In just over a week the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton is slated to hit theaters nationwide as thousands of rap fans and those wanting to learn more about one of the genre’s top groups history and legacy will be in attendance.
The film’s director, F. Gary Gray, recently sat down with HipHopDX Features Editor Andre Grant and was asked about numerous things including police brutality. Gray says that the Compton collective shined a light on the subject and feels we’re progressing toward justice as time moves on.
“I feel two ways about it,” he said via a segment of today’s (August 3) DX Daily. “The more things change the more they stay the same and that’s pretty sad but I am optimistic. N.W.A. shined a light on what was going on with law enforcement and now we have guys like you and the media and headlines that are shining a light on what’s going on and I think because of that, change is coming.”
F. Gary Gray also described how much work he had to do in order to get the movie’s actors in proper shape to begin shooting.
“They had to learn how to rap, they had to learn how to walk, learn how to talk, I had them gain weight,” he said. “I had them do performance lessons, I even had to record the album Straight Outta Compton. I recorded the album.”
Today also revealed that DJ Premier would be making a music appearance on the soundtrack for the album. DJ Rhettmatic took to Instagram to confirm the collaboration between the two legendary producers.
Watch the full DX Daily segment below:
I like Gray’s optimism but I think things will/are getting worse before it gets better. What’s happening in Amerikkka today is the state of society whose foundations are laid in injustice an violence. Peace life movment
This is the same dude that directed the movie, “Set It Off”. Now you know the N.W.A. movie is going to be DOPE!!
F. Gary gray is a good director his older films were decent and straight outta Compton is getting good early reviews. Still not sure if he’s ready to handle a marvel movie but they are checking him out for black panther and he was on the shortlist for the winter soldier before he decided on the nwa story.