John Singleton, maker of 'Boyz N the Hood,' dies at 51

Director John Singleton, who made one of Hollywood's most memorable debuts with the Oscar-nominated "Boyz N the Hood" and continued over the following decades to probe the lives of black communities in his native Los Angeles and beyond, has died. He was 51.

Singleton's family said Monday that he died after being taken off life support, about two weeks after the director suffered a major stroke.

Singleton was in his early 20s, just out of the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, when he wrote, directed and produced "Boyz N the Hood."
In fact, when I applied to USC Film School they had a thing that asked you to write three ideas for films. And one of them was called Summer of '84, which was about growing up in South Central LA."
In 2002, "Boyz N the Hood' was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, which called it "an innovative look at life and the tough choices present for kids growing up in South Central Los Angeles."
He also made the coming-of-age story "Baby Boy," a remake of the action film "Shaft" and an installment in the "Fast and Furious" franchise, "2 Fast 2 Furious."
"It made me a very angry young man. I didn't understand why I was so angry, but I wasn't someone who took my anger and applied it inward. I turned it into being a storyteller. I was on a kamikaze mission to really tell stories from my perspective an authentic black perspective."
He cast hip-hop artists and other musicians in many of his films, including Ice Cube in "Boyz N the Hood," Janet Jackson and Shakur in "Poetic Justice" and Tyrese Gibson in "Baby Boy."