Twenty-two years ago, a fledgling hip-hop group from a Los Angeles suburb synonymous with gang violence preceded the title track of its second album with a declaration: "You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge." These words—part promise, part threat—defined not only "Straight Outta Compton," and the album of same name, but the entire angle of approach for N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitudes), the self-described lyric-spitting "gang" whose insuppressible hits, also including "Fuck the Police" and "Gangsta Gangsta," helped shape the genre we now call "gangsta rap." Lyrically, Straight Outta Compton was defined by its glorification of gun-toting violence and its eye-for-an-eye rallying cry against police brutality. Visually, though, the album was branded by the rap group's signature style: black men clad in nearly all-black attire that was nondescript save for headwear that often bore the emblem of the hometown NFL franchise with a conveniently complementary color scheme. So it was that the Los Angeles Raiders became married to a music revolution, until their logo came to stand for a cultural identity as much as an athletic team.
Straight Outta L.A. is a documentary that looks back on the ways the Raiders both shaped and were shaped by the gangsta rap movement. The film is directed by Ice Cube, who as a founding member of N.W.A. and a long-time Raiders fan is something of an authority on both subjects. In this, the 14th release of ESPN Films' "30 for 30" series, sports and culture get equal time. Ice Cube's contribution to the series is a personal film, part The Band That Wouldn't Die, in which Barry Levinson explores the relationship between an NFL team and its fanbase, and part The U, in which Billy Corben details how the University of Miami and rap group 2 Live Crew symbiotically developed their hard-core reputations. It's always a bit surprising to encounter 52 minutes of ESPN programming with scant athletic highlights—Rod Martin's fourth-down tackle of John Riggins and Marcus Allen's subsequent 74-yard touchdown run in Super Bowl XVIII are the only times the documentary pauses long enough to enjoy football as football—but that's what makes the "30 for 30" series so frequently compelling. Ice Cube takes the Raiders' come-and-go relationship with Los Angeles, a series of events now remembered almost exclusively as an example of team owner Al Davis' curious handling of the franchise, and he flips it over, revealing a much more compelling story underneath.
