History Film / StraightOuttaCompton

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:After a bad break up, all of the members of N.W.A manage to reconcile shortly before Eazy dies from AIDS. Dre leaves Death Row to form his own label Aftermath Entertainment. Although his first album on his own (also titled ''Aftermath'') would fail to capture the magic of ''The Chronic'' to say the least, [[Music/{{Eminem}} he gets]] [[Music/FiftyCent better.]]]]

* TraumaCongaLine: While Ice Cube and Dr. Dre find much success after the NWA break-up, things get worse for Eazy E as the film progresses. From financial problems to eventually [[spoiler:dying of AIDS]], things are not so [[IncrediblyLamePun "easy"]] for Eazy-E.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, although still morally complex, are portrayed as more heroic and altruistic than their real-life counterparts, especially Dre. This was mostly due to Ice Cube and Dre themselves being a part of the production crew; hence, they would want to remove or at least tone down their biggest misdeeds for the motion picture.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Not only was Dre close to his younger brother, Tyree, he was also there to punch the living daylights out of someone who would harm his younger sibling. This brotherly love shown between the two makes a future scene more devastating when [[spoiler:Dre breaks down crying after hearing the news of Tyree being killed.]]

* AdaptedOut: The film has gotten some heat over glossing over, or outright ignoring key N.W.A affiliates that were a large part of the group's success (JJ Fadd, Tairrie B, etc.) and ignoring Dr. Dre's notorious reputation as a woman beater during the 90s in favor of featuring Music/SnoopDogg and Music/TupacShakur in minor cameos.

* AnachronismStew: [[Music/TupacShakur 2Pac]] is seen at [[Creator/DeathRowRecords Death Row studios]] recording "Hail Mary" with Dre present near the end of the movie, and Eazy [[spoiler:is still alive]]. In real life, Dre had already left Death Row before the ''Don Killuminati'' sessions, and Eazy [[spoiler:already died from complications caused by AIDS.]]

** The band never reconciled with Eazy-E and most didn't attend his funeral. The movie's events is stated to have been how the band wished history had gone.
*** However, Ice Cube has stated the scene at the club where he and Eazy-E settle their differences actually happened. Dre has, likewise, stated that he visited Eazy in the hospital even if the latter wasn't aware of his presence due to his deteriorating condition.

* BattleRapping: After Ice Cube leaves the group, and outsells them with ''[=AmeriKKKa's=] Most Wanted'', the remaining members of N.W.A attack him on the track "100 Miles And Runnin'". Cube took exception to this, as he made a conscious decision not to attack the group, and releases "No Vaseline". The end result? [[spoiler:Ice Cube singlehandedly destroys N.W.A, exposes Jerry Heller's corruption, and causes Dre to leave Ruthless Records because of said corruption.]]

* {{Bowdlerized}}: '''AVERTED'''! When the movie premiered on Creator/{{FX|Networks}} on March 1, 2018 as a world broadcast premiere, the entire movie was ''completely uncut'' with the following disclaimer at the beginning, and abridged disclaimers coming out of every commercial break. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpfYPX3Cjns Check out the warning to see for yourself.]]
-->''The following film is presented in its complete theatrical version. It was rated R by the MPAA and may not be appropriate for children under 17. It is rated TV-MA-LSV and contains strong language, sexual situations, violence and nudity. It is intended only for mature audiences. Viewer Discretion Advised.''

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Harassment from Torrence Police only inspired Ice Cube to write "[[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ADdpLv3RDhA&feature=emb_title Fuck The Police]]" and the [[https://www.newseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Exhibits_RockHall_NWA.jpg letter from the FBI]] only increased their popularity.

* FanService: Many women appear scantily clad during the party sequences. There's one who is even [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl completely naked]], and SceneryCensor is completely averted.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Two nasty encounters with the police which nearly result in arrest early on end up inspiring the song "Fuck Tha Police", which becomes one of the group's hit songs, and when they're warned not to play it in Detroit (by the police, no less), they do so anyway, causing a riot and ending up getting arrested.

** Jerry Heller's biggest objection to the movie wasn't that it portrayed him as cheating the clients (Ice Cube was actually paid the $75,000 check he was offered in the movie), though that was close, but that he and Eazy-E had a falling out. He maintains the two were close up until the day he died.

