’s a mistake he would not make twice.
3. The Strength,
support of the women in their lives - The people that you have in your life
can affect you rise and down fall also. The women that Ice Cube, Eazy-E and Dr.
Dre pursued in the movie were instrumental in their growth and maturity as
family men and business men.
The women in their lives encourage them to pursue their own
dreams; they support them in it. The women in their lives that carry themselves
differently and are not impressed by their celebrity are the ones that stick
around.
Eazy-E doesn’t pay attention to his company’s financial
situations until Tomica offers to look over the paperwork and shows him what
she finds.
Ice Cube has the courage to leave NWA but he really gets focused
once he meets Kim She helps him understand the debts to which NWA were dissing
him, which lead to the greatest hip hop diss record of all time “ No Vaseline”.
She was his business partner.
Dr. Dre’s love interest Nicole, forces him to mature by what
she accepts from him and the boundaries she sets for him. She lets him know
that her child is her first priority, she doesn’t jump at the opportunity to
sleep with him, she doesn’t jump at the opportunity to give up her independence
and move in with him, she tell him she needs to think about things because its
moving fast, and after the date she stops him at letting him walk her to the
door, she doesn’t allow him to come up stairs and make it a night cap.
The women that carried themselves differently, had different
expectations, and were supportive helped them grow and mature.
4. It’s Business not
personal - One of the major lessons learned in the movie is that friends,
even good friends can’t always work / be in business together. Stubbornness and conflicting principles
completely tore the group apart. Ice
Cube didn’t like beuracratcy, he didn’t want to talk to the group’s manager
about money and contracts, he wanted to talk the owner (Eazy-E).
The artist also had to learn self preservation. They had to
learn that they believed in themselves and loved themselves enough to leave bad
situations. They had to wrestle with the notion that to leave a bad business
situation was business, not personal. Ultimately they had to look out for and
be loyal to themselves and their families, bad business is not good for
friendships.
Even when the diss records started to fly and the
embarrassment was being handed out on a silver platter, they were able to all
understand that it was just entertainment. Nobody got shot, killed; and when
they interacted with ach other in future, they were always able to talk
regardless of how hot headed the entourages around them may have desired to be.
A lot has been written about the film. A lot was covered in
the film and a lot left out. All in all it’s a really good movie. Could certain
things have been covered or put in certainly. However with all of the
criticism, its still a good movie and we’ve got to understand its business, The
movie is two and a half hours long, and an hour was shaved off to make it that
long, so we have no clue what was taken out.
Some negative events were left out, chalk that up to the benefits of
owning your brand. People have complained about Ice Cubes son getting the role
(even though he totally carried it) and Dr. Dre’s character being
misrepresented as an uber nice guy to women and tough guy in the streets; but
they were both producers of the film. When you are directing your own, biopic,
and control your brand; you put in the parts that you want to know. History is
defined by who is telling the story.
Slin-K
Slin-K
@slin_k_polymath on Twitter/ Instagram
