Production[ed

Production[edit]

Singleton wrote the film based around his life growing up and events that either happened to him, or people he knew.^[4] When applying for film school, one of the questions on the application form was to describe "three ideas for films". One of the ideas Singleton wrote was a movie to be titled Summer of 84, which would later evolve into Boyz n the Hood.^[4] Singleton was protective of his script, insisting that he be the one to direct the project, later explaining at a retrospective screening of the film, "I wasn’t going to have somebody from Idaho or Encino direct this movie."^[5]

The role of Doughboy was specifically written for Ice Cube whom Singleton met while working as an intern at The Arsenio Hall Show.^[4] Singleton claims that the other two leads, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Morris Chestnut, were cast simply because they were the first ones who showed up to the casting auditions.^[4] Despite having a member of one of the best-selling rap groups, N.W.A, this, at least according to Singleton, was not a selling point to the studio who were not aware of them.^[4] Rather, Singleton opined, the studio greenlit the film in the interest of making a film similar to the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing. The film was shot in sequence, with Singleton later noting that, as the film goes on, the camera work gets better as Singleton was finding his foothold as a director.^[5]

Reception and legacy[edit]

Critical response[edit]

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 96% based on 61 reviews and an average score of 8.3/10.^[6] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 73 out of 100 based on 18 reviews, which indicates "Generally favorable reviews".^[7]

Cultural impact[edit]

The film has been referenced many times in other works, including works by Lupe Fiasco, Game, and Ice Cube himself. In 1994, British jungle DJ duo Remarc and Lewi produced a song titled "Ricky". The song itself is built up of various sound bites from the movie, particularly the scene where Ricky is murdered. Ice Cube's song, "Check Yo Self", also references the film.

On the July 12, 2011 episode of her self-titled talk show, Mo'Nique celebrated the 20th anniversary of the release of Boyz n the Hood with director John Singleton, Cuba Gooding Jr., Yo-Yo, and Regina King.

In Vince Staple's hit song 'Norf Norf' (2016), Staples references the scene where Ricky gets shot in the back, letting the listener know how much of an impact the movie had on his upbringing.

In the 2015 American comedy film Get Hard, Kevin Hart's character is asked to talk about the reason for his fabricated incarceration years earlier. Fumbling for a story, he describes the final scene of 'Boyz n the Hood', passing it off as his own experience to Will Ferrell's character.