** This also applies to Ice Cube, but to a slightly lesser degree than Knight. While we may never know how much his FreakOut inside [[spoiler:Bryan Turner's office]] was dramatized for the movie, he shows up there again a few scenes later with his wife, and is strongly implied to have not gotten any jail time whatsoever for [[spoiler:destroying everything inside the office weeks (presumably) earlier. (In actuality, Ice Cube was nearly arrested as soon as he walked out the building, but Priority's CEO intervened, and basically made Bryan give Cube what he promised almost immediately after the incident.)]]

* OhCrap: Some kids harass some gangbangers from their schoolbus only for the gangbangers to force it off the road and get onboard. {{Subverted}} when the gangbangers merely want to ScareEmStraight. Given the potential danger the teenagers might be in if they hassle individuals like them, this is probably good advice but a young Ice Cube finds it surreal.

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Dre's attitude to Suge Knight after witnessing too much violence and intimidation from his partner.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Eazy-E in his introductory scene when a tank shows up at the house.

* ThereAreNoGoodExecutives: Ruthless Records, Priority Records and Death Row Records are all guilty of this. This trope is also the reason Dre finally starts Aftermath Records.
** Jimmy Iovine [[note]](head of Interscope and with whom Dre founded Beats)[[/note]]on the other hand...

* TruthInTelevision: N.W.A recorded the album ''Straight Outta Compton'' at Audio Achievements, a studio located on Cabrillo Avenue within the historical Old Town district of Torrance, California. The surviving founding members have stated that the treatment the group received by the Torrance Police Department did in fact partially contribute to the group's inspiration for Fuck Tha Police.

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Jerry Heller]], after finally being confronted and fired by Eazy over [[spoiler:Heller's corrupt handling of N.W.A's and Ruthless' money]], begs him to change his mind, and is all but in tears when Eazy storms out of his house.
** This--along with not paying Ice Cube ([[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and eating a lobster brunch]])--is notably what Jerry Heller claims the movie completely made up.

** That said, the film has been criticized for omitting certain negative aspects of the group and its members, particularly their sometimes poor treatment of women; see HistoricalHeroUpgrade on this page for the full details.

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Dr. Dre gets this from his mother in the near beginning of the film.

* BullyingADragon: After Ice Cube leaves the group and outsells them with his solo album ''[=AmeriKKKa's=] Most Wanted'', the remaining members of N.W.A attack him on the track "100 Miles And Runnin'" by calling him "Benedict Arnold". This proves to be a poor decision on their part as Cube, furious that they dissed him after he went out of his way not to do so with his solo music, writes and releases "No Vaseline".

* FiveManBand:
** TheLeader: Eazy-E.
** TheLancer: Ice Cube.
** TheSmartGuy: Dr. Dre.
** TheBigGuy: MC Ren.
** TheHeart: DJ Yella.

* PoisonousFriend: Jerry to Eazy-E. Which resulted in the group's fallout.

** Eazy-E had something akin to thirty-million dollars in the bank at the time of his death and never lost his house.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Harassment from Torrence Police only inspired Ice Cube to write "Fuck The Police" and the [[https://www.newseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Exhibits_RockHall_NWA.jpg letter from the FBI]] only increased their popularity.

** Dre is seen with his head in the clouds, listening to Roy Ayers' "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" in his room, foreshadowing showing how invested he would be into his music career and his choice of samples.

** Dre is seen with his head in the clouds, listening to soul and funk records in his room, foreshadowing showing how invested he would be into his music career and his choice of samples.

** While Jerry has done some underhanded things that resulted in the group's break-up, he is genuinely disturbed by the unfair treatment the NWA received by the Compton Police Department and showed disgust over the four police involved in the Rodney King trial being found innocent. He's also disturbed by Suge Knight's brazen and often violent ways of doing business.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Harassment from Torrence Police only inspired Ice Cube to write "Fuck The Police" and the letter from the FBI only increased their popularity.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Harassment from Torrence Police only inspired Ice Cube to write "Fuck The Police" the letter from the FBI only increased their popularity.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Police and FBI harassment of the group only increases their popularity.

** Ice Cube actually received the $75,000 dollar Jerry Heller offered him at the beginning of the movie.

** Ice Cube actually received the $75,000 dollar check Jerry Heller offered him at the beginning of the movie.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:After a bad break up, all of the members of N.W.A manage to reconcile shortly before Eazy dies from AIDS. Dre leaves Death Row to form Aftermath. Although his first album on his own (also titled ''Aftermath'') would fail to capture the magic of ''The Chronic'' to say the least, [[Music/{{Eminem}} he gets]] [[Music/FiftyCent better.]]]]

