Ava DuVernay shed a tear watching the NWA biopic 'Straight Outta Compton'.

The 'Selma' director - who's a self-confessed hip-hop fan - has heaped praise on the film's maker F Gary Gray and admitted the new movie about the iconic rap group has brought back some powerful childhood memories.

In a series of tweets, Ava said: ''All the stifling of our voices as young black people in that place at that time while a war was going on against us. ‪[F Gary Gray] captured it.

''He captured the plight of the black artist in general, once consumed by systems and structures not made for them. The struggle is real.

''To be a woman who loves hip-hop at times is to be in love with your abuser. Because the music was and is that. And yet the culture is ours.''

Ava added that the ''fantastic'' new movie even caused her to shed a tear.

She tweeted: ''Hundreds of black young people cruisin' down Crenshaw. The raw energy. The cars. The brothers and sisters. The majesty of it all. A tear.

''It was maybe a one-minute sequence in the film but it all came rushing back. This film did that for me on multiple levels. It's fantastic.''