Before he was the owner of a three-on-three basketball league and starring in blockbuster movies like “21 Jump Street” or “Ride Along,” O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson was the primary lyricist for the world-renowned rap supergroup N.W.A.
Starting a hip-hop revolution with their loud, in-your-face style paired with vulgar lyrics, N.W.A. defined West Coast hip-hop and brought forth the ruthlessness of life in lower-class Los Angeles.
“Boyz n the Hood” was the screenplay that director John Singleton used to enter film school. He adopted the name from an Eazy-E song of the same name that was written by Ice Cube.
While locking in a star-studded cast including Cuba Gooding Jr, Morris Chestnut and the one and only Laurence Fishburne, Singleton took a shot on Ice Cube to play the role of Doughboy, making “Boyz n the Hood” both of their film debuts.
In 1990, Singleton sold the script to Columbia Pictures, and the film went into production later that year. It was a smash hit upon release, grossing 10 times its budget at the box office.
Singleton was nominated for Best Director at that year’s Academy Awards and became the first Blackman to be nominated for the honor.
The film starts in 1984, with the main character, 10-year-old Tre, being sent away by his mom to live with his father in the harsh Crenshaw neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles
Tre has several friends in his father’s neighborhood, including Chris and brothers Doughboy and Ricky. While making trouble around the neighborhood with the group, Tre also learns several lessons from his father, Furious.
His dad isn’t always mad, his name is literally “Furious.” To make him even more awesome, he’s played by Laurence Fishburne.
The boys give an obvious nod to the movie “Stand by Me” and go visit a dead body in a back alleyway and run into a gang of older teenagers. Nothing really happens in the ordeal, but Tre gets some firsthand experience of how dangerous this area can be.
There’s a seven-year time skip that sees the boys all split into different avenues of life. Tre is a standup kid that has a well-paying job at the mall, Doughboy is a member of the Crips that is in-and-out of jail, Chris is wheelchair bound after being shot years prior and Ricky is a breakout football star that struggles in the classroom.
The plot is a coming-of-age story at heart, with hefty amounts of social commentary littered throughout. Themes of becoming a man, never-ending cycles of violence, achieving your dreams and many others are brilliantly implemented by Singleton.
I think the casting is one of the biggest highlights. Every actor played their part to perfection, and despite it being Ice Cube’s first time on the big screen, he looked like he was born to be on camera.
Running just under two hours, it’s an incredibly easy watch to knock out in just one sitting, and you’re sure to have a better understanding of why the Library of Congress added it to the U.S.’s National Film Registry when you watch it for yourself.
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