[movie]Straight Outta Compton

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What you're not getting is Dre's beating of multiple women was just another layer on top of an already existing controversy.

Their attitudes toward women were a huge part of what made the group untouchable by radio stations. It was central to their controversy. On equal footing to the controversy caused by their lyrics with regards to police and inner city violence.

 

This movie is like a TMAC highlight reel, some good spots, but overall made to disappoint when it mattered.

 

I would like the second movie to focus more on Cube's post-rapping career in the silver screen.

 

What you're not getting is Dre's personal issues with domestic violence wasn't a huge story that impacted the group. It wasn't that big of a layer. He did no time. It didn't have a negative backlash on their music. They weren't getting boycotted because of it. Etc. Y'all are overstating the impact after the fact. For comparison, Eazy's personal health as it relates to HIV was because there was no 2nd album with his death.

The majority of their music wasn't about beating on women. There were a few bars in songs, but that wasn't central to their music. You mention the song about the police. That song had cops not wanting to cover their shows, the federal govt sending them threats, etc. That was central to the group. What ever happened to the group because Dre was beating on women? It's gotten more attention now compared to when he was doing it!

 

How familiar with the group are you? Their was a second album which doubled down on the "b****es and hoes" tracks. Again, the Dre beating of women was just an extension of the huge controversy already caused by their lyrics with regards to women. I'm starting to think your entire knowledge of the group comes from what you saw in the movie...which obviously makes you think the disrespect of women wasn't a big part of their music or controversy. Go read old articles about the group if you really want to know. Listen to their full albums.

You are wrong. If you can't even acknowledge this point, there's no reason to keep arguing. We'll just "disagree" on this fact.

Well, of course, because it's a #1 movie in America that casts the group as trail-blazing heroes, while selectively choosing to remove the parts that reflect negatively on them. Doesn't mean it wasn't a big story back then, because it was. It's people calling "bull****" to the self-portrayed image in the movie.

 

No, post those songs you are talking about expert. And lol at trailblazing heroes. It is clear someone didn't see the movie.

 

You really want me to go through the hundreds of lines in N.W.A.'s catalog that prove they were harsh on women? If you are not informed about them enough to even know that, then I can't really help you.

I could post a few track titles "To Kill a Hooker", "One Less b****", "Findum, ****um & Flee", "She Swallowed It", and "I'd Rather **** You". Doesn't even touch the surface of the all they lyrics peppered through out the songs where the title doesn't completely give it away. If you still don't believe it, you can link me to a single N.W.A. biography (that's not written by the group's members or inner circle) that does not in some way reference the group's sexism/misogyny. In most cases it will probably appear in the first sentence or paragraph.

I'm not even saying this from the perspective of "won't someone think of the children." I wouldn't have and love N.W.A. or Ice Cube solo albums if it personally offended me. I view it as more entertaining, overly-exaggerated debauchery.

Initially I was just offering a counterpoint to a lot of the gushing I've read about the group since the movie was released that seemed to elevate them to something they really are not...now I'm just arguing it because I am flummoxed (that's right, FLUMMOXED) that some people are actually trying to argue that their sexism/misogyny wasn't really a big part of the group's history. That's is completely false. I'm starting to feel like I am arguing the sky being blue, so I'll probably bow out of at this point. I am looking forward to seeing the movie if I can ever get the time.

 

Eazy E casually mentions gang rape. MC Ren tells of "10 *****s" who rape a child and violate her with a broomstick. In Ice Cube's "Given Out the Nappy Dug Out" "fourteen *****s take turns" placing themselves on an underage girl.

In N.W.A. "To Kill a Hooker" Kill a streetwalker because she demanded money for sex.

In N.W.A. "One Less b****" tie a woman to a bed, rape, and then shoot her.

In N.W.A. "A b**** Iz a b****" money-hungry or stuck-up women are subsumed under the same solution: "slam her ass in a ditch"

there are many more examples from their solo albums but im not typing all that out. it is from a pdf file that will not let me copy/paste. and this is supposed to be about nwa anyways. but yeah hardly any misogyny at all .

 

if that is referring to me (probably not) i plan on watching it. i just found it funny that someone said nwa doesnt have a lot of harsh lyrics towards women.

 

Many have already replied to this, but those of you who are criticizing the lyrics and overall impact of NWA must not understand the context of the time. Moreover, you lack the understanding of the background of "rap music" and hip hop as a whole. You can pick lyrics all over the place, including those that have some vulgar words, but to suggest that NWA's music catered to abusing women in a physical or sexual manner is completely inaccurate.

I didn't grow up in Compton, but I certainly grew up in the "ghetto" of D.C. From that point, it's easy to understand NWA's message which was revolutionary. If you understand the context of putting it on "wax," you would accept the fact that guys like 'Cube, Dre' and Easy were discussing what they've witnessed and heard. Their lyrics do not necessarily mean that they participated in what they saw.

And, all of this Dr. Dre/battered women is a moot point. He apologized, and to me, he didn't need to. We don't know all of the facts surrounding the incidents, and it's possible that these women weren't honest. In no way am I condoning violence towards women, but there is plenty of information that is missing. Is it possible that some of these women wanted to make money off of a situation? Yes. Is it possible that Dre was physical with these women? Yes, but there is not substantial proof.

Either way, the lyrics and these alleged crimes do not represent what NWA did for African Americans, and more importantly, for America. Maybe it's hard for some people to fathom that language is just that: language. Explicit lyrics wasn't what made NWA important. The message was. They gave people hope. They gave "white America" some realism. They pushed the envelope when nobody wanted to support their struggle. They represent success from the depths of poverty.

The movie wasn't my favorite, but I can appreciate what NWA did for me as biracial male. I guess it's hard to understand if you are unable to create a context for the lyrics and the time NWA rose to the forefront of music culture.

If there were a movie made about the Rolling Stones, Beatles, etc..., I guarantee that there are similar incidents and lyrics that people didn't understand, mostly because they could not relate to the circumstances. I'm not implicating a discussion on race, but I think it is relevant to all of Dre and NWA's critics. These men were the African American "Beatles" without the same success, in terms of financial gains and continuous albums.

See the movie, listen to the music, study the times, revisit Rodney King, consider racial oppression and police brutality, consider poverty's hold on minority communities, research the discrepancy of prison populations by race, and maybe you'll understand.

One love to Cube Jr. aka "OMG" for playing his pops so well.

We'll never have another NWA. That was the golden era and it should be cherished.

Now, I have to hear crap from Rich Homie Quan, Nicki Minaj and Pitbull. That's not hip hop. It's trash.

 

I'm very familiar. I'm not talking about rapping about "b****es and hoes". I'm talking about rapping about "beating on women". Yes, some of their tracks had verses about it but it wasn't an integral part of their music. We are discussing why Dre's domestic violence issues should have been included, right? I'm saying it wasn't integral to the group. You have yet to show me how it was.

No it wasn't. Dre's beating of women didn't receive that much coverage. He settled out of court for one incident and did no jail time. Music was not interrupted and most of the group wasn't beating on women.

Well, you would be wrong. But I'd love to see some support on how Dre beating on women was such a big part of the groups story.

There are plenty of negative portrayals of the group members in the movie. Just not one about a certain member beating women.

 

Who said that? I said they don't have a lot of songs about BEATING WOMEN. Yes, there are some bars in songs about beating women, but rapping about beating women was not integral to their music.

Folks are complaining about the stories of Dre beating women being left out. Their is plenty of mysogony in the movie. Just no scenes of Dre beating women.

 

That's not what was said.