Lifetime has released a trailer for singer Michel’le’s biopic Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le, about her experience with NWA and her relationships with Dr. Dre and Suge Knight. The movie is intended as a supplement to last year’s NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton, which notably left out the part about Dre’s alleged abuse.
In the Lifetime clip below, we see Michel’le—and hear her telltale “Minnie Mouse” voice—being recruited by Ruthless Records, home of NWA. There’s a scene where fictional Dre (actor Curtis Hamilton) complains, “I gave you this track a week ago. Where is it?”and then threatens to kick her ass. Michel’le is played by actress Rhyon Nicole Brown (who has a great voice in real life; here’s her covering Adele’s “Hello”). And the dude who played Suge Knight in Straight Outta Compton, R. Marcos Taylor, will do so again here.
Michel’le had been vocal about the alleged abuse she faced and was also openly critical of
Straight Outta Compton’s omission of the women behind the men of NWA. Consider this her attempt to reposition the narrative and represent the voices often suppressed in favor of lauding successful men in hip-hop (see:
Dee Barnes). The biopic premieres October 15.
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Still here. Still without airbrushing. Still with teeth.
