“Our art is a reflection of our reality.”

When O’Shea Jackson Jr. states in the film “Our art is a reflection of our reality.” in reply to the group being accused of promoting violence, it’s a knife to the heart for every viewer.  The film ‘Straight Outta Compton’ did an amazing job accurately portraying the lives that the members of the NWA actually faced living in Compton, CA. The story is of the five young men trying to make better lives for themselves while going through many frustrating experiences that are just a part of living in the city of Compton, while they change hip-hop history forever.  Some viewers may watch this movie and think some of the scenes are violent and over-done, but that’s because the truth that this movie reveals almost too cruel to be true. White viewers especially will be more skeptical because we are so negligent of our own white privilege.

            Things like gangs stopping school busses and pointing guns at the heads of students, doors on crack-houses getting broke down, people killing each other over drugs, and police man handling and harassing black young men for absolutely no reason, was a part of their daily lives. They weren’t safe to walk down their own neighborhood streets. The drug business was almost impossible to avoid getting into. Drugs are the main source of money generation for neighborhoods like that. These things weren’t something the movie producers dreamt up on  a story board and emphasized to put a stress on how life in the ghetto really is or how unfairly white police officers treated the people there. These were real experiences. People actually lived like that and even still do today. The film also did an incredible job recreating scenes of the LA riots in where over 50 people died and over 2,000 were injured. It created visions of destruction and horror; burning cars and buildings, shattered windows, people being beaten and killed, and rioters picketing and yelling.  I don’t think the goal of the film was to gain sympathy for the mistreated black people living there but more to shed light on the reality of the neighborhood and the strenuous but amazing journey the group had to go through to get where they ended up.

            In the movie, Ice cube refers to their ‘art’ to the group of skeptical people in a conference room. Rap is not something most people would consider art, however in the film what they are referring to as ‘their art’ is their music, rap. Art is a form of creation and self-expression, art is both. We consider music art, rap is music. We consider poetry art, rap is poetry. If rap is a combination of the two then how can’t it be art? Painters paint portraits of people and scenes that they’ve seen, dream of, or love. Musicians write songs about experiences they’ve gone through, ways they feel, and things they do. Rap is no different. For them their lyrics are the truth, they are their reality. In the mid 1980’s when rap started to come out, they would set their lyrics to music and it would become known as ‘reality raps.’ Although some of their lyrics may be considered brutal or aggressive, they’re the truth, the upright honest truth. A lot of their lyrics and even song titles talk about women, guns, cars, drugs, police, gangs, and other things that played a large role in their lives. They rap about experiences in their personal lives too. They rap about family struggles, community dangers, career tribulations, things that actually happened to them. Even when the group began to separate they wrote songs about the anger and betrayal they felt with each other.  Their songs were an outlet for them, a way to express how angry they were with the lives they had to live. One of their most popular songs called “F the police” expresses their deep hatred for the police system. They wrote the song out of anger for their years of unjust treatment that continued even after they became famous. The song became a protest song against police brutality and racial profiling.

            The group faced a lot of criticism because of their music. Audiences were skeptical and afraid of their lyrics; a lot even deemed them inappropriate. Their explicit lyrics were hated for disrespecting women and police and glorifying drugs, alcohol and crime, but that’s all they knew. That was their reality. The first serious controversy was over their song “F the police.” An FBI assistant director sent the group a letter expressing his disapproval of the songs. The justice system felt that it encouraged violence against police and would cause confrontations.

            The film also includes many historical elements that really add to the impact the film makes on the audience. The film was set to take place during the Rodney King Trials which was a crucial point in history for the mistreatment of black people and fight against white privilege. The film illustrated the mayhem and destruction that broke out in all of the neighborhoods at the time. The film also included the AIDS epidemic going on at the time. The film turns heart-warming when a beloved member of the group Eazy-E played by learns he is very sick from contracting HIV.

            This film really makes audience reflect on past and present social issues. White privilege is still a thing. The movie is so in depth and emotional the audience feels that they are taking a step into the reality of the members of the NWA and others living in Compton. After watching this movie you feel like you just sat down to watch a two and a half hour documentary. Now after watching this film and getting an insight to their reality, when I look at their song lyrics I see them in an entirely different light. They’re not offensive or explicit, they’re the truth and the result of a broken society, but most importantly, they’re art.