Straight out of Compton

Straight Outta Compton

        Those who are blessed with talent should not have to waste that giftedness just because of where they were born or color of their skin. Straight Outta Compton (SOC) is about five young African American males from Compton, Ca with purpose, drive, determination, and ambition, succeeded over mistreatment, destitution, prejudice, and police brutality.  Easy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, and MC Ren are kids from the hood who wanted to be entrepreneurs. In the late 80s they formed the group N.W.A, which stands for Niggaz Wit Attitudes. Today they are seen as a music group who changed hip-hop, pop culture, and gave hope to those less fortunate kids. Not everybody saw their visions or agreed with how they would get there. They were not going to let anybody stand in their way.

SOC brings the reality of racism and broken friendships to your door, although some try to turn a blind eye to them, this is just a few of street kids’ reality of the truth as they see it happening right out their front door.

        Drug dealer Eric Wright better known as Easy-E, looks around with only the light of the street lamps as he’s walking to a house in a sketchy neighborhood in the city of Compton, CA. During this deal he almost loses his life. Thanks to SWAT, arriving when they did to bust this crack house, Easy-E escapes the dealers and SWAT by kicking the out the bars that are over a window. He lifts his body up and goes through the window, and loosing everybody jumping from rooftop to rooftop of houses.

        Andre Young aka Dr. Dre, a talented disc jockey, is laying on the floor in his bedroom he shares with his brother. His headphones on, eyes closed, listening to Everybody Loves the Sunshine, soaking up his music therefore does not hear his mother enter the room. She is upset that he missed his job interview, and she does not think being a DJ is a real job. He moves decides its best that he move out.

        A young sixteen year O’Shea Jackson “Ice Cube”, looking out the window of his school, is overserving students as they are leaving their school day. He has a pen and journal and writing his lyrics down. A student on the bus throw ups gang signs and yells to gang members of the gang Bloods, as they are passing the bus. The gang pulls over the bus. On gets a gang banger who gives the student a speech and lesson in why they need to keep their heads in their books.

        After Ice Cube gets off the bus he goes to visit his friend Sir Jinx. This is how Dre and Cube became friends. Sir Jinx is cousin to Dre, and this is where he lives after he moves out his mother’s house. Sir Jinx and his mother live across the street form Ice Cube. Cube describes his experience of what happened on the bus and how it influenced some lyrics he wrote down. As he is leaving the house, there are blue and red lights flashing bouncing off the reflection from the houses. You can hear people telling the police these are not bad kids, kids expressing the way they are being treated. Here is where I address the first concept Culture and Interpersonal Communication.         

        Cube is subjected to stereotype, power distance, ethnicity and race come into play, and socioeconomic status. Ice Cube is harassed, searched, and asked where he has the drugs at. Cube tells him not a blacks are drug dealers, he is called a nigger, and threatened by the power of the LAPD. His mother and father are across the street trying to defend their child and the other boys being hassled, and they are told to shut up. We may all be created equal, but where you live, what color you are, or what you choose to express, is why individuals allow for the unbalanced dispersion of power. Just because his skin color is black, does not mean you are knowledgeable of who this person truly is. Compton is majority an all-black neighborhood. If you live there the assumption is your socioeconomic status is low class. This status is said to be the result on communication style. Cube communicates the reality of police brutality, harassment, and drugs through his lyrics. That encouraged him to become what he felt as a journalist, a reality rapper.

        Dr. Dre is a DJ along with DJ Yella at club called Doo-Tos. The with a club owner, Lonzo, wants his club about love songs. The owner would rather stay away from any music that could promote violence in his club.  Easy-E enters the club with his homeboy rapper, MC Ren. Lonzo, the owner of the club tells Dre he is stepping out and reminds him about rap music. Dre announces the debut of Ice Cube. Cube comes on the stage; immediately has the audience hooked on his rhymes and Dre’s spinning. After the club closes Dre sees his brother having an argument and instantly comes to his defense. He is arrested and calls Easy-E to bail him out. Dre offers a deal for Easy to get out of the drug business. He asks him to invest in the music business. He agrees and names the record label Ruthless. Originally Easy was to just be the money man, circumstances lead him to becoming rapper along with being the front man of the group, Dre is the DJ and producer, Yella also is a DJ, and other rappers MC Ren and Ice Cube, with Cube writing most of the lyrics. Easy-E meets music manager Jerry Heller. Heller catches Easy’s attention when states he will help him and as a team they can create something great.

        Fans are lined up outside a place called Skateland where the group having their first performance. Jerry has lined up for record execs to come listen in hopes for them to get signed to a record label. They are signed to Priority records. Suge Knight, a body guard for Bobby Brown congratulates the group. Easy and Jerry are iffy about him.

        My second concept Emotions fit in here. The group is recording their album Straight Outta Compton in Torrance, CA. Dre is told he needs to go outside. His baby mama is across the street and tells him she is leaving. A police car drives by. As Dre is walking back into the studio is friends come to check on him. At this point there are two cop cars and have told the men not to move. Yet again they are ALL harassed by the police for no legal reason. Cube has emotions of disgust, anger, and probably some fear.  He nonverbally showed facial expression of disgust when the police made racial comments towards him. He chooses to express them verbally the lyrics to the song F##k Tha Police. Personality is said to have a relationship with a person’s experiences and how they communicate them. The police officer called him “boy” and addressed him to get back inside. Through nonverbal anger he stood as still as a mannequin and was not going to move to make a point to the officer.