My appreciation for that harder type of hip hop, the old stuff, is in the storytelling. N.W.A always felt genuine and credible. No bullshit, you know? Most people who listen to them never lived in Compton, but probably feel like they could describe some of the experience based on the honest voices in the lyrics. It's a snapshot of a very specific piece of American history and well, lots of pieces of American history aren't so beautiful. I suppose my constant craving for authenticity was what led me to become an N.W.A fan.
So you know I like the music, what did I think of the movie, the movie, the movie?
If you've seen any press on this, there has been lots of criticism on the misogyny in the movie. That's fair. The women are basically props. One can argue that it's a piece of hip hop culture and that N.W.A set that tone. And if I really look at myself, maybe I give them a pass because it's black women that are the typically the targets here, so I don't see myself within that context. Now there's something to think about...
Dr. Dre's well-documented history of violence against women is left to the wayside. The kid, Corey Hawkins, who plays Dre in the film is great. But I can't help but wonder how much more fantastic the performance would have been if some of the darker elements of Dre's personality weren't left on the cutting room floor. The only woman he had significant interaction with (read two scenes) was his mother, and she slapped the shit out of him in one of those. So if a viewer had no idea about Dre's violence in real-life, that viewer might just think he had an abusive mother. And frankly, let's just consider the fact that Dre had the balls to stand up to Sug Knight--I doubt that nice guys dared to. Too much's of Dre's story is left out. I get it, Dre was one of the producers of the film, so why finance a film that shows you in a negative light and potentially damage your brand? I would contend that he's reached a status where the brand can handle it.
And speaking of personal brand, let's talk Ice Cube. He's a writer, so I always thought he was the most talented and his star power through hip hop and film is huge. Many moons ago, when I worked at a youth center, one of the kids would run into my office at the end of the week and tell me, "It's Friday and I ain't got shit to do." It was so funny I could even get mad at him for saying shit. People are gonna be quoting Cube as long as we use words. I also need to take a moment to talk about how Cube's son is a complete carbon copy of him--it's freakish how much they look alike. Pretty rad that he got to play his dad in the film.
I just have to say this because it was laughable to me. The director felt the need to label each group member with their legal names and street names the first time they appeared onscreen, like "O'Shea Jackson aka Ice Cube." It was such a "Duh," thing, but then I remembered that 90% of N.W.A conversations never mention MC Ren or Dj Yella, poor dudes. Of course they were talented, but how does anyone compete with Dre and Cube? Pretty impossible. So label 100% for the people that forget 40% of the group.
The part of the group you can't forget? That's easy. You see what I did there? Easy-E, who really did deal, so maybe he was the closest thing to what the group espoused about the culture. The dude had charisma, you can't deny that, and the portrayal in the film made me appreciate him in a different way--more human, less of a whore, and much more complex. It would be simple to write those young men off as gangsters or thugs, but that's just not factually accurate. They were talented, articulate, and hard working and that's why we're still talking about them today. While the film doesn't capture the complete picture, it gives some interesting insight into the legacy, for better or worse, of five Black men straight outta Compton.
No comments:
Post a Comment