BY MATT BARONE |
There's Already a STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON Spoof, and It's 22 Years Old
Catch up with Chris Rock's hilarious and timely N.W.A. send-up at Brooklyn's Nitehawk Cinema this weekend.
The timing couldn't be any better for a CB4 revival. Released back when Chris Rock was merely an on-the-bubble potential movie star, the hip-hop spoof aimed to be rap's very own This is Spinal Tap!, and it mostly succeeded, becoming a decent box office hit while skewering the hell out of the early '90s "gangsta rap" scene. Which is hugely back in vogue thanks to the 2015 pop culture juggernaut that is Straight Outta Compton.
Rock's film and F. Gary Gray's N.W.A. biopic would make for an excellently bizarre double feature. While the latter earnestly tries to capture what it was like to be Dr. Dre, Eazy E and Ice Cube as the group ascended to ubiquity, CB4 lampoons everything about N.W.A.’s rise, image, and music—lovingly, of course. Co-written by Rock and revered hip-hop journalist Nelson George, it's as authentic as it is intelligent; directed by Tamra Davis, a one-time music video shooter who worked with N.W.A.’s protégé The D.O.C., it's made by a woman who saw their world firsthand and kept the integrity intact.
And with faux rap anthems like "Straight Outta Locash" and "Sweat From My Balls," its soundtrack is catchy enough to finally rid your brain of that insufferable "Cheerleader" song.
Where to see it: Nitehawk Cinema, Saturday and Sunday at 11:45 a.m.
You can also buy CB4 to watch on YouTube for only $2.99, via this link.