Exclusive: Ice Cube talks “Straight Outta Compton”Posted by Wilson Morales
August 11, 2015
Coming out this week is the highly anticipated film, “Straight Outta Compton,” which tells the astonishing story of how five young men known as N.W.A. revolutionized music and pop culture forever the moment they told the world the truth about life in the hood and ignited a cultural war.
Directed by F. Gary Gray, the film stars O’Shea Jackson Jr. as Ice Cube, Jason Mitchell as Easy-E, Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre, Neil Brown Jr. as DJ Yella and Aldis Hodge as MC Ren.
For executive producer Ice Cube, a founding member of N.W.A., the film brings his career to full circle as the world gets to see what led him to be a star in the rap world, going off on his own, and starting a film career. Not only that, but his suggestion that his son be cast to play him. What’s great is that O’Shea Jackson Jr. met the challenge and Universal happily gave him the role.
In speaking with Blackfilm.com, Ice Cube talks about getting the group to agree the same plan, working to get the story right and bringing his son in the mix.
What was the toughest thing for the film? Getting the original members to agree or deciding what aspects of your lives you wanted in the film?
Ice Cube: Getting the whole group to say yes, verbally, was a challenge and getting everyone to sign off on shit was a task. Everyone took like an extra two weeks to sig their paper work. Everyone had concerns on how we were not going to mess this up. It can mess up in a few different ways so that was everyone’s major concern. We fought about what was going in and what wasn’t. There’s a lot to say and a lot of materials and information within 10 years and shove it into two hours.
What made you say yes to this film?
Ice Cube: That I had our destiny in my hands being a producer. I knew that I could make sure the story comes out the way that it should. That’s why I said yes. Having a prestigious studio like Universal I knew that it would treated right in the marketplace. We had the opportunity to not make an hip hop biopic but a great film. That’s how we approached it and that’s why I said yes.
Looking back, what do you think the misconception of the group was?
Ice Cube: We didn’t want you to google and know everything that’s going to happen in the movie. It was important to go behind the vail. It was important to show the brotherhood and ultimately, we were five guys who started off as friends and started to do great music. We wanted to humanize N.W.A. for all the people that just see us as larger than life and not see who we are day to day. We’re doing a film to show people what they don’t know about you.
With your son playing you in the film, was that something you serious thought about, knowing he wasn’t an actor at the time?
Ice Cube: I knew that it would be a lot of work for him if he could pull it off. All I could do was set him up to audition, and set him up to do callbacks. I could get him to be in front of the Universal brass but I couldn’t give him the job.
Was there a Plan B if he didn’t get it?
Ice Cube: There was a Plan B, C and D. We had a few different Cubes to audition just in case. We couldn’t give him the job. He had to be the best man so we had to go on with our casting process like he wasn’t there.
Which angle was most important in the story?
Ice Cube: We thought it was important that we were telling a slice of American history and that we just weren’t telling a biopic about a group. We were telling history about a time. You know the where, you know the when, but a lot of people don’t know the why. Why did we make this kind of music and what influenced us? We knew it was important to show that Compton forged N.W.A.. That our experiences in the neighborhood is the reason we made the music we put together. It was important to show the sign of the times and to show LA and how it used to be at that time and give people that sense. We wanted people to walk with us through Compton and not just see from afar.
Race relations among cops and Blacks in LA during the 90s was not a good time and it’s still the same but all over the states.
Ice Cube: It’s important to keep the conscious of us and America as a whole. It’s time to hold these guys accountable. You’re starting to see officers being held accountable right off the bats. It used to take like six months, secret investigation and then you find out that they are not going to be indicted. Now, with the last few incidents, the prosecutors are stepping up and saying they have to go. We have to hold officers accountable and then you’ll see things start to taper off and cops will think twice before they hurt somebody and kill an innocent citizen.
What’s also important in the film are the women featured such as your wife, Easy-E’s wife and Dr. Dre’s wife.
Ice Cube: These are the women behind us that turned us from boys to men. We definitely had to highlight that in as many ways as we could without turning this into a Straight Outta Compton love story; but for the most part, we wanted to show that we just didn’t get here by ourselves. We just didn’t turn into these moguls without strong women with us and helping us and basically advising us through the thick and the thin within this crazy industry.
Stepping aside from this film, what are we expecting from Barbershop 3?
Ice Cube: Barbershop 3 is good. We have so many years since the last Barbershop. We have so many topics to talk about and so many new names. Everyone has a real role. We’re also dealing with what’s real in Chicago right now which is the gang violence. We’re dealing with those situations. My son in the movie is older. He’s 14 and he has dreads. He didn’t want to come to the barbershop. His whole attitude to the barbershop is something else. He just wants to hang out. That’s what great about the Barbershop movie. We can deal with topics that are riding the mainstream today. We can pull topics off the headlines and speak about that in the movie.
Then there’s Ride Along 2. When do you stop working?
Ice Cube: There’s no such thing. You have to get it while it’s good. That’s what I’m trying to do. There aren’t that many hot Black producers that are doing it on this level so I just want to represent and why stop.
How was working with F. Gary Gray? Was it easier knowing you guys go way back?
Ice Cube: It was was when I hired him, then it went out the window. You can’t be a punk and direct an N.W.A. film. You have to be down to fight and that dude is down to fight. He fights for what he believes in the movie and he fights with the studio if he had to and he fights with us if he had to. He wants the best and he’s not going to settle. That’s why I wanted him. I knew he would treat the material like Francis Ford Coppola treated “The Godfather.” We needed a director that knew N.W.A., understood N.W.A., and knows what N.W.A. means to the world and was there with us and knows us personally. All these things pointed to Gary as the best man for the job. I’m glad he took it. If he didn’t take the job, I had a short list. John Singleton and maybe Antoine Fuqua. If neither could do it, then I’m not going to do it. With anyone else, I didn’t want to teach what N.W.A. means to people.
What was left out?
Ice Cube: There’s a director’s cut. It’s hard to cram 10 years into two hours. I wish we could have gone over the Dre and Dee Barnes stuff and the things I was doing to get my movie career going. At a certain point, if it didn’t pertain to N.W.A., that’s loseable because you could do a Dr. Dre movie. You can come back and do an Ice Cube movie and you can do an Easy-E movie and N.W.A. would be on each movie and it would be that long. We all still have stories to tell and things that happened in history. It’s all about N.W.A..
With as many biopics out there, which ones served as an influence?
Ice Cube: The best one that we could find was “Ray.” All the other ones were missing a mark here and there and we didn’t want to miss anywhere. We wanted to hit the mark everywhere. I believe that we weaved in the stories, the times, and the brotherhood as beautifully as any producer in Hollywood could have done.
