Lifetime's Michel'le Biopic to Explore the Singer's Relationships With Dr. Dre and Suge Knight

Michel'le is ready to tell her side of the story about Dr. Dre and Suge Knight in new Lifetime biopic.

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Complex Original

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After Straight Outta Compton became a critical (and box office) smash, many wondered if the N.W.A. biopic skipped a number of important, darker moments in the group's history, namely the allegations of abuse lobbied against Dr. Dre and other members. Dee Barnes even penned an essay about being assaulted by Dr. Dre in 1991, calling into question the glaring omissions from N.W.A.'s history in the film. This October, Lifetime will be releasing Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Me, a biopic about R&B singer Michel'le, who was not only signed to Eazy E's Ruthless Records, but was romantically linked to both Dr. Dre and Suge Knight.

​Back in the early '90s, Michel'le was known for having a speaking voice like a little kid that grew enormously when she sang. Her 1989 debut album Michel'le went gold, with the lead single "No More Lies" hitting No. 7 on Billboard's U.S. Hot 100 chart. The project was executive-produced by Eazy E, and featured production from DJ Yella and Dr. Dre, with whom she had a son (Marcel) with in 1991. Last August, Michel'le went on record to state that she wasn't in Straight Outta Compton because she "was just a quiet girlfriend who got beat up and told to sit down and shut up."

​Michel'le's also gone record as saying that Dre not only gave her black eyes, but broke her nose (which she had to have surgically repaired). She released her second album, Hung Jury, in 1998, and married Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight in 1999, although they got divorced in 2007 (and he was in jail for six of those years). Knight was also abusive to Michel'le, reportedly dislocating her jaw during one incident. Michel'le has been seen on TV One's R&B Diva Los Angeles since 2013.

Billboard reports that Rhyon Nicole Brown is playing Michel'le, Curtis Hamilton will portray Dr. Dre, Jamie Kennedy(!) will be playing Jerry Heller, and R. Marcos Taylor will be reprising his Straight Outta Compton role as Suge Knight. The teaser doesn't offer anything in the way of footage, but it does feature Michel'le taking a "parental advisory" sticker off of her mouth, while also advising that "behind the men who changed hip-hop is the woman who knows the truth."

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