He was a vital member and key creative force in the early success of pioneering LA hip-hop crew NWA. But rapper MC Ren has taken to Twitter to lament his diminished role in Straight Outta Compton after the blockbuster biopic took the US box office by storm this weekend.
While encouraging fans to see the movie, which scored a staggering final bow of $60.2m - even higher than the original $56.1m estimate - in North America, Ren pointed out that F Gary Gray’s film paints him as a minor player in the early success of the gangsta rap outfit.
In fact, the MC performed on seven out of the 13 tracks on NWA’s 1988 breakthrough LP, Straight Outta Compton. He also wrote four songs and co-wrote three more. By contrast Ice Cube, who with Dr Dre And Eazy-E gets more screen time in the movie, wrote five songs and co-wrote three more.
“True fans know my role in the group as far a[s] lyrics are concerned, don’t let the movie fool you about my contribution to the group,” tweeted Ren, adding: “Congrats to the cast and crew. Great job of telling our story.”
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.
— MC REN (@mcrencpt) August 15, 2015
Thanx for all the congratulations on the film, it's a dope flick. If u haven't seen it go check it out
— MC REN (@mcrencpt) August 16, 2015
Congrats to the cast and crew. Great job of telling our story. https://t.co/8xRWdOjbSr
— MC REN (@mcrencpt) August 17, 2015
Ren, real name Lorenzo Jerald Patterson, was not a producer on the biopic, while Cube, Dre and Eazy-E’s widow Tomica Woods-Wright were all involved behind the scenes. Straight Outta Compton stars Cube’s son O’Shea Jackson Jr as his father, Corey Hawkins as Dr Dre, Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E, Aldis Hodge as MC Ren and Neil Brown Jr as DJ Yella. The film has been well-reviewed by critics and its final total represents the biggest ever August bow for an “R”-rated movie as well as the fifth biggest debut of all time for the month.
The biopic has also been praised by African American film-makers. Selma director Ava DuVernay congratulated Gray and said the film “captured the plight of the black artist in general, once consumed by systems and structures not made for them,” adding: “The struggle is real.”
I saw @ComptonMovie last night w/ friends at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in South Central with a beautiful, alive, invested audience.
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) August 16, 2015
Invested because many of them, like me, were there. Teens at the very time and in the very place depicted on screen. It had better be right.
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) August 16, 2015
And damn, they got it right. Under @FGaryGray's brilliant direction + @MattyLibatique's gorgeous cinematography, I was transported back.
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) August 16, 2015
I saw the cavalier way that women were treated in hip hop spaces early on. Window dressing at most. Disposable at worst. Yep, that happened.
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) August 16, 2015
I saw the militarized Batterrams again. Rolling up our streets like invaders in a war. My friend asked, "Is that real?" Yep. That happened.
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) August 16, 2015
I was in the street during the Rodney King Uprising. After that unjust verdict. Feeling anger. And community. And fire. And love. Happened.
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) August 16, 2015
I remember the truce. So when that shot of red and blue bandanas tied together flashed on screen? Wild applause in my theater. It happened.
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) August 16, 2015
The music of my youth and how it came to be and why it was what it was. We rapped along, clapped, laughed, cried. For all that has happened.
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) August 16, 2015
All the stifling of our voices as young black people in that place at that time while a war was going on against us. @FGaryGray captured it.
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) August 16, 2015
He captured the plight of the black artist in general, once consumed by systems and structures not made for them. The struggle is real.
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) August 16, 2015
