On August 23, I went to the movies to see the much anticipated movie Straight Outta Compton, which is a biopic of the story of the famous rap group NWA. May I say, I was 100% speechless leaving the theatre. The movie told the story of the group in such a fluid manner, while making sure you saw the important details in between each leap. I connected with the movie, which shocked me slightly because I wasn’t around for the whole NWA era.

I started seeing the trailer for the movie during commercial breaks in June. I was immediately drawn to it and just had to see it. I was interested in seeing the story behind the fame, and how you can take struggle and turn it into success. I wanted to know more about them, seeing as I was born years after they had disbanded. I went into the theater with higher hopes than any other movie. Mostly because I’m a sucker for biopics about my favorite artists, but also because I had kept hearing about how amazing it was, and how well they portrayed their story of 9 years in 2 and a half hours.

The movie starred. O’Shea Jackson Jr. as his father Ice Cube, Corey Hawkins as Dr Dre, Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E, Aldis Hodge as MC Ren, Neild Brown as Dr Yella, and Paul Giamatti as the group’s manager Jerry Heller. What surprised me most was how accurately the characters resembled the original people. The actors looked so much like the original people in my opinion that it got scary at times. There was this one scene towards the end of the movie that introduced 2pac, whom I didn’t even know would be in the movie, where I actually thought it was him. I literally believed that it was 2pac himself, like a reincarnation of some sort. Then I remembered that he’s been dead for 19 years and that scene took place in about 1994. I had already known that Ice Cube’s son was going to play him, but I didn’t know that he looked pretty much identical  to his father, it was crazy how similar they look.

The movie was equal parts hilarious, tear jerking, and even insightful in the way of showing a midwestern person what life in Compton was like back then, and in some cases still like today. If you want to see a movie to fill time because you’re bored, go see anything else.If you want to see a movie that will literally make you wonder what the next scene has in store for you, will make you emotional at the sight of Crips and Bloods coming together during the LA riot, and just laugh at all the wise cracking and smart aleck comments the characters made towards themselves and others, go see Straight Outta Compton. I promise you will have zero regrets. Straight Outta Compton will surprise you how well the story was conveyed, and trigger feeling in you that you would think isn’t usual when seeing a movie about a gangsta rap group.

What was nice about this movie is that yes there were typical rapper things like drugs, guns, loads of alcohol, and sex, there were still serious matters discussed, such as people’s family members dying and the boys having problems with their baby mamas. As I stated already, I would basically recommend anyone to see this movie. I was invested for the whole two and a half hours of it, and I honestly would see it a few more times, it was just that good. It made me feel like I was actually alive for some of the stuff when it actually happened. I felt like I was one of the 40 year old people in the theater that already knew everything that happened and were actually there in the 80’s and 90s, because they told the story in a beautiful way. I had forgotten that all of this happened years before I was born, and I didn’t feel out of place at all. It goes beneath what most people would assume from what’s portrayed in the media about lives of rappers, and that is what truly makes this movie legendary.