[專題] All About Compton Vol. 2

Straight Outta Compton相關整理第二集,這次來看看大家對電影實際的評論是如何吧。
上集回顧:All About Compton Vol. 1



E.B. Wright

Eazy-E (Eric Wright) 過世的時候,E.B. Wright只有四歲。Eazy-E出身Compton街頭,是個不折不扣的gangsta、在街頭販毒,過著出生入死的生活,Jerry Heller曾在自己撰寫的回憶錄"Ruthless: A Memoir"當中提到,Eazy-E成長的地方是個極度危險的區域,而他生來個頭就比別人矮小,為了贏得別人的尊敬,Eazy選擇了成為一位thug這種極端的方式:"The hood where he grew up was a dangerous place. He was a small guy. 'Thug' was a role that was widely understood on the street; it gave you a certain level of protection in the sense that people hesitated to fuck with you. Likewise, 'dope dealer' was a role that accorded you certain privileges and respect."

除了Eazy本身的生活背景,N.W.A的激烈歌詞惹惱了不少人,包含執法單位與FBI等等,儘管如此,在E.B. Wright的印象中Eazy也是有著溫柔的一面,雖然記憶已經模糊,但她還記得當年在Eazy的辦公室裡玩耍嬉、Eazy把她抱在懷中的美好畫面,"He was really playful" E.B. Wright回憶道。E.B. Wright也曾經使用Dear Mama的曲子、錄製一首像父親致敬的作品"Dear Daddy"



當年Eazy-E將公司名稱取為"Ruthless",這惡名昭彰的名字引來不少人的注目。而E.B. Wirght也像他父親ㄧ樣喜愛受人注目,但他選擇的方式不是饒舌或加入幫派,而是演唱流行音樂、經營服飾品牌,並且在MTV的My Super Sweet 16電視節目上成名,E.B.還預計在今年推出一張新專輯"We Want EB"來紀念父親。Eazy與E.B.在許多地方都很相似,就連外表也是,前幾年Rock the Bells音樂季,當他們決定要做一個Eazy-E的立體雷射影像在台上表演時,也參考了E.B. Wright的外型。


Straight Outta Compton頗受觀眾好評,E.B. Wright身為Eazy-E的親生女兒,也對這部電影作出了一些評論。她認為Jason Mitchell把她父親Eazy-E詮釋得非常棒:"He did a phenomenal job," she says of Mitchell. "I'm so incredibly proud. All my life I've been hearing these stories. Jason is everything I imagined [my father] to be … I really felt like I was watching him on the screen." 


不過電影裡還是有一些細節沒有顧慮到,在推特上E.B. Wright宣布將會推出一部紀錄片"A Ruthless Scandal"來補足電影不足之處,內容除了提及Ruthless Records備受爭議的故事之外,還會談論她父親在1995年的過世。

A LOT of Eazy-E's storyline was missing but that's okay because I'm producing a documentary that will show EVERYTHING including his death 👀 — E.B. (@WeWantEB) August 15, 2015

Eazy-E曾經聲明自己和六個女人、生下七名子女:"I have seven children by six different mothers. Maybe success was too good to me." 在他去世之前,許多人謠傳Eazy-E正在找尋電影腳本準備要進軍電影事業、準備要製作Bone Thugs N Harmony的新專輯、以及發表一張自己的個人專輯 - 雙CD,其中還有放克大師Bootsy Collins、重金屬搖滾樂團槍與玫瑰Guns N Roses的Slash跨刀。E.B. Wright聲稱她手邊擁有許多未曾發表過的稀有影像,透過推出紀錄片的方式,將能讓大家了解到除了N.W.A以外、Eazy-E自己個人的成功故事與成就。
紀錄片的上市日期未定,E.B. Wright的母親Tracy Jernigan目前正在協助女兒一同拍攝這支作品,Tracy Jernigan當年跟在Eazy-E的身邊、親眼目睹N.W.A的大起大落,在Eazy過世的前一年分手,因此想必還會有許多獨家內幕會收錄在紀錄片當中。

Lil Eazy-E

Lil Eazy-E (Eric Wright, Jr.) 是Eazy-E與Tomica Wright生下之子,也是Eazy-E的第一個兒子。他出生在當年N.W.A誕生的同一間房子裡,在成長的期間時常跟隨著父親及N.W.A一夥人,看著他們製作音樂及朝夕相處,因此對他父親有比較熟悉、鮮明的記憶當Eazy-E過世之後的兩個禮拜,Lil Eazy年滿11歲。

"I'm the firstborn son," he continued. "I turned 11 two weeks after he passed away. I was born and raised in the same house that N.W.A started in. I was there when they were making music. I was there when they were just crashing out in the bedroom. But my fondest memories [are] of him being a father. I know him outside of the rap, outside of the hustle, outside of the hardcore. I know the nice individual, the humorous individual, the family man, the one that loved all of his children. Believe me, as a kid at 11 years old, I sought that information out." 

