N.W.A Biopic in the Works, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre To Produce

Rap supergroup N.W.A will become the latest hip-hop act to have its story told in a big-screen biopic. Straight Outta Compton will chart the group's rise and fall, EW's Entertainment Insider reports. The film has already recruited N.W.A's Ice Cube and Dr. Dre as producers, as well as Tomica Wright, the widow of Eazy-E. Perhaps the act responsible for putting West Coast rap on the map, the quartet — which also included rapper MC Ren — was controversial for both its name, Niggaz With Attitude, and its hit "Fuck Tha Police."

The self-proclaimed "World's Most Dangerous Group" and Rolling Stone's Number 83 on our list of Immortals released three albums, most notably 1988's Straight Outta Compton. Ice Cube left the group over a royalty fight in 1989, and the outfit ultimately broke up for good in 1991. Ice Cube and N.W.A were involved in a rap feud around the time of Cube's solo Amerikkk's Most Wanted, then Dre and Eazy-E famously feuded, as evidenced by The Chronic hit "Dre Day." In their heyday, the group also faced off against family groups that criticized their lyrical content. There's so much more, but we don't want to ruin the movie for you.

Following the release of the B.I.G. film Notorious, hip-hop biopics have suddenly become a hot commodity in Hollywood. The trend started with Eminem's 8 Mile and 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Trying, and since then a film is being scripted about Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Run-DMC, a planned Tupac Shakur film is being held up due to legal problems and now we have this N.W.A film in the works. No director has been announced for the N.W.A project yet, but producers are reportedly seeking a helmer on par with 8 Mile's Curtis Hanson.

Related Stories:

• The Immortals: N.W.A. by Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson
• N.W.A. Outta Compton in 1989 
• Run-DMC Biopic Heading to the Big Screen With Help of "Notorious" Writer

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

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