Straight Outta Compton has music lovers raving over the recently debuted biopic about one revolutionary pop music group that influenced and changed the culture of hip-hop.

The film debuted nationwide on Aug. 14, and it has topped the box office two weeks in a row, earning a stunning $115.5 million.

Directed by F. Gary Gray, the two-and-a-half hour production paints the picture of how young men growing up in an economically neglected neighborhood in the mid 1980s take their reality and put it into a form of music called “reality raps.” The movement would come to birth what is called “west coast gangsta rap,” an innovative style of hip-hop that caused a great deal of criticism during its early beginnings.

The film started with a scene of extensive drug criminality, in which former drug dealer Eric Wright (played by actor and New Orleans native Jason Mitchell) gets away from the drug game by establishing himself as record label owner and stage name Eazy-E. Wright puts up the initial money for the group, alongside DJ (now billionaire and super producer Andre “Dr. Dre” Young) and lyricist O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson (played by producer Ice Cube’s son O’Shea Jackson Jr.). They collectively called themselves NWA (Niggaz wit’ Attitude). There are additional members of the group, DJ Yella and MC Ren, but basically Eazy-E was the business mind, Ice Cube wrote all the lyrics and Dr. Dre was the genius behind all of their musical productions.

During the rise to stardom, NWA was riding high. Eazy-E founded Ruthless Records with sleazy businessman Jerry Heller, and NWA cut the group’s first independent record: Boyz n the Hood. In the film, Heller (played by actor Paul Giamatti) is an interesting, yet untrustworthy business partner. Heller is responsible for getting NWA preliminary exposure.

Although being unfair in contractual situations with the artists, Heller was also disgusted with the police harassment his artists received just because of their approach. The harassment of the police was resonated by Heller, who uses his white privilege to resolve an unjust situation involving police tension. The situations are similar to what’s still customary in America today, but it is more exposed due to cell phones and other communications technology. Pissed off and rather inspired, the group went on to create famous records like opening track “Straight Outta Compton” and “F*** tha Police,” voicing and protesting police brutality and racial profiling. The first major controversy over rap lyrics came after “F*** tha Police,” in which the group received a letter from FBI assistant director Milt Ahlerich resenting the song. Of course, the group didn’t care and played the song at the next show. The group’s debut album Straight Outta Compton marked the origin of the new gangsta rap era.

After the rise of the group, the eventual downfall of the group happens when Ice Cube, (who wrote majority of all the lyrics on the debut album,) left the group after disputes over royalties. As the film transitions, Dr. Dre was next to leave the group to create his own record label. The second half of the film is more fast paced, as Ice Cube shifts into the family entertainer he is today. Hip-Hop legends Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur also appeared in the film. Compton also does a great job illustrating the mayhem in urban communities that broke out after the Rodney King trial. The group would plan a reunion, when Eazy-E learns he’s sick and dies from AIDS.

Although expressing deep hatred for the police system, the most controversy was over their explicit lyrics many believed to be disrespectful to women and glorifying drugs and crime. Both left and right wing commentators and religious leaders accused the genre for promoting nothing but everything wrong. Many believe the group added to the stereotypical insight that African Americans acted uncultured in the entertainment industry.

Many gangsta rappers defend themselves, saying what they express in music is reality of inner city lifestyle. What NWA did, not only do for hip-hop but music in general, gives an outlet to many people who could express themselves indignantly and not fear being silenced for telling the truth. Many rap groups degraded women and rapped about drugs, but none as truthful and “Hollywood” as NWA. The group was so revolutionary, they changed the original stereotype of “gangstas” and “thugs” that was dubbed to the mafia, or white men in suits, and unintentionally shifted the stereotype into gold-chain-bearing, baggy-clothed black men. Police and mafia men have historically done more crime in this country than young men who may fit today’s stereotype of what a “thug” looks like. Although this stereotype of “thug” and “gangsta” is rather ignorant, NWA’s music made it somewhat cool to be dangerous because they spoke what they felt was the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it made people.