Why 'Straight Outta Compton' Left These Women Straight Outta the Film

A little acknowledgment would’ve been nice. But nice doesn’t make for a good story of five hard-core gangster rappers from Compton, which seems to be why one important early chapter in their lives didn't make it into the biopic "Straight Outta Compton."

That would be their involvement with the girl group J.J. Fad, whose success helped pave the way for N.W.A.

"I think there was a certain image that they wanted to put out there, and I don't think they wanted us to soften that," Juana "MC JB" Sperling tells Los Angeles Times of her group’s exclusion in “Straight Outta Compton." "That's just my perception, and I don't know if it's true or not. The way the story was told was very hard-core, so I'm thinking, there were a couple soft sides, but our presence in it might have been a little too soft."

“Straight Outta Compton” follows the true journey of Ice Cube, Dr. Dre (both producers of the film), and NWA’s original lineup, Arabian Prince, DJ Yella, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E and MC Ren, as they formed the platinum-selling hip hop group in 1988 that exposed the gritty horror of their South Central Los Angeles streets. Police brutality, gang violence and the objectification of women were subjects of the music that reflected their life experience.

But N.W.A.’s success was funded and fueled by the pop-fused hip hop girl group J.J. Fad, which shared with them a label in Ruthless Records, featuring Sterling, Dania “Baby D” Birks and Michelle “Sassy C” Franklin. Their single “Supersonic,” produced by Dr. Dre and DJ Yella with Arabian Prince, became an infectious hit in 1988--crossing electronic, pop, rap and freestyle genres.

One year later, N.W.A.’s debut album—that shares the same name of its biopic's title—proved to be a hit too. At the time, N.W.A. and J.J. Fad toured together and considered each other both family and friend. Not that you’d know that if you saw “Straight Out of Compton,” which omits J.J. Fad’s existence.

As N.W.A.’s star began to rise in 1989 through the early '90s, Dre and Ruthless Records shifted their attention away from J.J. Fad. With the release of “Straight Outta Compton,” still in theaters, history repeats itself. “I just would like for them to take into consideration, you know, look at us and say, 'Thanks, girls, after all these years,’” Birks says.

Though Sterling praises the film and would “see it again and again,” she has a different vision for the drama's two hour and 30 minute runtime. “It’s just that it would have taken literally two seconds to say our name.”

See J.J. Fad today: