Dr. Dre and Ice Cube—two of the founding members of legendary Los Angeles hip-hop group N.W.A.—on Wednesday tweeted both the release date of the group’s biopic (Aug. 14, 2015) and a photo of them and director F. Gary Gray with the three actors who will play Dre, Cube and Eazy-E in the movie.
Corey Hawkins (Non-Stop, Iron Man 3) will play Dre, relative unknown Jason Mitchell will play E and Cube will be played by real-life son O’Shea Jackson Jr. in his first role. Casting for DJ Yella and MC Ren has not yet been announced.
The film is still more than a year away, but it’s never too soon to check in on what the four surviving members of N.W.A. have been up to since their “Straight Outta Compton” days.
Dre (Andre Romelle Young) struck out on his own after the group's final album, Niggaz4Life, dropped in 1991. He had a successful solo career before shifting to focus largely on production, mentoring up-and-coming artists including Eminem and 50 Cent. His signature line of headphones, "Beats By Dre," was recently acquired by Apple. Getty Images (2)Hard as it might be to believe, anyone born after 1980 likely considers Cube (O'Shea Jackson) an actor first and a rapper second. He's released several solo albums since N.W.A. disbanded, but none matched the commercial or critical success of the group's records. His latest film, '22 Jump Street,' topped the box office when it opened on June 13.Getty Images (2)DJ Yella (Antoine Carraby) dropped his own solo album in 1996, five years after the group split. Shortly thereafter, he retired from music to focus on a career directing adult films. He has reportedly unretired from music and is said to be working on an album called 'West Coastin.'Getty Images (2)Ren (Lorenzo Jerald Patterson) had success as a solo artist in the early 90s — his 1992 EP "Kizz My Black Azz" went platinum. He released four more studio albums over the next two decades and recently released a new single, 'Rebel Music.'Al Pereira—Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesEazy-E (Eric Wright) feuded with Dre after leaving the group, but the two reconciled prior to E's death in 1995. Al Pereira—Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
