Boys N the Hood Response

Amy Lin

Professor Nye

MUSC 320

03 November 2017

Boys N the Hood Response

1. The soundtrack of Boyz N the Hood served as an effective complement to the movie, Boyz N The Hood. In particular, the song, “How to Survive in South Central”, by Ice Cube, paved the scenes set in the film. Lyrics in the song such as, “Now if you’re white you can trust the police—but if you’re black they ain’t nothing but beasts” were lyrics that were loaded with a massive amount of truth and reality, which was easily depicted in the film. The rap song by Ice Cube intersected with themes and reality that the film was trying to portray. It helped people who perhaps didn’t understand what it was like to grow up in the “hood” to gain better perspective through Ice Cube’s painfully bold and honest lyrics. The rap music heard throughout the movie serves as a raw and authentic ode to the teenagers growing up in South Central who struggle to overcome the crime and dangers of living in South Central LA. The song “Growin’ Up in the Hood” is an example of voices from hip-hop that helped convey the struggles of the teenagers of growing up in South Central LA. The lyrics in the song, “My mom treats me like she doesn’t even know me” is applicable to the way Doughboy feels throughout the movie. The film intersects with rap music and hip-hop culture because it portrays the raw emotions of the teenagers of South Central LA really well. They were growing up in a community rooted with crime, homicides, and burglaries, with nothing really to look forward to other than music and dancing. It shows why the people in this community might value emotional outlets such as rapping and dancing, to break free from the confining and crippling setbacks of growing up in the hood.

2. Ice Cube’s character, Doughboy, embodies the quintessential “good” guy who might initially seem like a bad person on the surface because he reflects the influence of his neighborhood. Out of the group of friends, Doughboy seems to reflect the most influence compared to Tre and Ricky. Doughboy is a loyal person to both his friends and his brother and takes pride in his roots. However, he constantly struggles with self-confidence. He feels as if his mother loves his brother Ricky more than him, and he is constantly trying to act tough and prove himself to both his family and his friends. This desire to act tough and attempt to gain respect often backfires, as his mother and his friends can see through his act. Doughboy often acts as the devil’s advocate whenever his little brother or Tre wants to make good decisions. Although he has good intentions, and wants to best for Tre and Ricky, he often tries to influence them to make poor decisions. For example, Doughboy is not very good at respecting women. Every time he refers to a female, he either calls them a “bitch” or a “hoe”. When his friends talk about wanting to go to church to meet nice girls, Doughboy responds, “Ain’t nobody go to church to catch no bitches”.