Produced by Sony Pictures Television and Thinkfactory Media, Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le stars Rhyon Nicole Brown (“Lincoln Heights”) as Michel’le, newcomer Curtis Hamilton as Dr. The first lady of Ruthless Records, who triumphed over a life riddled with abuse and adversity, is ready to share her story with the world. After all, the story of NWA is simply incomplete without the story of Michel’le.Celebrated hip-hop recording artist Michel’le will speak up and speak out about the darker side of Compton hip-hop as she narrates the Lifetime Original Movie, “Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le,” based on her life story, premiering Saturday, October 15 at 8PM ET/PT. While it’s likely that Surviving Compton won’t endure like Straight Outta Compton, owing to its smaller budget and platform, if there were any justice in the world the two films’ DVDs would be sold as a bundle. Mirroring the arc of films like the Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It? the story ends with Michel’le’s affirmation of self, and before the final credits we receive great news: she’s recording a new album and touring again. A surprisingly sincere Jamie Kennedy, meanwhile, plays recently deceased NWA manager Jerry Heller, who somehow comes off better than anyone else. The performances of Rhyon Nicole Brown (as Michel’le) and R Marcos Taylor (reprising his Straight Outta Compton role as Suge Knight) are particularly strong. Suge promises her a fresh start, both personally and professionally, and they too have a child together, but eventually his violent tendencies sabotage everything. Despite her early success she never reaches her singing potential, partly because she’s stuck raising Dre’s child in his absence. She endures Dre and Suge’s abuse for the promise of money, fame and – most importantly – love. Michel’le’s character, as a young girl, is taught by the women in her life that men beating women is normal, and should be tolerated. Other details – that NWA were marijuana fans, or that Suge Knight intimidated Tupac Shakur and bossed him around – are entirely false.īut the soul of the story rings true. It depicts the squeaky-voiced South Central native Michel’le being plucked from obscurity from a job folding clothes at the mall to sing with Dr Dre’s first group, but neglects a funny detail I uncovered – that her initial stage name was Baby, and she walked around with a pacifier around her neck. To be sure, Surviving Compton glosses over many details. A Ruthless rapper named Tairrie B also maintains that Dre beat her.) (Dre pled no contest to beating Barnes, and received probation, while Johnson was granted a restraining order against him. The film largely echoes Michel’le’s accounts to me, though she never went to police with her allegations – unlike other women including television host Dee Barnes and Lisa Johnson, the mother of three of Dre’s children who alleged he beat her many times, including while she was pregnant. I extensively interviewed Michel’le and other survivors of Dre’s alleged abuse for my new book Original Gangstas: the Untold Story of Dr Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap, and investigated their claims. The question many viewers will have after their viewing: is the film accurate? Michel’le’s next love interest – Suge Knight, by now Dre’s arch rival – doesn’t come off much better. He’s otherwise portrayed as a cheating, boozing manipulator who neglects her once he becomes famous. But Surviving Compton nonetheless contains numerous chilling sequences of Dre beating her, and even one where he shoots at her. Prior to its release, Dr Dre’s lawyers threatened legal action against the film-makers if the movie contained scenes of him assaulting her, which he denies.
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