His crowning achievement will likely be his powerful debut -- the urban drama Boyz N the Hood -- which was a surprise crossover hit back in 1991 and for which he scored a Best Director nomination (the first for a black director!) at the incredibly young age of 24 (he was the youngest filmmaker ever nominated, a record he still holds).
The critical and commercial success of that film galvanized a whole generation of filmmakers and essentially established a golden age for African-American themed dramas which sought to depict a grittier and more realistic (and more nuanced) version of the black experience that has been historically depicted by Hollywood.
In Boyz N the Hood's wake came seminal films like Menace II Society, Juice, and Singleton's own Poetic Justice and Higher Learning. For a brief shining moment, it appeared as if serious black filmmaking could and would co-exist alongside 'white' prestige pictures.
Unfortunately though, most of Singleton's post-Boyz efforts failed to catch fire with most critics and audiences, with little seen efforts like his historically revisionist period drama Rosewood, eventually earning cult status on home video.
And as fast as you can say 'Tyler Perry,' Singleton's brand of provocative, racially-themed work was supplanted by an embrace of black broad comedy,
Singleton would evolve into a more commercial filmmaker, helming a Fast and Furious sequel and a very underrated reboot of the Shaft franchise starring Samuel L. Jackson.
But none of these films eclipsed Boyz N the Hood in the public consciousness and if you revisit it now it's easy to see why. The film's look at the perils of gang violence and terror of a police state in which many inner city youths win can mean a daily game of life or death.
He helped make Cuba Gooding, Jr. a star, proved that Ice Cube could act, and brought one of the most endearing portraits of a black father --- our Atticus Finch -- Laurence Fishburne as Furious Styles to blistering, inspirational life on-screen.
With this movie alone -- not to mention the classic Michael Jackson music video "Remember the Time," which he also directed -- Singleton placed himself firmly in the pantheon of iconic directors, let alone black ones.
And if he hadn't proven that humanity-focused, intense dramas solely concerned with black life could play to a mass audience, films like Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station would never see the light of day.
His portrayal of the corrosive effects of biased policing, the joys and pain of adolescence in a so-called 'ghetto' and his broad message of 'stop' -- will always stick with me.
RIP John Singleton, you will be missed.
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