Menace II Society

Amazon.co.uk Menace II Society (1993) came out of nowhere, and was almost banned in the UK during the post-Reservoir Dogs debate about violence on film and video. With Samuel L. Jackson billed fifth, and no star names in the lead roles, the savagely combative low-budget drama about a young black man (Tyrin Turner) and the shattering violence that destroys his life of drugs and crime put the Hughes brothers firmly on the film-making map. Though the movie features a score by Quincy Jones III, don't look for that on the album, which features almost 70 minutes of the hardest rap around. Anyone who hasn't seen the movie should be warned that the language is as strong as it gets. In context it all makes sense, a relentlessly aggressive expression of anger and contempt in tune with the wasted lives portrayed on screen. "Nigga Got No Heart" by Spice 1 sets the agenda, with only brief moments of lightness like "Top Of The World" by Kenya Gruv, a slick funk ballad easing the intensity. The movie drew favourable comparisons with Boyz N the Hood, and the Hughes brothers followed it with the similarly controversial Dead Presidents(1995). --Gary S. Dalkin