* AngryBlackMan: Ice Cube made a career playing these and certainly lives up to the role in this movie, at one point [[spoiler:taking a bat to a CorruptCorporateExecutive's office.]] Subverted with the rest of the N.W.A who are portrayed as a great deal more mellow.

* RapIsCrap: The film accurately depicts the [[YouCanPanicNow moral panic]] that surrounded GangstaRap in the late '80s and early '90s, and how Music/{{NWA}} leaned into it to [[invoked]] [[StreisandEffect become even more successful]].

* AdaptedOut: The film has gotten some heat over glossing over, or outright ignoring key N.W.A affiliates that were a large part of the group's success (JJ Fadd, Tairrie B, ect.) and ignoring Dr. Dre's notorious reputation as a woman beater during the Nineties in favor of featuring Music/SnoopDogg and Music/TupacShakur in minor cameos.

* RapIsCrap: The film accurately depicts the [[YouCanPanicNow moral panic]] that surrounded GangstaRap in the late '80s and early '90s, and how Music/{{NWA}} leaned into it to [[StreisandEffect become even more successful]].

** Subverted with Dee Barnes, who was going to be in the movie but couldn't be covered in the movie's running time.

''Straight Outta Compton'' is a 2015 biopic detailing the rise and fall of the groundbreaking, and equally controversial, rap group {{Music/NWA}}, directed by Creator/FGaryGray and starring Creator/CoreyHawkins, Creator/JasonMitchell, Creator/PaulGiamatti, and Creator/OSheaJacksonJr, the son of group member Music/IceCube in his debut leading role. Group members Ice Cube and Music/DrDre served as executive producers and consultants alongside MC Ren, DJ Yella and Tomica Woods-Wright, the widow of Eazy-E.

* MightyWhitey: Jerry Heller and Bryan Turner are rare ''subversions'' of this trope. They seem like they want to make N.W.A. a national phenomenon, at first, but when N.W.A. ''does'' become one, [[spoiler:Heller and Turner's true colors are revealed and they turn out to be exploitative jerks who simply want to profit off the trio]]. Their behavior [[spoiler:ends up being one of the many factors that led to N.W.A.'s downfall]].

* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: Although Ice Cube's "No Vaseline" takes shots at everybody involved with NWA, Jerry is much, much more offended by the two lines that allude to him. This might also be JewishComplaining.

* TraumaCongaLine: While Ice Cube and Dr. Dre find much success after the NWA break-up, things get worse for Eazy E as the film progresses. From financial problems to eventually [[spoiler:dying of AIDS]], things are not so [[IncrediblyLamePun "easy"]] for Eazy E.

** The Torrance Police Department has a reputation of being extremely strict and often writing serious tickets for extremely small infractions, as well as for singling out people unfamiliar with the town, to the point to where the entire South Bay/Beach City area has given them an infamous reputation of being assholes. Many young residents born after N.W.A's fame were completely unaware of the role that officers of the Torrance Police Department played in the creation of the track, and for a few months after the film's release it was not entirely uncommon to find young individuals taking photos outside the old studio or blaring Fuck Tha Police while driving.

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Jerry Heller]], after finally being confronted and fired by Eazy over [[spoiler:Heller's corrupt handling of NWA's and Ruthless' money]], begs him to change his mind, and is all but in tears when Eazy storms out of his house.

* WartsAndAll: Part of the point of the movie; while the impact that NWA made on music and society is important, the film reminds us that they were still human and were far from perfect. Examples include Eazy's promiscuity, and even referring to (if not showing) Dr. Dre's assault of Dee Barnes.

* AxCrazy: Suge Knight, just like in real life. Beating people is his solution to everything from [[spoiler:getting Eazy to sign away Dre]] to pistol-whipping someone who [[DisproportionateRetribution parked in his parking spot]].

* BattleRapping: After Ice Cube leaves the group, and outsells them with ''[=AmeriKKKa's=] Most Wanted'', the remaining members of NWA attack him on the track "100 Miles And Runnin'". Cube took exception to this, as he made a conscious decision not to attack the group, and releases "No Vaseline". The end result? [[spoiler:Ice Cube singlehandedly destroys NWA, exposes Jerry Heller's corruption, and causes Dre to leave Ruthless Records because of said corruption.]]
** The film also AdaptedOut any mention of "Fuckin wit Dre Day", Dr. Dre's own savage diss track on Eazy-E, which is notably one of Dre's best-performing singles. It puts Eazy-E's reaction in seeing bill boards for ''The Chronic'' into a different light.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:After a bad break up, all of the members of NWA manage to reconcile shortly before Eazy dies from AIDS. Dre leaves Death Row to form Aftermath. Although his first album on his own (also titled ''Aftermath'') would fail to capture the magic of ''The Chronic'' to say the least, [[Music/{{Eminem}} he gets]] [[Music/FiftyCent better.]]]]

