Dre, Ice Cube start work on N.W.A. biopic

Rex Features

New Line has started development on Straight Outta Compton, a biopic of hip-hop group N.W.A.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the movie will chart the career of the trailblazing rap group, formed in 1986 by Eazy-E, Dr Dre, Ice Cube and MC Ren.

Despite being banned from radio air play thanks to controversial songs such as 'F**k The Police', the band have sold more than 9 million albums in the US. Active between 1986 and 1991, they briefly reunited in 1999 to work on a comeback album, Not These Niggaz Again, that was never released. Eazy-E, real name Eric Wright, died of AIDS in 1995.

Ice Cube, Dr Dre and Tomica Wright (Eazy-E's widow) will produce Compton and are reportedly eager to recruit a director in the mould of Curtis Hanson, who steered Eminem's 8 Mile to success despite not being an obvious match for the material.