Tributes have been pouring in for John Singleton, the trailblazing filmmaker who died Monday, on the younger age of 51, following an enormous stroke. Actors who labored with him — together with Ice Cube, Samuel L. Jackson, and Regina King — mourned his loss, as did colleagues and followers who praised him for opening doorways with, amongst others, his basic 1991 debut Boyz n the Hood.
Now a minimum of Barack Obama has weighed in. The 44th president took to Twitter Tuesday, the day after Singleton’s passing, to pay tribute to a filmmaker who left us too quickly.
Condolences to the household of John Singleton. His seminal work, Boyz n the Hood, stays one of the vital searing, loving portrayals of the challenges dealing with inner-city youth. He opened doorways for filmmakers of shade to inform highly effective tales which were too usually ignored.
“His seminal work, Boyz n the Hood, remains one of the most searing, loving portrayals of the challenges facing inner-city youth,” wrote Obama. “He opened doors for filmmakers of color to tell powerful stories that have been too often ignored.”
Obama echoed a pattern amongst the Singleton tributes, particularly that he helped parts of the nation who had been underrepresented portrayed on film screens.
Indeed, Boyz n the Hood — about younger individuals, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Nia Long amongst them, making an attempt to get by within the low-income, violent South Central part of Los Angeles — was not solely successful movie, it turned Singleton into the primary African-American filmmaker nominated for the Best Director Oscar, in addition to the youngest. When Singleton made it, he was all of 24 years outdated.