Eazy-E的父母,以及Lil Eazy-E
Eazy-E的爸爸於2013年十月16號過世

在選角的過程中Lil Eazy-E曾經努力試圖爭取飾演Eazy-E這個角色,當時選角導演稱讚他很有天份,只是必須要先減重、並且給予了一些建議,Lil Eazy-E為此還請了兩位專家來指導他如何演戲。Lil Eazy-E本人也是自信滿滿:"I don't think anybody can do it better," he said. "It's what I've been doing for the past 10 years of my career. I came out on Hip Hop Honors years ago and performed in front of Cube and Russell Simmons and they told me I was a striking resemblance." 

可惜最後雀屏中選的是Jason Mitchell,對於沒辦法參與電影演出他後來也感到釋懷,並沒有怨懟之意,同時認為Ice Cube選用自己的兒子來演出是非常好的一件事情,因為他顧慮到了自己的家庭,而Ice Cube也是Lil Eazy-E除了父親之外、自己最敬重的另一個前輩:“I’m not upset about [the casting]. What Cube did was a great thing and a loving father, that you’re supposed to do for your family and your legacy.” 在電影拍攝的期間,Jason Mitchell也親自拜訪Lil Eazy-E,他本人也不吝於給予指導與建議。


不久前TMZ還有去Eazy-E的家中(目前是Eazy的母親在居住)
由Lil Eazy-E及Curtis Young來解說這個極具歷史意義的車庫


MC Ren

眾所皆知MC Ren (Lorenzo Jerald Patterson) 是Eazy的密友,為N.W.A貢獻許多、在"Straight Outta Compton"專輯中唱了七首歌曲,其中還有四首歌曲全部是他寫的、另外其他三首合寫。可惜在電影中導演F. Gary Gray對於他的角色著墨極少,對此MC Ren本人也有一些意見,認為電影並沒有把他應有的貢獻詮釋出來。不過整體來說,MC Ren還是對這部電影的成功表達祝賀之意。

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

Suge Knight

Suge Knight由於之前駕車撞死人的事件,目前正面臨牢獄之災。這起事件始於今年的一月19號,當時Suge Knight原本要去Straight Outta Compton的拍片現場 (事實上他本人根本沒有被邀請出席),但是Dre和Cube一致認為這傢伙根本是要來鬧事的,於是就指派Cle Sloan (綽號Bone,前幫派成員) 去口頭勸說把Suge給支開。沒想到Suge離開後,就在三英哩外的Tom's Burger蓄意衝撞Sloan以及同行的Terry Carter,結果造成Terry Carter死亡、Cle "Bone" Sloan重傷。後來Terry Carter的家人連Dre以及Cube都一併控告,認為Suge Knight會撞死Terry Carter都是因為他們的緣故,最近Dre和Cube也都發表聲明希望法官撤銷控告、因為他們與此事無關。

In their new motion, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube claim the most they did was ask Sloan to "verbally direct" Knight away from base camp because they knew he objected to his onscreen depiction and had a "violent and unpredictable nature."

"Suge arrived at the base camp bearing a grudge and looking for a confrontation, and Dr. Dre and Ice Cube defused the situation by requesting Bone to verbally direct Suge away," their new paperwork argues.

"Dr. Dre and Ice Cube did not direct Suge to go to any particular place, meet any person or commit any violence once he arrived at his next destination," the filing claims. They say it was "Suge's decisions" that caused the tragedy, not theirs.



當然,Suge Knight目前正在監獄裡等待判決(如果被判有罪的話他將會被終生監禁),沒有機會目睹Straight Outta Compton電影的上映,但他的辯護律師Thomas Mesereau在訪談中認為這部電影過度誇大,惡意扭曲了Suge Knight的形象、讓大家對他造成誤解。


“I’m sure he wouldn’t like it because a lot of it is exaggerated and silly and ridiculous,” Mesereau told the Wrap, given that Knight can’t see the film because he’s in jail.


律師Thomas Mesereau認為Suge Knight其實幹了不少善事,只是媒體刻意只報導他作惡的一面。Death Row Records成功之後,Suge從來都沒有忘記回饋自己的家鄉Compton,不但贊助了不少運動員去念大學、也捐款給流浪漢和需要的弱勢團體,並形容Suge Knight是Compton社區的支柱。


A lot of the media does not realize how many good things he did for people, particularly in his community,” the attorney explained. “He financed athletic facilities in schools, he gave money to the homeless, money to people in need. He tried to arrange truces on the streets so people weren’t killed.” The way Mesereau sees it, Knight was a pillar in the Compton community. 

“He funded funerals for families who were devastated by violence. He used to give a dinner every year for single moms in Compton to recognize their courage and their achievement,” the attorney said. “He’s a good person, and this will come out in due time.”

Dee Barnes and Michel'le

前Death Row Records的R&B歌手Michel'le在電影中被提及了數次、但是沒有演員飾演她,更沒有提及Dre與她之間的交往。對此Michel'le也做了一番評論,她認為這很正常,因為Dre就是Straight Outta Compton的監製之一,而她自己只是一個"quiet girlfriend",不但只能乖乖閉嘴做個小女人,交往期間還常常被Dre毆打。

"Why would Dre put me in it? If they start from where they start from, I was just a quiet girlfriend who got beat up and told to sit down and shut up." She also called Straight Outta Compton "Cube's version of his life."



