Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY AUG 12
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PEOPLE & ARTS A29
Wednesday 12 August 2015
From outlaws to icons: N.W.A. goes big-screen mainstream
SANDY COHEN just gained more and more ed race. It transcended In this Sunday, August 2, 2015 photo, Ice Cube poses for a por-
AP Entertainment Writer respect as people started music and genre.” trait in promotion of the new film “Straight Outta Compton,” at
LOS ANGELES (AP) — When to see it wasn’t a gimmick, Institutional censure of the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles.
N.W.A. released its 1988 de- it wasn’t a tone, but it was the group only added to
but album, “Straight Outta just who we were and who its appeal. Radio stations Associated Press
Compton,” it was vilified by we wanted to be as artists.” boycotted the music and
mainstream media. They The biopic shows them not there was no Internet, so opened up the door for art- the ones who green-light
found the music aggres- as gangsters, but artists “Straight Outta Compton” ists to be on any side of the movies.
sive, profane and pointedly coming of age in a neigh- was only available to those fence they want to be on.” “This is a major motion pic-
anti-police. It glorified vio- borhood full of trouble, who sought it out. Profane content is no lon- ture we’re talking about,
lence and dehumanized although some critics are “When you were listening ger so risque. which speaks to cultural
women. Most radio stations saying the era’s misogamy back in the late ‘80s, it was Times have changed, too. relevance in a profound
refused to play it. It was the was glossed over in the film. like you were listening to The young people who way,” Boyd said. “Nobody
birth of gangsta rap, and Cube and Dre started mak- something that was illicit,” grew up loving “Straight would have imagined that
it was considered danger- ing music together in the Boyd said. Outta Compton” are now back in the day.”q
ous. mid-1980s, as the crack Eazy’s 1995 death from
A generation later, the epidemic was overtaking AIDS at age 31 cemented
leaders of N.W.A. are us- urban Los Angeles. Gang his legendary status, but
ing “the world’s most dan- violence exploded, “Just N.W.A.’s shift from margin-
gerous group” as a tagline Say No” was in full swing alized to mainstream was
for their big-studio biopic. and police were merciless more gradual, part of hip-
These days, Ice Cube is a in trying to eliminate the hop’s overall growth over
bona fide movie star and scourge. With Dre’s beats the past 25 years.
producer who counts fam- as a backdrop, Cube “When generations come
ily fare such as “Are We ditched the boastful battle of age, they bring their
There Yet” among his many raps that were in style at culture with them,” Boyd
screen credits. Dr. Dre is a the time and started writ- said. “There are genera-
celebrated producer who ing about what they wit- tions of people now who
sold his Beats brand to Ap- nessed in their daily lives: have grown up only listen-
ple for $3 billion last year. Gang-bangers and police ing to hip-hop and having
Both serve as producers of who seemed to consider only understood hip-hop as
the film, opening Friday. all young black men sus- mainstream culture.”
N.W.A. has gone from out- picious. They caught the Among them are the young
laws to icons. attention of Eazy-E, who actors who play Cube, Dre
“The image of the outlaw would become the group’s and Eazy on screen. For
was how they were identi- financier and front man. them, N.W.A. has always
fied,” said professor Todd Along with MC Ren and DJ existed and the group’s un-
Boyd, an expert in race Yella, the California quintet restrained self-expression is
and popular culture who became N.W.A., which re- a critical part of hip-hop.
teaches at the University of leased its first single on Ea- “They were the first people
Southern California. “Over zy’s Ruthless Records. to really dig in there in a dif-
time, things that were con- The group’s song “(Exple- ferent way and say things
sidered the domain of the tive) the Police” was a that people weren’t trying
outlaw became main- cultural flashpoint. Author- to hear,” said 26-year-old
stream American culture.” ity figures hated it; young actor Corey Hawkins, who
Still, Cube and others in- people loved it — and not plays Dre. “Things might
volved in making the just those who shared the have changed, things
“Straight Outta Compton” rappers’ experiences with might have become main-
film say N.W.A. was never a racial profiling. Young peo- stream, but I don’t think
group of outlaws, but artists ple of all ethnicities and they changed.”
determined to speak their economic strata identified Cube said N.W.A.’s popu-
minds and air what they with N.W.A.’s energy and larity “gave artists a chance
saw as injustices in their anger. to be themselves.”
community. “I think it tapped into the “Without N.W.A., you don’t
“We were fearless and hon- rebellious nature of the have shows like ‘The Os-
est, and we weren’t going youth,” said “Compton” bournes.’ You don’t have
to let society stop our vi- director F. Gary Gray, who ‘South Park.’ You don’t
sion of who we thought we was among the teenagers have Eminem. You don’t
were,” Cube said in a re- moved by the music when have Marilyn Manson,”
cent interview. “I think that it came out. “It transcend- he said. “So I just think we
