straight outta compton shooting at concert

“Ice Cube is a very specific, charismatic artist and the average actor with experience would have had a hard time. “I was a little afraid when he was introduced as an option, because you can’t just put a novice in that role,” says Gray. Corey Hawkins gives a star-making turn as Dr Dre, but the standout casting was the decision to get O’Shea Jackson Jr to play his dad, Ice Cube.

Indeed, the only face you’re likely to recognise is Sideways star Paul Giamatti, who plays Heller. Gray chose a group of largely unknown actors. They saw themselves as rap realists, reporting what was happening on the streets. The song criticised the heavy-handed treatment of youths by the police force and racial profiling and included a violent call to action. The FBI wrote to the group, condemning the song for misrepresenting the police force and encouraging violence.

The group gained notoriety worldwide when their hit song “Fuck tha Police” was banned by radio stations across America, and they were ordered not to play the track at concerts for fear of inciting violence. Then along came NWA, an abbreviation of Niggaz wit’ Attitude, a group of black youths from Compton in Los Angeles, whose debut album, replete with angry violence and misogynistic lyrics, gave rise to gangsta rap and the birth of the so-called West Coast hip hop. Until its release in 1988, the syncopated Afro-centric sounds were largely the preserve of New York rappers, propagating social change and lambasting injustice. Straight Outta Compton was one of the albums that changed hip hop.

Straight outta compton shooting at concert