The word “myth” is too often misunderstood. We place too much emphasis on the apparent lack of historical accuracy in myths, when the real point of a myth is to provide underlying structure and meaning to the past. Straight Outta Compton, F. Gary Gray’s new bio of seminal rap group N.W.A., is an excellent Hollywood myth — retelling the origins of N.W.A. with grandeur and reverence, explaining how the actions of the group in the late ’80s and early ’90s led us to where we are today.

For most of its runtime, the film is basically a hybrid of a traditional music biopic, a social message movie, and a gangster movie. Beginning with low-level drug pusher Eric “Eazy-E” Wright (Jason Mitchell) running from the cops in 1986 Compton after a deal gets raided by tanks and battering rams, the movie quickly introduces us to its two other main characters, Andre “Dr. Dre” Young (Corey Hawkins), a struggling father who spins records on the side, and O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson (O’Shea Jackson Jr., playing his own father), word-scribbling high school student. Two other members of N.W.A., MC Ren and DJ Yella, are regulated to side characters, while founding member Arabian Prince barely appears at all — the focus is clearly on Eazy, Dre, and Cube.

The film traces the rise of the band in its first half, while the second half details their coming apart, as ego, money issues, and sleazy managers pull the once-tight group asunder. Gray and editor Billy Fox keep the film rolling along at a steady pace for the first hour or so, while cinematographer Matthew Libatique conjures up an aesthetic of amber lights on dark streets that makes the film a delight to watch — one particular scene set on a Saturday night on Crenshaw Boulevard is something to write home about — although the second half of the movie, about the splintering of the group and protracted contract negotiations, doesn’t hold the attention of the first half.

Nevertheless, the film’s strength lies in the fact that it has just has so many pleasurable elements: buddy-buddy humor, political meaning, high tragedy, gangland thrills, and some damn good music.

Without giving away too much, the ending of the film shows where the heart of the film lies: the story is the Ice Cube and Dr. Dre of 2015 carving out what their legacy will be in the popular consciousness. The second half of the movie is very much about how N.W.A., in their group’s lifetime, were never able to end their story, and that this film is their attempt to tell the myth of their origins — how Cube and Dre built the world we live in today, much in the same way as Aeneas of Troy built the Rome of legend.

Strong performances are across the board, particularly from Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E, moving with the right combination of confidence, comedy, Compton tough-guy quality, and a lot of tenderness, but Corey Hawkins also shines as Dre, as well as stuntman R. Marcos Taylor, scarily convincing and convincingly scary as Suge Knight.

All-in-all, Straight Outta Compton is a strongly made and passionate slice of Hollywood myth.