The reason we wanted to tell this story is because we all have been entertained by NWA for over 25 years. No NWA, way there's no "Boyz n the Hood" movie. No "Boyz n the Hood" movie, no "Friday" movie, which Gary directed and we did together.
It's like that type of feeling that you have. Before NWA, it was only one real west coast wrapper getting any light, and that was Ice T. So we
And I enjoy that a lot. My friend Wokie Nwabueze-- I have a podcast, and Wokie was on my podcast.
I'm sorry, that's an amazing performance. A movie about NWA will not get nominated.
I feel like it's personal to me, because I grew up in this environment at that time not too far from Ice Cube and was involved with their careers once they left NWA and directing their music videos and things like that. So it was the perfect time for me, and it's arguably the most important film of my career.
I'm bonded with these guys just like I'm bonded within NWA, because they are NWA now for everybody who looks on the screen who don't pick up a documentary. When they see NWA, they're gonna see these guys. So they are us.
and just does all the research and the homework to transport you to another time and another world and make you feel like you're there. And so to have NWA on a set, for me, was great, because I'm getting firsthand accounts of all these moments in the studio-- all the fights, all the great moments, all the debauchery, all the stuff that was going on.
What would making this film in like 1995, '91 been like with the access of social media, and how do you compare that today to what we have today? What do you think NWA and the story would have been like with technology and with social media the way it was today back in the NWA's days?
What do you think NWA and the story would have been like with technology and with social media the way it was today back in the NWA's days? Oh man. Everything would have just happened a lot faster.
So I'd like to talk a little bit more about Adisa. So he covered Eazy-E and NWA. He was one of the first writers to cover them.
But I knew that this project was going to be special because of who was involved, because Gary was involved and Cube was involved and Dre was involved, and the other members of NWA, and Eazy's widow. So one thing led to another.
So this next question is for Cube, obviously, and Gary. What was it like having NWA on set with you guys during this process? How was that experience reliving this story with your team, with the crew, and with the whole production cast?
And we got this big arena full of people, and they was actually going to get up there and do it for real. And I've never been to an NWA concert, so it was kind of cool. I was like, damn.
Over half of the gurus that I was taught to learn from ran armies and had bodies under their belt. And I was listening to gangster rap before NWA. My gurus rhymed and killed.
To me, it was just the perfect time to tell this story. So many people have been entertained off the NWA family tree for the last 25 years. And it was just like, there's some people that don't even know I rap, you know what I mean, that's out in the world.
We might not even have Shea-- --Jr. without NWA. So everybody-- O'SHEA JACKSON JR.: What kind of a world is that? So it was really all about showing people where it came from and celebrating it, and making
It's like that type of feeling that you have. But those were the moments that we really felt like NWA.
It's like that type of feeling that you have. because I kind of view us as like the old NWA, the situation they were in, because there's so much controversy that's
And now that you look back on it, do you have a better understanding of why you were in that place, or why you felt that way? Dr. Dre did NWA.
It was just a great, great experience that I'll never forget, that we all went through the fire together, and we bonded. I'm bonded with these guys just like I'm bonded within NWA, because they are NWA now for everybody who looks on the screen who don't pick up a documentary. When they see NWA, they're gonna see these guys.
We all have them. You know, Eazy E from NWA.
We all have them. My boss is Easy E, NWA.
tell stories that are normal and we tell stories that we think that people think will resonate with people. And like Angela pointed out, when the only people that you're thinking about are white, then of course NWA is an outlier, right? And that goes back to like how we've defined what normal looks like. And the third thing sort of also going back to
And this is a story-- and I kept mentioning that. The reason we wanted to tell this story is because we all have been entertained by NWA for over 25 years. No NWA, way there's no "Boyz n the Hood" movie.
And this question is for you, Gary. It felt like LA and South Central Los Angeles and Compton were actually the sixth member of NWA in this film. It felt like that was actually a character of the film, and the way that you really took care of filming and doing those things there.
Like you said, Los Angeles, Compton, South Central, they do feel like the sixth member of NWA. And it's because all the things that happened in that area in that era really forged NWA-- all the good stuff, all the bad stuff, all of the things that they went through.
Man, they had so, so many good moments. But like Cube said, he'd never been to an NWA concert before. And I'm not a rapper, so I'd never done a concert before.
Surely they have a much greater motivation to think things through more logically. But then in 1947, a brilliant copywriter, Frances Gerety, working for the NW Ayer agency, writes the line, a diamond is forever for De Beers.
reality of it is is our stories are never funded. Um, when I'm talking about the big screen because you brought up hidden figures, I think about what happened and this is totally opposite of hidden figures, but with NWA, the NWA biopic, you know, the fact that there was this like, oh my god, Straight Out of Compton like really did very well. I
So it's a beautiful thing. F. GARY GRAY: So was the question, how was it having the real NWA on the set? Yes. F. GARY GRAY: Well for me, it helped out a lot.
And it's a great origin story, because people love Snoop and Eminem and all these things. And they bumping their beats and all that, and we wouldn't have none of that without NWA. We might not even have Shea--
F. GARY GRAY: Well, it was crucial. Like you said, Los Angeles, Compton, South Central, they do feel like the sixth member of NWA. And it's because all the things that happened in that area in that era really forged NWA-- all the good stuff, all
We all have them. And L.A. back in the days was more like, NWA, all gangster music.