Straight out of Compton Still - H 2015
'Straight Outta Compton,' Universal PicturesOne of NWA’s founding fathers has conflicting feelings about the biopic Straight Outta Compton.
MC Ren (played by Aldis Hodge in the hit film) is treated as a side character, with Compton focusing on Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) and Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell).
On Twitter, Ren has encouraged people to see the film, but on Saturday also suggested the film minimized his contribution to the groundbreaking group.
“True fans know my role in the group as far a lyrics are concerned, don’t let the movie fool you about my contribution to the group,” he tweeted.
Ice Cube, Dre and Eazy-E’s widow Tomica Woods-Wright are producers on the film. MC Ren and fellow founding member DJ Yella were not, which has lead to speculation that his role was minimized because he was not there to advocate for himself during the filmmaking process.
“If you didn’t know the N.W.A. members MC Ren and DJ Yella before, you’re not likely to know them after, as they’re inconsequential to this telling,” Manohla Dargis wrote in her New York Times review of the film.
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For the band’s 1988 album Straight Outta Compton, MC Ren’s contributions made him a fan favorite. MC Ren wrote four songs and co-wrote three others. For comparison’s sake, Ice Cube wrote five songs and co-wrote three others. D.O.C. co-wrote two, Arabian Prince (who doesn’t appear in the film) wrote one and Eazy-E does not have a songwriting credit. MC Ren also performs on seven of the 13 tracks.
Though his tweet suggested his role was underrepresented in the film, MC Ren has also tweeted praise of Compton, writing the cast and crew did a “Great job of telling our story.”
The film debuted to a big $60.2 million over the weekend.
— MC REN (@mcrencpt) August 15, 2015
Congrats to the cast and crew. Great job of telling our story. https://t.co/8xRWdOjbSr
— MC REN (@mcrencpt) August 17, 2015