Young Tre's mother ships the boy off to live with his dad, in South Central Los Angeles, when he starts to show signs of delinquency caused by the absence of a father figure in his life.
Together with his three precocious childhood friends, Tre has to grow up and face the world as a black man. And, in 1991, this means being public enemy number one.
This, folks, is the beginning of one of the best films of our time, Boyz N The Hood, which will be screened as part of the John Singleton Film Festival on etv this month.
The grown-up Tre may have been depicted to the T by Cuba Gooding Jnr, but for most people the star of the show was Dough Boy and his jerry-curl bouncing lightly under a fitted peak cap.
In the second half of this spin on US ghetto realism of that time, the grown-up Dough Boy is played by rapper Ice Cube, who has gone on to make pretentious comedies like Are We There Yet?
Boyz also starred Laurence Fishburn, Angela Basset and a young Morris Chestnut and was nominated for two Academy Awards in 1992. But, more significantly, it proved to Hollywood that up-and-coming director John Singleton, in his 20s, could hang in with the big boys.
He then went on to make the racially charged and thought-provoking Higher Learning, starring Omar Epps. After that came the glossy-but-still-ghetto Baby Boy, starring singer Tyrese and Tarji P Henson. You can catch all three films this month.
Baby Boy was well received, especially because rapper Snoop Dogg (pre-Sensual Seduction, thank goodness!) co-starred with Tyrese. However, it was Boyz and Higher Learning that altered the social climate in the US at those times, affected popular culture and catapulted this director into stardom.
Boyz N The Hood's title was borrowed from a song by Ice Cube's gangster rap group, NWA, and has since served as the prototype for many films that followed.
Higher Learning showcased the talents of Fishburn and Ice Cube once again alongside then fresh new actor Epps and even rapper Busta Rhymes.
Rumour has it supermodel Tyra Banks only landed a role in this film because she was romantically linked to Singleton.
Other films Singleton has directed include the brilliant Rosewood, Poetic Justice, Shaft, 2 Fast 2 Furious and Four Brothers.
Incidentally, all these films, with the exception of Rosewood, had rappers in starring roles. They include Tupac Shakur, Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, Marky Mark and André 3000.
- But for the John Singleton Film Festival, you'll have to settle for Ice Cube (Boyz N The Hood, March 29, 10pm), Busta (Higher Learning, March 15, 10pm) and Snoop (Baby Boy, March 22, 9.50pm) only.