The Cast of 'Straight Outta Compton' Takes a Rap Trivia Quiz (2024)

The craziest thing about the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton,in theaters nationwide today,is that the film's real starsaren't actually in the movie. We're talking, of course, about Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and the long-deceased Eazy-E. Instead, thetrioplaying N.W.A. is a bunch of relatively unknown actorswith as much to prove as those rappersin the late '80s.But the film'sability to capture a moment in time when hip-hop was explodingcan be attributed as much to the founders of the world's most dangerous rap group as it can to the young guys playing them—Corey Hawkins, O'Shea Jackson Jr.,and Jason Mitchell, respectively. For each actor, the opportunity to play these characters, to become these beloved figures, was seen as a challenge, a struggle, and ultimately something they closely identified with. Hawkins, who graduated from Juilliard and was doing Shakespeare on Broadway before this, faced questions about whether he was hood enough to play Dre. Mitchell, who hails from New Orleans and only played bit parts before Eazy, didn't even have enough money to fly to L.A. for an audition. And Jackson Jr.'s own father, Ice Cube, never guaranteed him the part—he had to audition just like everyone else.

Whether the filmswimsor sinksremains to be seen. But for these actors, at thismoment, Straight Outta Compton is their big break. In a way, Straight Outta Compton is their Straight Outta Compton,the album that, thanks to a certainanti-police abuse single, launched N.W.A. into stardom.We talked to them about it.

You've been all over the country screening this film. It premieredin New York to a standing ovation, buta couple of jokes didn't land. Did some of it go over people's heads?

Jackson: You know the Beat Street line? I was like, "They're not going to like that." And then people went: "Ooh!"But I'm like, "Ya'll not wearing Kangols no more, we're not wearing Jheri curls. Let's shake it off." That's going to happen everywhere. It's going to happen with every movie. It all depends on who's in the room. Some people aren't going to get certain things. Different people have different senses of humor than others. Everywhere we've been, though, it's been a live crowd.

N.W.A. camefrom a very rough area, but that's not every black person's experience. Corey, you were doing Shakespeare before this. Was it it difficult getting into your role as Dr. Dre?

Hawkins: I grew up in DC.My mother's a police officer so there was only so much trouble I could get myself into. But my father grew up on the other side. My father had dealt with drugs and that whole issue. I had my foot in both worlds. I knew what I didn't want and so I had to make a choice, just like N.W.A. made choices. Dre made his choice to not do what everybody else was doing [and] not do what Alonzo Williams was doing. He got out of that situation. For me, it was a challenge to go from Shakespeare to doing this. Even that, people looked at me and said, "Can you do Shakespeare?"But when I do Shakespeare, people look at me and be like, "Can you be black? Are you from the hood?"

You're in the movie yelling "f*ck tha Police," but your mom is a police officer. That's gotta be weird.

Hawkins: The first time she came to the set and met Dre, I told him: "This is my mom, she's a police officer."And he was like, "Oh, I think we need to recast you. Feds on set."[Laughs] My mom's a cop, but she's also cool. She's just down. She was a fan of the music first, before she became a cop. It is what it is. There's good cops and bad cops and the good cops have to hold the bad cops accountable. We have to hold the bad cops accountable, too.

Jackson: If "f*ck tha Police" affects you in your heart, then you're probably a bad cop. There's a reason why there's no song called "f*ck theFirefighters." Because they do their service. The police are supposed to work for the citizens and, at a certain point, they developed a fear in civilians and citizens. When you're driving your car and you know a cop is behind you, don't you feel that, "Oh sh*t. What am I doing?"

That's prettyuniversal—you're just like, "Please, don't pull me over. Do I have a headlight out or something?"

Jackson: Everything is going through your head. But you should be happy to see the police. They're supposed to be heroes. They got to work on changing that.

Mitchell: I think that's the reason country towns have a special thing with their police. True enough, some of the more rural areas deal with race issues and sh*t, but when you think of the police, they'll be like, "That's Jimmy's boy down the street."You can't f*ck somebody's kid up because then somebody can say, "C'mon, Sheriff. Do we have to collectively f*ck you up?"This movie is going to be a huge mirror. For people to react the same way they did when Straight Outta Compton the album came out is a great thing. You want to bring up the dialogue, but at the same time, how are you going to get mad? Nothing has changed. It's just music and it's just a movie, but it's a mirror also.

The police harass N.W.A. a lot in this movie, but it's not just white cops.

Mitchell: It's black cops, too. It's all a power trip. I had the pleasure of working with a couple undercover cops on a film that I did,Dragon Eyes,and they have this thing they call the 80 percenters. This dude was a really good dude from California, grew up in California, grew up in L.A. He's the truth as an undercover. He said the 80 percenters are the 80 percent of police who weren't cool, who didn't play sports in high school, who didn't have girlfriends, who were bullied—it all resolves to people waiting to have some position of power to mistreat it. How do you shoot someone with no gun, just because they're running from you? You have to be a killer. You can't just shoot somebody. People aren't built like that.

