A former ranch hand confronts the realities of drug addiction and runs afoul of a local gangster after he moves to Los Angeles.

During a 10-year sentence for murdering the leader of a rival South Central Los Angeles gang, Bobby Johnson finds religion and rehabilitation with the help of Muslim inmate Ali. Upon his release, Bobby returns home to find that his young son, Jimmie, has joined the Deuces, his old crew. Tensions rise as Bobby struggles to convince Jimmie to leave the gang that was his only family during the painful years his absent father spent behind bars.

Chronicling the short but eventful life of Hank Gathers (played by Donny B. Lord as a child and Victor Love as a young adult), this fact-based drama chronicles the hoopster's rise from the inner city of Philadelphia to a starring role on Loyola Marymount's basketball team before a heart condition cut his career short. Nell Carter plays Hank's supportive mom, and George Kennedy portrays a neighborhood priest who inspired the boy.

Boyz n the Hood is the popular and successful film and social criticism from John Singleton about the conditions in South Central Los Angeles where teenagers are involved in gun fights and drug dealing on a daily basis.