Straight Outta Compton - Unrated Director's Cut

Produced by original N.W.A. members Ice Cube (P.G.A.), Dr. Dre and Eazy-E's widow Tomica Woods-Wright, "Straight Outta Compton" follows the rise and fall of rise of the seminal gangsta rap group with an Oscar-nominated script.

Born poor in L.A.'s black suburbs, the five friends -- also including MC Ren and DJ Yella -- moved "from pussy to pistols" in their rhymes (you want to root for them, and yet they're so misogynist), sharing their "reality rap shit" first within their 'hoods (like at Skateland, "Compton's Apollo"), then with East Coast rappers like LL Cool J (their Jheri curls versus New York's Kangol hats).

Under their manipulative white manager Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti), Ice Cube (played by his real life son, O'Shea Jackson, Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell), DJ Yella (Neil Brown, Jr.) and MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) shock the world (and the PMRC) with songs like "Fuck Tha Police" and its still-timely lyrics: "the authority to kill a minority / teenager with a little bit of gold and a pager" (they were arrested during a Detroit tour stop for simply playing the song).

In 1990, dissent caused Cube to leave the band, record solo and start his acting career ("Boyz in the 'Hood," which Eazy called "an after-school special"). Dre started Death Row Records with scary Suge Knight (R. Marcos Taylor). Eazy stayed with Heller and lost his millions (even though "he went from selling rocks in the dope house to visiting the White House"). He contracted HIV and died at 31, just as the group was planning to get back together.

Blu-ray extras include director/producer F. Gary Gray talking about growing up in South-Central L.A. himself in "N.W.A. the Origins," as well as Cube remembering they just wanted to "rap some hard shit."

Dre added, "That was the fuse" (both men were on set for most of the shoot).

In "The Streets: Filming in Compton," Gray says, "Hip-hop is about being authentic. L.A. is like a Venus flytrap: something very pretty, with palm trees and sunny days, but can eat you alive if you get caught up."

The production used real residents as extras, and recreated low-riders cruising as well as the real "war on drugs" raids with tanks and battering rams.

The young, mostly unknown lead actors talk about their characters in "Becoming N.W.A." Eazy-E's son and daughter visited the set as well, and said their dad had stage fright.

Yella told Brown to be happy all the time, but to never smile.

Ren told Hodge to "make me look cool, man."

Dre coached Julliard-trained Hawkins on how to DJ scratch, and said he was happy "to open doors for new black artists."

While hard on women in their community, N.W.A. blew up the narrative about disenfranchised African-American men that resonates today: "Speak a little truth and people lose their minds."

"Straight Outta Compton"
Blu-ray/DVD Set
$19.96
http://www.straightouttacompton.com/#/