Another late night with teething lil one so I'm up pacing around trying to settle the lil and I've decided to jam on a movie on Netflix. I've noticed that straight outta Compton has come out not sure when but I'm pretty pumped. I watching it at the cinema's and really enjoyed this rendition. I didn't think I would have liked it as precious movies based on careers of rappers failed to hit the mark. I really felt Straight Outta Compton was able to provide a great story telling as well as some what an autobiography.
Perhaps because the film centres around the early days of rap and with a few of the rap gods. People might not know this but rap and hip hop is/was quite influential in Australia. American culture does tend to flow across the globe and make its debate here too.
I remember the 90s well, at parties pumping Eazy E, Pac, Dre, Ice Cube. Ice Cube has one of those memorable voices as does Eazy E. Who can forget the Up in Smoke tour. I can't even remember what year that was produced but I remember I bought the movie of it too, the uncensored version 🤣
Another lead character in the film is Dr Dre and his early years prior to making it big. Viewers get transported to another world where drugs, crime and gangs run riot and the birth of rap/hip hop with all the protests, police violence and hardships faced in ghettos and other American cities.
We watch as an entire government tries to shut down music something akin to what has happened with cryptocurrancy.
The opening scenes are quite memorable and really impactful, I'm not sure how accurate they are as I don't have first hand experience or knowledge but seeing military grade equipment rolled out onto citizens is a concern.
We did learn in school how the American government dropped a bomb on a housing complex to snub out the black panthers. All this to me is quite daunting and it's not something we have experienced in Australia so this scene is frightening.
I think the story is quite appealing on a few fronts as it tells a story of youth chasing their dreams and what they believe in, Music. We experience the hardship and barriers along the way and the systemic barriers faced.
Through it all there is gang violence, drugs, money and all kinds of things that kids get swept up in and without adequate leadership and role modelling go down paths that aren't, well socially accepted.
Watching the movie we all know how things turned out for many of them but I think just about nearly every Australian owns a set of beatz by Dre.
Many of us grew up with rap and hip hop as the back drop to our lives especially if you came from broken homes. These kids made it, not sure they made all the right choices but they got paid and didn't struggle anymore and I think that resonated with a lot of youth at the time no matter what their background was.
A great film and one I'll spend they next 2hrs and 20 minutes watching.
What were your thoughts on Straight Outta Compton, did you like the movie?