You play Eazy-E with an emotional bent, which is very different from his public persona. What did you learn about Eazy that led youto play him that way and how did you bring that out of yourself?

Mitchell: When you think about it, it was '95,and everybody only thought you could catch AIDS by being gay, not thrill-seeking. I thought it was crushing him. While shooting the movie, I lost a friend. We was just in the New Orleans kicking it together; I went this way with my life and he went that way. Now he's dead. But it's crazy that it could happen. There were so many things that I could just relate to from my own life that I needed to let out. By that time, I needed to let it out.

Money wastoo tight for you to fly to L.A. to audition.There's a scene in the movie, after the group has broken up, and Eazy is sitting there bagging up weed to sell. Did that hit close to home?

Mitchell: Everything feels real to us. Likethe hotel scene. My man O'Shea here put that sh*t together. It was not like that at first; it was totally weird. I actually had a whole different hairstyle at the beginning of the scene. Corey,in that Death Row office scene, that was all him. It's all about things feeling real and authentic. Some of those scenes, like at the beginning[in the dope house], I can just relate. Like, it's for real from the streets. I just feel blessed that I have some way to channel it that's not in that arena anymore.

O'Shea, you play your father Ice Cube here. The father-son relationship is different for everyone. Have you had any real quiet, private moments, where he's been able to express what this means to him?

Jackson: We're a close family—it's us against the world. So every time we're alone, every time we're in an elevator, every time we're in a limo together, every time we run into each other in the house, he always takes time to let me know how proud he is, and how he feels I'm doing the right thing. Dre, his first scene in the movie is the little rifthe has with his mom. When his brother Tyree [dies], there's a pivotal part where she touches his face and says, "I'm proud of you, Andre."As a kid, when you hear that, that's a weight off your shoulders.

You guys re-recorded Straight Outta Compton before filming. You became rappers for real. But then there's a scene where Eazy can't even rap a single bar on beat. After you'd just learned how to be a rapper, how hard was it to do that wrong?

Mitchell: Dog, let me tell you—ah man! It's already hard enough to rap like Eazy-E without the accent. I have to change my pitch of voice and everything. Then, I gotta stumble through it? After I've just figured the words out? That was a task. All that stuff is mechanicals. That's why they constantly push these bootcamps, us recording the albums and sh*t like, so people could really get that we had so much sh*t to do. I had all that to do...before the scene.

Jackson: He has to be L.A., in the '80s, Eazy's voice, and then f*ck up on purpose!

Dr. Dre looks like he could bench-press Suge Knight these days, but back then he was a little heavier. So was Ice Cube. Did you have to put on weight to play these characters?

Jackson: They had to put on weight.I had to look 17, even though I was 22 when we was filming the sh*t. SoI lost 15 pounds in 24 days, all because of PJ Stahl and Meg Mangano feeding me dirt-grass and water. Diet water. That was hell. It's a beautiful way of living.I was getting up earlier, I had more energy, but f*ck not eating.

Hawkins: We was shooting in the Valley in 110-degree weather, and for Dre, I had on thermals, leather jackets, sweaters. So I was losing weight, trying to gain weight!

The movie's out this weekend. What do you want people to take from it?

Jackson: We want Straight Outta Compton the movie to affect you the way Straight Outta Compton the album did. N.W.A. was an all-star group, but of course at the time they didn't know that. They didn't know Dre was a genius, that my pops is the poet of the streets, and that Eazy is a mastermind. Years later, you're like, "Damn, I can't believe they were together." We want you to feel that way about us as actors a couple years from now. We're new faces now, but we want you to look at Straight Outta Compton and say, yeah, that was an all-star group.

I can see that happening. But only if you can prove you really understandthese guys. It's trivia time! Let's see how well you know N.W.A. In the film, Dre and Eazy-E have their moment of reconciliation. In real life, Eazy did not go down without a fight. So, what was the name of Eazy's famous Dr. Dre disssong?

Mitchell: "Real Compton City G's.""Ayo Doctor, here's another proper track/And it's phat, watch the sniper, time to pay the piper!"

Dre's brother Tyree dies in the film. On which Dr. Dre album does he dedicate a song to him?

Hawkins: Chronic 2001."This is for my brother Tyree, R.I.P." It's so damn sad.

He was watching Yo! MTV Raps. There was no smog. He got a beep from Kim. The Lakers beat the Supersonics. On what day did Ice Cube's "It Was aGood Day" take place?

Jackson: Oh sh*t. I saw this. There's this dude who likemapped it out, the specific day. I lose. I don't know. f*ck. Well, it's between September and June, if it's the playoffs. No, but one of Ice Cube's best days—because he's only had fourreally, really good days—is February 24, 1991. Because I was born, and sh*t was popping.