Straight Out of Compton  (1999)

Theatrical Release Information:
Straight Out of Compton

Four men learn that pulling one over on a gangster is both rewarding and potentially suicidal in this urban action-thriller. Hen (Ryan Combs) is a small-time crook who has just gotten out of jail and isn't interested in going back any time soon. Hen is interested in hip-hop music and wants to start a record company to market the work of some promising local rappers. But starting his own label costs money, which Hen doesn't have, so he hatches a daring plan to raise capital with his friends: Johnny (Johnny Dearenzo), K.K. (Jules Dupree), and Hump (Sean Epps). The four men dose Drake Norelli (David E. Baker), a local political bigwig who has powerful ties to organized crime, with a powerful drug, and while he's under the influence, they get him to pose for a series of incriminating photos. A few days later, with no memory of what happened while he was under, Norelli gets copies of the snapshots, and Hen calls him to say that in exchange for four million dollars, he can have the negatives and no one will ever see the pictures. Norelli quickly pays up and Hen and his partners think they're on Easy Street. But Norelli is not a man who likes to part with a dollar and soon he has his entire network of underworld enforcers searching for Hen and his associates to recover Norelli's money and kill the men who wronged him. Straight Outta Compton was the first feature film from writer, director, and star Ryan Combs. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide