Boyz n the Hood

CTL-E-5480 · Work · film · 1991

PROVISIONAL evidence grade of this record

Boyz n the Hood, John Singleton's feature directorial debut, written by Singleton and released by Columbia Pictures in 1991 after a Los Angeles premiere that July 2, follows Tre Styles, sent to live with his father in South Central Los Angeles, in a coming-of-age story built from Singleton's own neighborhood knowledge and drawn from the script he had written as a student — one he insisted on directing himself as a condition of its sale. The industry record followed: at twenty-four, Singleton became the youngest person ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, and the first African American so nominated, with a second nomination for his original screenplay. The film held the first or breakout roles of Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, and Nia Long, and grossed $57.5 million in North America. It is held in the National Film Registry. The graph files it as the hood-film era's founding text and its moral center — the work that set the terms every successor, including Singleton's own Snowfall (CTL-E-5463) a generation later, had to answer.

Notes

Statistics: Columbia Pictures, 1991; National Film Registry (per obituary coverage in the research file). Director John Singleton holds no graph Person record — flagged as a future candidate (he recurs across this wave), not minted in this Works wave. · Curator's Judgment: DRAFT — for founder review: A student script, an unbreakable condition — 'I direct it' — and a neighborhood filmed by its own son: Boyz n the Hood is the record of what happens when the person from the place holds the camera. Every Los Angeles film on this shelf after 1991 is in conversation with it. · Photo slot: HELD — poster/key art and production stills for this title are copyrighted studio material and were NOT pulled (per CTL-PHOTO-001 and the wave brief: never force non-free key art); no cleared Commons image was verified for this title in this run. Slot honestly HELD pending a cleared visual.

Sources

• The Ringer, 'John Singleton Was a Beacon of Authenticity' (2019) — supports: Singleton's debut and authorship, the youngest-ever and first-African-American directing nominations, and the film's founding standing — https://www.theringer.com/2019/04/30/movies/john-singleton-obituary-boyz-n-the-hood-poetic-justice-higher-learning-baby-boy
• Urban Hollywood 411, 'John Singleton Dies: Boyz N the Hood Director Was 51' (2019) — supports: the National Film Registry standing as reported in obituary coverage — https://urbanhollywood411.com/john-singleton-groundbreaking-boyz-n-the-hood-director-dead-at-51/
• MovieFit, 'Boyz n the Hood (1991)' — supports: the July 2, 1991 Los Angeles premiere listing; the exact general-release day was not confirmed in this pass and is not asserted — https://moviefit.me/movies/1000150-boyz-n-the-hood

Record CTL-E-5480 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: PROVISIONAL · 3 sources · CTL research: MEDIA-001.
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