Straight arrow “Today” host Willie Geist said while emceeing a panel for the film “Straight Outta Compton,” about ’80s rappers N.W.A., that the film brought him back to his own youth.
“We thought we were hard-core, too, rollin’ to the Gap in Ridgewood, NJ, like gangsters,” he joked.
Producer and original group member Ice Cube quipped, “Hey, when it goes down at the Gap, be careful!” But the rapper added, “You’ve got to remember that a lot of guys that age, teenagers, have that rebellious stage, and I think it tapped into that. It wasn’t politically correct, it was just raw, and [that’s] why it struck a nerve.”
Geist then confessed that at one time he could recite every word of “Boyz n the Hood,” the 1991 movie about gangs in LA’s Crenshaw area.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to just do that last scene of the movie,” he joked, and began quoting dialog to cheers from the crowd, including “Boyz n the Hood,” star Cuba Gooding Jr., Gayle King and “SNL” comic Jay Pharoah.
“Straight Outta Compton” has received awards recognition so far from SAG and the National Board of Review.