Hood films arguably propagated hip hop’s gangsta rap agenda, a fast-rising subgenre of stories of police brutality, early death, and “fuck it” mentalities. ![]() Particularly striking is the parallels of hood films as a visual complement to a then-burgeoning hip-hop culture, borrowing and building upon not only its aesthetics but also using rappers (and oftentimes their narratives) to spearhead their casts and contribute to the films’ soundtracks. Predominantly set in the inner cities of America’s metropolitan hubs like New York and Los Angeles during the 1980s and 1990s, these films leaned heavily on the conceptualization of urban African American life as broke, short, nihilistic, and violent. They weren’t what critic Bambi Haggins refers to as “FUBU - For Us by Us” - borrowing from the African American clothing line of the same name - instead carving out space for a multiracial audience to experience the unique peculiarities of the contemporary African American experience. Unlike the majority of its predecessors, hood films did not cater specifically to African Americans. Powerful, gripping narratives of urban poverty, disenfranchisement, hustle, and, ultimately, (young) Black manhood, hood films thrived in the early to middle 1990s. ![]() The explosion of the “hood film” genre in late 20th century African American cinema arguably doubled as an extension of the street performances of the 1960s and blaxploitation films of the 1970s, while ushering in a new vehicle of post-Civil Rights Black expression accessible to a wider, whiter, mainstream audience.
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