Boyz n the Hood

Ten-year-old Tre Styles lives with his mother Reva, in Inglewood, near Los Angeles International Airport. After Tre gets into an altercation at school, his teacher informs Reva that he has a volatile temper and lacks respect for authority, despite his high intelligence. Concerned about Tre's future and wanting him to mature, Reva sends him to live in Crenshaw with his father, Jason "Furious" Styles, from whom she hopes Tre will learn valuable life lessons. She assures Tre he will be permitted to return to her one day.

Tre soon reunites with his friends, Darrin "Doughboy" Baker, Doughboy's maternal half-brother Ricky, and Chris, their mutual friend. Furious immediately has Tre rake the leaves off the front lawn, emphasizing the benefits of hard work and responsibility. Chris sneers at Furious's offer to pay them for raking the leaves, implying he makes more participating in criminal activity. That night, a burglar enters the house and Tre hears his father shooting as he flees. They wait for the police, and two officers arrive an hour later; the white officer is civil and professional, while the black officer is hostile and displays a contempt of other Black men.

The next day, Tre, Ricky, Doughboy and Chris venture to a nearby neighborhood where Chris knows the location of a dead human body. While the quartet is there, a group of adolescents confront them about the discovery of the body. One of the adolescents tricks Ricky into throwing him his football. Doughboy tries to retrieve it but is beaten and kicked by the ball thief. While the older boys walk away, one of them gives Ricky his ball back. Later in the day, Furious goes fishing with Tre, telling him of his military experience in the Vietnam War. He advises Tre never to join the Army, arguing that a black man has no place in it. As Tre and Furious return home, they see Doughboy and Chris being arrested for shoplifting as Brenda, Ricky and Doughboy's mother look on from her front porch.

Seven years later at a BBQ party, Doughboy, now a Crips[6] gang member, is celebrating his recent release from jail with his friends, including Chris, who is now paralyzed and uses a wheelchair as a result of a gunshot wound, and new friends and fellow Crip members Dooky and Monster. Ricky, now a star running back for Crenshaw High School, lives with Brenda, his girlfriend Shanice, and their infant son. Tre has grown into a mature and responsible teenager and aspires to attend college with his girlfriend, Brandi. Their relationship is strained over Tre's desire to have sex, while Brandi, a devout Catholic, wishes to wait until after marriage.

Ricky hopes to win a scholarship from the University of Southern California. During a visit from a recruiter, Ricky learns that he must score at least a 700 on the SATs in order to qualify. Tre and Ricky take the test together, and they visit Furious at work. Furious takes them to Compton to talk about the dangers of decreasing property values in the black community.

That night, during a local street racing gathering, Ricky has a confrontation with Ferris, a high-ranking Crenshaw Mafia Bloods member. This soon escalates into an argument which causes Doughboy to brandish his gun, warding off the Bloods. Moments later, Ferris fires his own gun into the air, causing everyone to panic and flee. Tre leaves with Ricky and states his desire to leave Los Angeles, but they are soon pulled over by the police. The officer turns out to be the same one who responded to the burglary call made by Furious seven years back, and he intimidates and threatens Tre. Tre visits Brandi's house and breaks down; after she consoles him, they have sex for the first time.

The next day, after getting into an argument about Brenda, Doughboy and Ricky get into a fight. While Tre and Ricky walk to a nearby store, they see Ferris and the Crenshaw Mafia Bloods driving around the neighborhood, and in an attempt to avoid them, the two cut through the back alleys and split up while at the same time Doughboy went to grab his gun, sensing them in trouble. As Tre turns his back to Ricky, Ferris's car cuts off Ricky's path, and one of Ferris's men shoots Ricky in the leg and back with a shotgun, killing him instantly.

Doughboy, Dooky, Monster and Chris all rush over to the scene but catch up with Tre too late, who is mourning his friend's brutal demise. The five boys carry Ricky's dead body back home. When Brenda and Shanice see Ricky's corpse, they tearfully break down and, thinking that he killed Ricky, blame Doughboy, who unsuccessfully tries to comfort them and explain himself. Later that night, a distraught Brenda reads Ricky's SAT results, discovering he scored a 710, more than enough to qualify for the scholarship.

The remaining boys vow vengeance on Ricky's assailants; Furious finds Tre preparing to take his gun, but convinces him to abandon his plans for revenge. Shortly after, Tre sneaks out to join Doughboy, Dooky and Monster, to Brandi and Furious's dismay. That night, as the four search for Ricky's killers, Tre, realizing Furious is right, asks to be let out of Doughboy's car and returns home. When Tre arrives at home, Furious confronts him, and the two depart to their bedrooms silently.

Meanwhile, Doughboy, Dooky and Monster continue to search for the three assailants and eventually find them eating at a fast food restaurant and prepare a drive-by shooting. The Crenshaw Mafia Bloods spot the car and attempt to flee, but Monster manages to shoot all three of them, killing one, and wounding Ricky's killer and Ferris. The vengeful Doughboy exits the car, shoots and kills Ricky's killer, and confronts Ferris. Ferris denies "pulling the trigger" and insults Doughboy, who promptly executes him in response, avenging his late brother.

The next morning, Doughboy visits Tre and understands his reasons for exiting the car. Doughboy knows that he will eventually face retaliation for the murder he committed the previous evening and accepts the consequences of his crime-ridden lifestyle. He plaintively questions why America does not care about the plight of those in the ghetto, and sorrowfully notes he has no family left after Ricky's death and Brenda's disowning of him. Tre embraces him and tells Doughboy he still has one brother left.

The epilogue reveals that Ricky was buried the next day, and that Doughboy was murdered two weeks later. Tre and Brandi later go on to attend Morehouse and Spelman colleges respectively.

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 96% based on 70 reviews and an average score of 8.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted and thematically rich, Boyz N the Hood observes urban America with far more depth and compassion than many of the like-minded films its success inspired."[10] At Metacritic, the film received an average score of 76 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[11]

Boyz n the Hood kickstarted the acting careers of Gooding, Chestnut, and Long, who were relatively unknown before it. It also launched Ice Cube's career as a Hollywood actor and was Angela Bassett's and Regina King's first significant film role.[2]

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 also references the film in the song "Check Yo Self", stating "I make dough but don't call me Dough Boy / This ain't no fucking motion picture". In the 2008 movie Be Kind Rewind, there is a small reference to the scene where Ricky is shot.

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 the director John Singleton, Cuba Gooding Jr., Yo-Yo, and Regina King. American rapper Vince Staples references the scene where Ricky gets shot in the back in the song "Norf Norf", informing the listener of the film's impact on his upbringing.

In 2016, 21 Savage referenced Ricky's murder in the song "No Heart", stating "21 Savage not Boyz N The Hood but I pull up on you / Shoot yo' ass in the back". He also referenced Ricky's murder in the song "Slidin" (Savage Mode II, 2020), stating "He was talking crazy, he got blick / Savage keep a token, John Wick / Shoot him in the back like he Rick (Ricky) / Playing freeze tag, n***** it (Sticky)".

In 2007, Boyz n the Hood was selected as one of the 50 Films To See in your lifetime by Channel 4.

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated

Australian alternative rock band TISM released a live VHS called Boyz n the Hoods in 1992, whose cover artwork is presented as a parody of the film's original VHS box, albeit with a fake disclaimer printed on the cover stating that due to a manufacturing error, the non-existent film was replaced with TISM's concert.

Characters and scenes from Boyz n the Hood are parodied in the 1996 American crime comedy parody film, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.

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.