A Dozen Reason We Still Love "Boyz N The Hood"

[E Donelson II]

If “Boyz N The Hood” should be remembered for anything, let it be for its exposure to a side of Los Angeles few living outside of the area were aware. The streets of South Central, Los Angeles and Compton were already getting a soundtrack due to the success of rap groups like N.W.A, but in “Boyz N The Hood”, those streets now had a motion picture to tell their story.

While a movie about one of America’s most notorious ghettos, directed by a young, first-time, African-American filmmaker named John Singleton, and starring a very popular rapper named Ice Cube alongside a handful of fairly unknown African-American actors, doesn’t quite seem like the recipe for blockbuster success, “Boyz N The Hood” would prove the skeptics wrong. Nearly 20 years after its release, it is now considered a classic film by any and all measures.

1. For the classic phrase, “All you do is eat, sleep, and sh*t”
2. The Liquor Store conspiracy theory.
3. The barbecue at Doughboy and Ricki’s house.
4. The game of dominoes gets it’s moment in the spotlight
5. The cops, especially the black ones.
6. Brandi goes to Spelman
7. Angela Bassett’s brief but powerful role as Tre’s mother, Reva.
8. Furious giving his son Tre a homemade haircut
9. The made-up story Tre tells Furious about having sex.
10. One word: Gentrification. How many people learned what that was from “Boyz N The Hood”?
11. Furious telling Tre and his friends the SAT is culturally bias years before it was a national issue.

[Clifford Black]

@craig-This is wonderful in that I remember Bertha---she made sure that I was eating which was not hard since she was cooking....B.

[Craig]

@E > I spent many days in South Central Los Angeles in the late 70s and 80s.  Experienced things that I have never experienced before.  I ventured out into the nights (in hindsight foolishly) but I really enjoyed those experiences.  I befriended several young ladies and guys with serious gang affiliations and was amazed at how they owned their streets.  Budlong, Hoover, Manchester, Vermont, in the heart of  South Central weren't the safest places but I loved it.  I had my car jacked at gun point one Friday evening, that's a long story that I'll share next time. (smile)  One of my Memphis/TSU buddy's folks owned a restaurant called "Bertha's Soul Food" on Century Blvd.  It was a safehaven and may still be out there.  It was used as a backdrop for part of the song "I love LA" shot during the LA Olympics.  Man did we have some adventures out there.  And survived! (smile)      

[Clifford Black]

@E. This is a fantastic post and I hope that it will be a foundation for many continued comments!!!!!

B.

[E Donelson II]

The scene where the gang-bangers took Rick's football and how sad he looked. And then the OG made the chump throw it back to the kids as they walked dejectedly away. Man, I remember when I was young and the big guys in my hood would do things like that to us little kids. Well, this was the 50's & 60's; we went right down the street and got a bunch of rocks and wore they're asses out! They never could catch us and no of us managed to get caught by ourselves. We were "The Junior Gang". All of us were named after our fathers and it was a bunch of us! lol