另外一個著名的事件,就是1991年Dr. Dre曾經在一家夜店裡痛毆女記者Dee Barnes,在電影上映之前就有許多人在臆測會不會把這個污點給拍出來 - 結果是完全沒有提及。Dee Barnes則認為這件事實在太過醜陋,雖然不希望自己痛毆的場景出現在電影裡給觀眾看,但她認為Straight Outta Compton這部電影就是在英雄化、美化N.W.A,讓觀眾忘記其實N.W.A本身就是一種負面的存在。

That event isn’t depicted in Straight Outta Compton, but I don’t think it should have been, either. The truth is too ugly for a general audience. I didn’t want to see a depiction of me getting beat up, just like I didn’t want to see a depiction of Dre beating up Michel’le, his one-time girlfriend who recently summed up their relationship this way: "I was just a quiet girlfriend who got beat on and told to sit down and shut up." 


But what should have been addressed is that it occurred. When I was sitting there in the theater, and the movie’s timeline skipped by my attack without a glance, I was like, “Uhhh, what happened?” Like many of the women that knew and worked with N.W.A., I found myself a casualty of Straight Outta Compton’s revisionist history. 


Straight Outta Compton transforms N.W.A. from the world’s most dangerous rap group to the world’s most diluted rap group. In rap, authenticity matters, and gangsta rap has always pushed boundaries beyond what’s comfortable with hardcore rhymes that are supposed to present accounts of the street’s harsh realities (though N.W.A. shared plenty of fantasies, as well). The biggest problem with Straight Outta Compton is that it ignores several of N.W.A.’s own harsh realities.


N.W.A的整體故事實在太過龐大,要讓每個人都滿意是不可能的,Cube提到他們可以拍出五種N.W.A的電影,只是最後他們選擇了一種大家想要的版本。其實根據原本的劇本F. Gary Gray是有把這段Dee Barnes被痛毆的情節拍出來,只是因為原始版本長達三個半小時,而且導演也希望能夠把主題聚焦在N.W.A這個團體上,而不是Dre的個人故事,在最後取捨之下,F. Gary Gray把許多鏡頭給刪除,成為了目前院線播放的兩個半小時版本。希望未來DVD發售之後能夠收錄這些漏網鏡頭。

在最近一次與Rolling Stone的訪談裡,Dre也被問到1991年的這件醜聞,他承認自己當年年輕不懂事、行事太過魯莽,但不承認對他所有的指控都是事實。


"I made some fucking horrible mistakes in my life," says Dre. "I was young, fucking stupid. I would say all the allegations aren't true – some of them are. Those are some of the things that I would like to take back. It was really fucked up. But I paid for those mistakes, and there's no way in hell that I will ever make another mistake like that again."


可惜,80年代與Dre共事過的World Class Wreckin Cru前成員Cli-N-Tel出來打臉,在一次訪談中爆料其實並不是只有Michel'le與Dee Barnes被Dre毆打:“I know of a few others. I seen him get raw-dog with a couple females and we’d have conversations about that stuff and I told him, ‘That ain’t how I roll.'”

LAPD

前洛杉磯市議員以及LAPD警員Dennis Zine大力抨擊Straight Outta Compton在電影中刻意醜化警察,此外電影上映的日期還選在這敏感的時機點 (目前反對警方暴力的示威遊行Black Lives Matter仍在全美持續蔓延),認為這電影是在扇風電火。

"When you see the tension that’s taking place in many parts of America with law enforcement now, I think this movie just adds fuel to that particular fire," Zine told CBS News Los Angeles. "Could it have been released later? Does it have to be released now?" Zine, who also helped run Police Protective League, told CBS LA: “Spending 50 years in law enforcement, I’ve seen the situations where something sparks and with this excessive heat, it doesn’t take much to spark a situation.”



在CBS This Morning電視節目上,Ice Cube很直截了當的被問到N.W.A的憤怒到底來自何處?他們究竟在生氣些什麼?Ice Cube回答:如果警察認為每個年輕黑人男性看起來就是幫派份子、穿的衣服像幫派份子,那麼這種刻板印象無疑就是在向黑人男性宣戰。

He said: “If the cops think every single black young male or brown young male look like a gang banger, dress like a gang banger, now it's a war on young black males.”


於是,N.W.A的憤怒反映了當時社會發生的真實情境,他們的音樂是在替那些受到壓迫的黑人向外發聲。正如同在電影裡面,有一幕場景是Ice Cube正在接受記者訪問,在過程中Cube談論:"我和你並沒有兩樣,只是我是來自貧民窟的記者、報導的內容都是真實到不行"。


N.W.A的存在本來就是充滿許多爭議,有人認為他們的音樂讓全世界了解到生活在hood底層人民是受到什麼樣的壓迫; 但另一方面,也有人認為N.W.A所開創的幫派饒舌讓嘻哈文化的基本教義(Peace, unity, love and having fun)完全變調,讓更多的無知年輕黑人誤入歧途。如果有時間的話,接下來的系列作我再另外搜尋資料來談論這個議題。



<待續>


留言

熱門文章