With a tragic hero at its heart, the Hughes brothers’ debut drama painted nuanced portraits of characters rarely fleshed out in other films.

The Hughes brothers are torn between the hopelessness of what they depict and a kind of haloed view of a better life.

Don't let the silly styling of the title put you off; this is a powerful, convincing, and terrifying look at teenage crime in contemporary Watts.

A lot like Boyz N Da Hood released two years earlier, it is a bleak picture and captures lightning in a bottle in which the city was still fuming from the Rodney King riots.