Hollywood seems to be surprised with the success of the film, Straight outta Compton. Are you surprised? I know I am not. Hip hop used to be ours and now it is global. The film shares a big chunk of hip hop history, particularly within the west coast hip hop scene. The film has already made over 100 million dollars. Not bad for a tale about five guys from L.A.'s Compton, U.S.A.
For me, NWA was the influential rap group that led the west coast rise of hip hop. I remember when Ice Cube became a solo artist, I did not connect him to NWA as easily as the others. His album, America's Most Wanted, had such an east coast sound (probably because of the production of the album which was recorded in New York), I almost did not recognize Ice Cube. It is one of my favorite hip hop albums still.
Naturally, I was among a diverse audience viewing the film in New York. I was happy to see all ages, genders and races. The marketing for the film was brilliant. Telling a story is one thing, building your audience is another. We need to continue to tell our stories and we also need to work to share them. My favorite social media tool is the Straight Outta (fill in) memes.
I know that time did not allow completeness of all stories from the film. I was disappointed not to see any follow up of MC Ren and DJ Yella. MC Ren was a strong lyricist and dominated the group after Ice Cube departed. I guess a story told by mostly males, unconsciously or consciously left out the female presence in hip hop at the time. J.J
Fad's Supersonic was apart of the Ruthless history. We did not see Michel'le or even Yo-Yo.
In the movie, Ice Cube describes NWA's music as "reality rap." This is a huge part of my love of hip hop, telling the stories others won't and can't tell. The only thing is if hip hop raised you like me, you know there were some holes in this story. Since the story is not complete, I am looking forward to more sides of the storytelling. Well audience we can await similar films. I am ready.
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