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Video: The First 'Straight Outta Compton' Trailer Has Dropped And It Looks Awesome
The first trailer for the long-awaited N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, has finally dropped, and it even has a reflective and nostalgic intro with the founding members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre.
Excitement for the film has been bubbling ever since Dr. Dre tweeted out a photo of the cast last summer. Up until then, the biopic had been in development purgatory for years. In Straight Outta Compton, which is produced by Ice Cube and Dr. Dre and directed by F. Gary Gray's (Friday, The Negotiator), we follow the rise of the seminal West Coast hip hop group whose music rocked the world in the '80s with tracks like "Fuck Tha Police" and their song that put them on the map: "Straight Outta Compton." But beyond the music, the red-band trailer also shows tensions mounting after the beating of Rodney King, which ignited the 1992 L.A. riots.
In the black-and-white intro for the trailer, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre drive through their old stomping grounds in Compton, and talk about how it's a ripe time to release this film since it's mirroring the problems with race issues and police we're currently facing. "Everything we was going through in the '80s with police people are going through right now," Dr. Dre says.
"We put it all in the music, all our frustration and anger, our music was like our weapon," Ice Cube adds.
Ice Cube's son O'Shea Jackson plays the young Ice Cube, Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre, Jason Mitchell as Eazy E—the founding members of the group—in the biopic. Paul Giamatti co-stars as as Jerry Heller, N.W.A.'s manager who helped N.W.A. rise to fame but later caused tension in the group after giving Eazy E too much of the spotlight. Lakeith Lee Stanfield also stars as Snoop Dogg and R. Marcus Taylor portrays Suge Knight.
There's been some controversy surrounding Knight, who's been in jail since he fatally struck a man and injured another with his car in Compton on Jan. 29. The Wrap reported that the incident happened while Ice Cube and Dr. Dre were shooting the footage for the trailer's intro.
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