There aren't many albums influential enough to inspire a movie. But then there aren't many albums like Straight Outta Compton.
Released in 1988, N.W.A’s incendiary hip-hop record inspired a generation of rappers, frightened legions of parents and infuriated police with its explicit anti-authoritarian lyrics.
Moreover, it captured the mood of Los Angeles at a time just before riots engulfed the city after Rodney King’s beating at the hands of the LAPD.
The creation of the record forms the centrepiece of F Gary Gray's biopic, Straight Outta Compton, which follows the rise and rupture of N.W.A.
“Our story is extremely vivid,” says Ice Cube, the 46-year-old rapper turned actor who cofounded the group with MC Ren, DJ Yella, Eazy-E and the hugely influential musician/producer Dr Dre. “The challenge was to figure out what do we keep and what do we lose? What do we need to tell this story and what is just a footnote?”
Already a huge hit in America, where it has taken US$160million (Dh587.7m) at the box office, Straight Outta Compton takes big risks – not least casting Ice Cube's 24 year-old son, O'Shea Jackson, as his own father.
“I’d never acted in anything before, so of course I had my moments of intimidation,” he says. “But it was nothing that was going to stop me from immortalising my father’s legacy on the screen ... I’ve been doing research on this role for more than 20 years. There’s nobody who is going to give you the ins and outs that I am.”
Internet critics immediately cried nepotism, but Jackson went through a stringent two-year audition process.
“I wasn’t into giving him any role for free, without working hard for it,” says Ice Cube.
At Gray's request, Jackson and his young co-stars re-recorded the whole Compton album in the studio before filming began.
“That’s just another way that Gary built a brotherhood among the five of us,” Jackson says.
So what does his dad make of his son’s musical skills?
“He can rap with the best of them,” he says.
Ice Cube, who is credited as a producer on the film, says that all of “the N.W.A crew” were involved on some level in its making – which has prompted rumours that the surviving members (Eazy-E died in 1995 of Aids-related complications) will reform.
“It’s just a rumour,” he says. “It all hinges on Dr Dre. Nobody wants to hear an N.W.A album not produced by Dr Dre. I think it hinges on that. I’m down to do it – I’m ready to go.”
Whether that happens or not, the album has stood the test of time.
"It changed pop culture," says Ice Cube. "It made things that weren't acceptable more acceptable. All kind of different things came off of N.W.A – The Osbournes, Marilyn Manson, Eminem, South Park. All these edgy, edgy, edgy artists and shows wouldn't even exist without N.W.A breaking that barrier down, and saying: 'You don't have to be a squeaky-clean artist to be famous and to be large.'"
• Straight Outta Compton opens in cinemas on October 1.
artslife@thenational.ae