Hip-Hop star-turned Hollywood-producer Ice Cube has teamed with ESPN to created a documentary about The Los Angeles Raiders titled Straight Outta L.A.
The documentary will explore the origins of the Raiders from their time as an Oakland-based team, until 1982, when owner Al Davis won a court decision allowing the team to move to Los Angeles.
Additionally, Straight Outta L.A. will “explore the unlikely marriage between the NFL’s rebel franchise and America’s glamour city [Los Angeles].
“In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected president, few white kids were listening to Rap and I was an 11-year-old kid in South Central Los Angeles,” Ice Cube said in a statement about the documentary. “I was into sports and watched as many games as I could on TV—the Lakers, USC Football, UCLA, but I hadn’t developed a connection to any particular football team. But that fall, something clicked as I watched the Oakland Raiders.”
Ice Cube said he was attracted by the group’s familiar sliver and black uniforms, which he would later popularize as fashion trend in Hip-Hop via his pioneering rap group, N.W.A.
“The music, lyrics and images that I created with N.W.A as a solo artist and as an actor helped turn the Raiders into something more than a football team,” Ice Cube noted. “It’s been 21 years since we released Straight Outta Compton, but to this day, kids all over the world buy Raiders gear, imitate the “Gangster Rap” style and try to connect with the South Central L.A. vibe that we brought to the masses.”
At press time, a release date was not available for Straight Outta L.A.