* CategoryTraitor: The African American DirtyCop who harasses NWA is presented as particularly nasty one and is even mocked by NWA in song lyrics and in person for being so aggressive to supposed black gangbangers just to appeal to his white officer cohorts. Even using more blatant anti-black racist dialogue to hammer home the trope.

* CreativeClosingCredits: The credits show the real life impact NWA left on the world, combined with a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue on the surviving members.

** Music/TupacShakur and Music/SnoopDogg owing their success to NWA.

** Suge Knight is seen with the group after their first performance, talking in a somewhat creepy tone about how he can "Get stuff done." He can get stuff done, largely through beating and threatening people.

** The members of NWA are depicted as reconciling with Eazy shortly before his death and planning a reunion of NWA. In real life, this never happened, and DJ Yella was the only member of the group present at E's funeral.

* PapaWolf: Despite his flaws, Jerry Heller does come to the defense of NWA on at least two occasions and he wisely advises Eazy [[spoiler:not to kill Suge Knight, because it won't solve anything and he'll just end up dead, in prison, or both.]]

* PoisonousFriend: Jerry to Eazy E. Which resulted in the group's fallout.

* RageBreakingPoint: After breaking ties with NWA, Bryan Turner tells Ice Cube he would not receive royalties for ''[=AmeriKKa's=] Most Wanted'' if he chose to go solo, but would be paid an advance for his second album if the first was successful. [[spoiler:Come ''[=AmeriKKKa's=] Most Wanted'' outselling ''Straight Outta Compton'', Turner goes back on his word, despite Cube protesting that he needed the cash, having brought a house and his girlfriend being pregnant with his son (Who ironically portrays his dad in the movie). Fed up with getting played by shady executives a second time, Cube brings the Lench Mob to Turner's office and proceeds to wreck it with a baseball bat.]]

* AdaptedOut: The film has gotten some heat over glossing over, or outright ignoring key N.W.A. affiliates that were a large part of the group's success (JJ Fadd, Tairrie B, ect.) and ignoring Dr. Dre's notorious reputation as a woman beater during the Nineties in favor of featuring Music/SnoopDogg and Music/TupacShakur in minor cameos.
** Dre and Yella's past with their former group, World Class Wrecking Crew, and the Ruthless/Death Row diss records were also ignored.
** Founding NWA members Krazy Dee and Arabian Prince were excluded from the film entirely, due to them leaving prior to the release of ''Straight Outta Compton.''

** The portrayal of Eazy-E's life after the NWA breakup was rather undermined. Significant events of Eazy-E's life was left out, such as his "Real Muthaphuckkin G's" diss track towards Dr. Dre and his successful lawsuit against Death Row Records for publishing Dre-produced songs while he was still signed to Eazy-E's Creator/RuthlessRecords. Although there were a few mentions of them in the movie (including a tape being shown in Eazy's hospital room when Dre enters near the end of the film), Grammy-award winning group Music/BoneThugsNHarmony being signed by Eazy-E was not shown.
* AmbiguousSituation: Just how much Jerry Heller ripped off the band is never clear. While the NWA was bringing in tens of millions and they were receiving (comparatively) paltry checks of $75,000 at the start, we also see them live extraordinarily extravagant lifestyles which Jerry, rightly, points out has costs they never ask about.

** Music/EazyE is shown wearing his iconic White Sox cap in 1986. Unfortunately, said cap design [[http://www.sportslogos.net/logos/list_by_team/55/Chicago_White_Sox/ didn't exist before]] '''[[http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/-straight-outta-compton--makes-a-big-blunder-involving-eazy-e-s-white-sox-cap-181108933.html 1991]]'''. Eazy DID sport that hat in RealLife, but it was [[spoiler:after NWA's breakup and shortly before his death]].

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The movie takes several liberties with the actual history of the N.W.A. Some of which can be confirmed and some of which has had contradictory accounts. See also AnachronismStew.