Artists are interesting, it's as plain as that

Brian and I watched Straight Outta Compton this weekend. … I’m going to preface this post by saying that first and foremost, it was a very good movie. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Now, having said that … I was super hesitant to sit and watch it. It was one of those movies where I knew it would be good, but I also knew that there would be aspects that would make me uncomfortable, and I didn’t really want to see that. So, nervous and knowing that I would be witness to racism and gang violence in all manner of forms, I agreed to watch. I’m so glad I did.

I’m not a fan of rap music; I never have been. I appreciate artists for their art in all forms, but as for listening to it a lot, I don’t. Brian, on the other hand, was a huge fan of N.W.A., so he was very excited. I am a fan of Ice Cube, in all his talents and entertainments, so for that, I was intrigued.

It was super awesome to see the beginnings of all these men, to see how they started in the industry, and the trials and tribulations they managed to overcome. I was excited to learn how they grew and established themselves in the heights of their art. And it also was cool when I recognized bits and pieces of music from my own memory, as well as remembering news from way back when. We watched the unrated director’s cut, which was about two hours and 48 minutes long, but it really didn’t feel that long. I did not want to sit for three hours, but the pace of the film made it fly by pretty well. I’m curious what was cut for the theatrical release (probably a lot of the party scenes).

I love it when a movie makes me want to sit on Wikipedia for hours reading about the people depicted, which I did, and makes me want to buy music, which I didn’t, actually, because I don’t really like it beyond the beats here and there.
So, in all that, I’ll say that I highly recommend this movie. And I think it did get robbed by the Oscars, but Ice Cube himself said that the accolades he received from the fans and movie goers was worth more to him than the industry recognition. Indeed, they make movies for the people, not the industry awards. This one was a labor of love, clearly, and they knocked it out of the park.