Former N.W.A member Ice Cube recruited the director.

Ice Cube, the film-inclined former member of gangsta rap propagators N.W.A, has tapped director F. Gary Gray to direct the biopic he is producing about his old group. Straight Outta Compton, named after the band’s seminal 1988 album, will follow the story of the men who formed this pioneering hardcore rap group.

Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, and DJ Yella formed N.W.A in the mid-’80s, before achieving fame and infamy on the back of the Straight Outta Compton LP, propelled by Dr. Dre’s innovative production and the controversial lyrics written by Ice Cube and MC Ren. Ice Cube left the group in 1989 over monetary disputes with the group’s leader, Eazy-E. When Dr. Dre followed suit two years later under similar circumstances, the group was effectively over. The former members continued releasing music as solo artists, most fruitfully by Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, who put out well-regarded albums such as Cube’s Death Certificate and Dre’s The Chronic, which introduced a young Snoop Doggy Dogg. The ex-members feuded during this time, ceasing their conflicts following the AIDS-related 1995 death of N.W.A founder Eazy-E.

Gray, a one-time music video director who has previously worked with Cube on his clip for ‘It Was a Good Day’ and the comedy Friday, has also had success with the films Set It Off and The Italian Job. John Singleton was originally set to direct the biopic, but no longer has any involvement.

Watch the music video for the title track of the album Straight Outta Compton below.

[via The Guardian]