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Straight Outta Compton: Watch the first full trailer for the NWA film

The footage includes an introduction from Dr Dre and Ice Cube

Antonia Molloy
Monday 09 February 2015 12:35 GMT
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Dr Dre and Ice Cube seen at the start of the trailer
Dr Dre and Ice Cube seen at the start of the trailer (YouTube )

The first full-length trailer for the highly-anticipated film Straight Outta Compton has been released.

Based around the formation of hip hop group NWA, the biopic goes back to "where it all started" – Compton, California, in the mid-Eighties.

The trailer opens with an introduction from Dr Dre and Ice Cube, who have produced the film, as they drive through the streets and explain that music was their “weapon”.

"We put it all into music – our frustration and anger. Our music was like our weapon," they say.

"That’s the most powerful weapon we've got."

As the pair reminisces on their early years, they explain how they "kicked the door down for a lot of artists" and created a "lifestyle" rather than simply music.

The action then switches to scenes from the film itself, which is directed by F. Gary Gray.

Dr Dre is played by Non-Stop actor Corey Hawkins while O'Shea Jackson Jr, the son of Ice Cube, portrays his own father. Jason Mitchell plays the late Eazy-E and the movie also stars Aldis Hodge as MC Ren and Neil Brown Jr. as DJ Yella.

NWA are credited with redefining gangsta rap and west coast hip hop in the Eighties, with some critics calling them the most important group in the history of rap music.

Active from 1986 to 1991, the rap group were considered controversial due to their explicit lyrics that appeared to disrespect women and glorify drugs and crime.

Straight Outta Compton is scheduled for release on 14 August 2015.

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