It’s been 25 years since Boyz N The Hood came out and made film history. Since the film was released, we have seen Ice Cube go from rapper to a bonafide movie star. Here are 10 things you never knew about John Singleton’s Boyz N The Hood.
1. Will Smith was offered the role of Tre Styles but decided to become The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air instead.
2. The actors weren’t warned about gun shots so they could give a genuine reaction.
3. The opening and closing scenes reference the movie, Stand By Me.
4. Director John Singleton got a reluctant Ice Cube to begin his acting career.
The former rapper is now an actor and screen writer, but it probably wouldn’t have happened without Singleton. The director tracked the N.W.A. alum down at a concert multiple times to convince him to come in for a screen test for the movie. Ice Cube was his first choice for Doughboy. Afterwards, Singleton convinced him to write his own screenplay which led to Friday.
5. John Singleton was up for Best Director when he was 24-years-old making him the youngest ever to be nominated.
He is also the first Black person to be nominated for a Best Director Academy Award.
6. Ice Cube really owned the ’64 gold Chevrolet Impala his character owns.
7. Doughboy’s crew is based on the Rollin 60s Crips street gang. Ferris’ crew is based on Crenshaw Mafia Bloods.
8. There is an Easy-E diss in the movie.
By the time Ice Cube was shooting the movie he left N.W.A on bad terms. He decided to diss his former friend by having a crack head wear an Easy-E shirt and try to steal Dooky’s chain only to get caught and beat down.
9. Pouring out alcohol in the movie had a secret meaning.
According to Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture, Volume 2, Ice Cube was having mixed feelings about promoting malt liquor, so at the end of the movie he poured it out. This is taken as paying respect to the dead and publicly ending his advertisement of Ides.
10. The movie was made as a quasi revenge on Spike Lee.
Singleton applied to be a production assistant on Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing but didn’t get the job. He then decided to make his own movie and place it in the West Coast.
