Straight Outta Compton was a massive hit. Not only did the movie perform remarkably at the box office, it's soundtrack has now been officially certified as triple platinum by the RIAA. However, Ice Cube is now claiming the aspects of the film were not historically accurate.
The movie, the music, and N.W.A.'s message have been extremely influential. The group chose to present an extremely realistic portrait of life on the streets of Compton in the 1980s.
But the film itself wasn't so accurate. In an interview with Variety, Ice Cube criticized the film for failing to mention Dr. Dre's abuse of women, including his assault on journalist Dee Barnes. Dr. Dre has come under fire for his role in producing the film.
Evidently, as a producer, the rapper/businessman thought it would harm his future business process to show, in detail, the harrowing incident in that took place with Ms. Barnes in a ladies' bathroom.
But, that's not all Ice Cube had to say, he also had some words about modern rap compared to his time on the scene in the '80s.
"I think it's always going to have the potential to have something to say. It's really up to the artists. The 'something to say' has been really kind of drained out of hip-hop. It started to lose its steam in about '93 and escapism rap became the top dog. When I say 'escapism rap,' I mean talking about weed, getting high, cars, women, jewelry, money - a whole bunch of excess," he said. "Don't worry about your real problems, just go to the strip club and smoke them away. So that started to take over and we ain't really came out of that, because all that stuff is fun. It's cool to do. There ain't no struggle in it. It ain't hard. Anybody can do it. So I think hip-hop heads have taken the easy way out."
