20 Year Anniversary – ‘Boyz n the Hood’

On July 12, 1991 a powerful  film premiered in theaters across the country that would give all of America a look into the gang culture that existed in South Central Los Angeles. That film was Boyz N the Hood, a movie that not only showed you the prominence of gang culture in LA, but also the impact that it had on individual families. Boyz N the Hood, along with west coast hip hop pioneers like N.W.A., opened the eyes of middle America to life in South Central LA.

John Singleton wrote and directed his debut film with a pretty impressive rookie cast. Budding stars Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne played Reva and Furious Styles, the father and mother of Tre (Cuba Gooding, Jr.). Tre is a young boy whose mother is trying to keep him out of trouble so she sends him to live with his father in South Central. There he meets half-brothers Doughboy (Ice Cube) and Ricky (Morris Chestnut). Ricky is the ‘All-American’ athlete, with a new baby and live-in girlfriend, looking to win a football scholarship to USC and seeks salvation through sports, while Doughboy succumbs to the violence, alcohol, and crime surrounding him in his environment, but maintains a strong sense of pride and code of honor. While Doughboy and Ricky struggle through their teenage years living with only their mother, Tre’s father tries to teach him to have the strength of character to do what is right and to always take responsibility for his actions.

The cast also included Nia Long, who plays the new girl in the neighborhood Brandi and Regina King as Shalika, one of Doughboy’s homegirls. ‘Boyz N the Hood’ was either the first film or one of the first films for each of the actors mentioned (with the exception of Laurence Fishburne who was a veteran cast member with at least 15 films under his belt).

The 112 minute Columbia Pictures distributed film was produced by Steven Nicolaides and DJ Pooh and was shot in South Central with an estimated $6,500,000 budget but would go on to make nearly 10 times that the U.S. box office. The film garnered a lot of attention, both positive and negative. Some felt that the film was too dark and exploited the lives of those that lived in South Central LA. At the same time, John Singleton and ‘Boyz N the Hood’ were getting a lot of award consideration, including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nominations. Singleton was the youngest person ever nominated for Best Director and the first African–American to be nominated for the award. The film also won an Outstanding Motion Picture NAACP Image Award. It was also screened at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.

And the soundtrack, along with the film, was not one to be missed back in 1991. With the likes of Ice Cube, Main Source, Tony! Toni! Tone!, Tevin Campbell, Chubb Rock, Quincy Jones, and Stanley Clarke – the soundtrack was one that you could roll to while getting a solid message. The album was very successful, making it to #12 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on the Top R&B Albums chart and was certified gold by the RIAA on September 12 of that year.

The film was, and still is, important because not only did it deal with the growing gang problem in the US and the importance of a strong father figure for young black males, it also hit on topics such as  gentrification of poor neighborhoods, drug abuse, assault weapons, inequality in college admission, and cultural bias in standardized testing. Singleton packed a lot of messages in less than 2 hours and it made for a very powerful film.

In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed ‘Boyz N the Hood’ “culturally significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. Recently, Cuba Gooding Jr. and director John Singleton attended the Boyz N The Hood 20th anniversary screening Q&A during the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival held at Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE on June 23, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

Check out the trailer from the movie and Increase the Peace!