John Singleton, director of powerful inner-city drama 'Boyz N the Hood,' dies at 51
Source: Washington Post
John Singleton, a screenwriter and film director whose powerful 1991 debut, "Boyz N the Hood," earned him two Oscar nominations and was considered groundbreaking for its humane depiction of the lives of young black men on the violent streets of South Central Los Angeles, died April 29 at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 51.
His family confirmed the death in a statement, according to the Associated Press. The filmmaker, who had hypertension, was hospitalized after having a stroke on April 17.
Mr. Singleton was the first African American and the youngest-ever Academy Award nominee for best director. He wrote the "Boyz N the Hood" screenplay, which was also an Oscar contender, as a student at the University of Southern California. In college, he had won scriptwriting prizes, which led to a three-picture deal with Columbia Pictures and $6.5 million to make "Boyz N the Hood."
He was 22, had never made a movie before and insisted on directing the film. He proved persuasive in negotiations with studio executives. "I'm a writer first, and I direct in order to protect my vision," he told the New York Times. "It's my story, I lived it. What sense would it have made to have some white boy impose his interpretation on my experience?"
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/john-singleton-director-of-powerful-inner-city-drama-boyz-n-the-hood-dies-at-51/2019/04/29/a6d3fd58-67aa-11e9-8985-4cf30147bdca_story.html
I just saw an article about an hour ago that he had had a stroke last week (apparently the week before last) and that his family planned to remove him from life support today.
Damn.
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Way too young. 
and couldn't get through the whole thing. It was that depressing.
That is the long version - ~ 9 minutes.
I remember taping it when it aired on cable (I think I taped it from BET but it also aired on MTV).
It's been almost 30 years ago.
(made in 1992 - that was the also the year that I took my Mom to Egypt too).
ETA - I even bought blank DVDs and a combo DVR/VHS machine to try to transfer the stuff to DVD. It was going to be a project for me and I still haven't gotten around to doing it.
I can't believe I'm saying it but "back in those days" 
it was like that's what a video should be. 30 years-Whew! and yet 51 is too soon to go.
I remember you saying a few years ago how your Mom took you to many lectures and, seriously, what a way to show your appreciation. Just magnificent!
Yeah, I can't do it! My transfers will never happen though I like doing stuff like that 
if it weren't for his film. I remember getting about an hour into it and had to turn it off. It was like when I read Chancellor Williams' book "The Destruction of Black Civilization" (which I did finish), which to me was the most depressing (non-fiction) book I had ever read.
and that one got a lot of press too. The choreography and sets/makeup were incredible. And of course it was a MJ extravaganza with his dancing (he had several like that including "Black or White" and the most well known - "Thriller" ). He elevated the genre.
And yup - we went to a bunch of different events including one with Dr. Ivan Van Sertima. We went to Egypt with Dr. Molefi Asante (it was actually his very first trip and he took his mother too, but he ended up going many times after as a yearly tour trip).
My mom had drawers full of tapes too (quite a bit of taped from CSPAN) that she also kept but eventually started purging them before she passed... only keeping the ones she seemed to like the most (I have those now). It's hard to get to them now with so much else going on.
There aren't that many black directors of such high caliber.
I am shook.
Luke Perry's death was like a sledgehammer and I heard about John Singleton last week but was initially hopeful he would pull through, sadly, there was never a good report and each bit I heard was worse for him too.
As I am rapidly approaching 50 myself and I suffer from hypertension (genetic - my entire family does on both sides) and Type II Diabetes, I am literally getting panicky hearing about people dying who I (wrongly? rightly?) assumed would have access to health care options beyond my means.
Getting old is bad enough without these gut punches from well-known persons dying too soon...
because that was what was being reported extensively about 3 - 4 days ago. Then the story shifted Sunday night, per what I eventually heard early Monday morning, and now this....
