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N.W.A‘s early years can be seen in the latest trailer for Straight Outta Compton, the upcoming biopic that follows the legendary West Cost rap group’s fall and rise in the Eighties.

The new clip highlights Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) and the late Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) recording their canonical debut album, for which the film is named, and becoming superstars amidst the police brutality and gang warfare plaguing their California hometown. “Speak a little truth, and people lose their minds,” says Jackson as Ice Cube following scenes of the incredible and often dangerous fervor surrounding their success.

Dr. Dre and Ice Cube produced the film, which also stars Paul Giamatti as their controversial manager Jerry Heller. The film’s director, F. Gary Gray (Friday, Set It Off), is been a longtime collaborator of Dre and Cube’s, having helmed several of their solo and collaborative music videos throughout the Nineties. In an interview with KCRW, Gray noted how important it was to emphasize the group’s cultural importance. “It’s not unlike Social Network or American Graffiti where you take a place and time in America, especially as it relates to popular culture, and you see the shift, and they were right there and created part of the pivot that America took in entertainment,” he remarked.

The violence showcased in Straight Outta Compton‘s also affected the making of the summer flick. A drive-by shooting occurred just days into filming while pivotal West Coast rap figure Suge Knight is currently in court facing charges following a fatal hit-and-run he had been involved in during a promotional shoot for the film. R. Marcus Taylor will portray Knight in the movie.

Straight Outta Compton will hit theaters on August 14th.

Source: Rolling Stone