BOYZ-N-THE HOOD

ADVANCED ENGLISH READ-THROUGH

In the prelude, Dr.Dre discusses a musical piece composed by

Eazy E and recalls that some of their mutual acquaintances
initially questioned its artistic viability. He requests that
Eazy E perform the piece; he does so, and this comprises the
remainder of the track.

In the main body of the track, the narrator awakens around 12

noon and feels a compulsion to travel shortly to the nearby
city of Compton. He asserts a need to become intoxicated from
alcohol before his day's activities begin in earnest, and
before his mother renews an apparently regular practice of
complaining about his social acquaintances.

As he departs, several young people nearby indicate with hand

signals their affiliation with a gang other than the
narrator's. To encourage these potential adversaries to
withdraw these gestures (and, indeed, the pretence they
imply), the narrator retrieves a MAC-10 firearm and an
ammunition clip from inside his home, returns outside, and
demonstratively aims the weapon at the perceived offenders. As
he anticipates, however, the young people continue their
symbolic affront.

The narrator then enters his vehicle (later revealed to be a

1964 Chevrolet Impala) and accelerates; he also assures the
listener that his vehicle's hydraulic system is especially
well-articulated. He powers on his Alpine-brand stereo system,
and plays the N.W.A song "Gangsta-Gangsta". (The narrator
describes the song as new; indeed, "Gangsta-Gangsta" was first
released the year after "Boyz-n-the-Hood.") Employing the
technique of mise-en-abyme, the narrator plays on his stereo
one of his own compositions and (approximately) recalls its
lyrics: In the song, he operates the aforementioned vehicle,
engages in sexual intercourse with and commits domestic abuse
against multiple women, visits a park to learn from associates
about recent occurrences, and observes people playing
basketball there. An unknown person drives a Chevrolet El
Camino to near the narrator, then, rolling down the window,
reveals himself to be fellow rap artist Matthew Garfield,
identified here as Kilo G. Kilo G explains that he stole the
vehicle and moreover explicitly endorses that method of
vehicle acquisition.

Leaving the recollection of the song-within-a-song, the

narrator proceeds to the chorus, passing temporarily from
narrative to cautionary meditations about the men who live in
his neighbourhood: They are well-attuned to threats of
coercive force and can themselves competently exercise force
as circumstances dictate. Moreover, they respond to their
criticism by evaluating their detractors' boasts and even
threats of violence, and then effectively rescinding their
ability to do so. He states, too, that said men are motivated
foremost, or even exclusively, by authenticity, but asks the
listener not to attribute these assertions to him, insisting
(rhetorically) that he has avowed nothing. Returning to
specific descriptions of the day's events, the narrator
travels to the residence of a man whom he identifies as B, to
learn again whether anything significant has occurred
recently. When he arrives, B informs him that a common (and
present) acquaintance, J.D., is freebasing. Shortly, the
narrator discovers J.D. attempting to purloin the previously
mentioned stereo system in the narrator's car. He pursues
J.D., ostensibly intending to resolve the conflict peacefully,
but J.D. brandishes a gun that uses .22 calibre ammunition,
apparently unaware that the narrator himself is carrying a 12-
gauge shotgun. In the ensuing duel, the narrator kills J.D.
but himself survives. The conflict is later described on the
front page of the Los Angeles Times, a local newspaper.

The apparently jaded narrator then expresses his boredom and

(again) a desire to consume alcohol, and drives to a location
where his close associates often convene for subdued social
interaction; those associates, too, earn an income outside
their homes. Upon his arrival, some of those associates there
offer him a 40-oz. container of Olde English 800 malt liquor,
which he accepts and begins to consume, stating that it causes
his breath to gain an unpleasant odour. He follows the malt
with a Bacardi-brand spirit, then departs for his significant
other's residence with the intention of engaging in sexual
intercourse with her. While there, she states something that
displeases him and moreover confounds his expectations of her.
In response, he grabs her by the hair; she protests further,
and he strikes her, comparing the rebuke to one a pimp may
physically inflict on a prostitute. The woman's father, whom
the narrator describes as aged, and who is present for this
conflict, stands and objects emphatically to the narrator's
conduct. The narrator responds by striking him, too, leaving
him unconscious.

The narrator drives home, believing despite his alcohol

consumption that he maintains his physical wherewithal, but
shortly crashes his vehicle into a telephone pole. Unfazed, he
plans to abandon it and purchase a replacement, and travels
homeward on foot. En route, he sees Kilo G and a companion in
a car that makes an apparently illegal U-turn: They are
subsequently pulled over in a traffic stop conducted by an
undercover police officer who was driving a green Chevrolet
Nova. Kilo G's companion resists arrest and sustains blows in
the effort; during the confrontation, the companion's Guess-
brand garment is torn, and in retribution he strikes the
officer in the head. The incident involves Kilo G's fourth
criminal offense, leading the narrator to surmise (correctly,
it is soon revealed) that Kilo G will be imprisoned.
Later, the narrator travels to free his associates but cannot:
They have been remanded without bail, for instigating a riot
in the county prison. Two days later, during municipal court
proceedings, Kilo G audibly expels intestinal gas through his
anus, and the judge finds him guilty of obstruction of
justice; he remains stoic when the judge announces his
sentence of six years. As the bailiff approaches him, he
smiles, and yells, "fire," signalling a woman, Suzi, who
enters the courtroom with an Uzi submachine gun. Police shoot
but do not critically injured her; later, both she and Kilo G
are imprisoned for attempted murder.