Original subtitles

hey [ __ ] I want to know if you ready to

do this

[ __ ] minut came about because we were

frustrated and tired of white people

saying they deserve what they get

they're just little gang bangers and

they deserve to be treated the way

they're

treat we thought that the news media was

not explaining the inner city that well

they had not done any real in-depth

journalism on why these kids are this

way so that motivated us telling the

story ain't nothing going to change in

Atlanta I mean I'm still going to be

black the Hugh brothers and the writer

Tiger Williams wanted to document what

life was like there for a lot of people

nigg hurry the [ __ ] up [ __ ] I know what

the [ __ ] I'm doing you just watch out

what we were trying to do was take a

slice of reality and put it on film down

with a

187 let's do this we wanted it to be

real turn that [ __ ] [ __ ] down

the reaction was what we wanted to be we

had more white people walk up to us

genuinely when I never understood why

those kids did what they did until I saw

this

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movie we grew up in Detroit Michigan all

the way up to 9 1980 came into a place

called Pomona California a little city

about 35 40 Mi outside of downtown Los

Angeles here our interest in movies

first came from things like Superman and

Indiana Jones the popcorn movies and we

were fascinated with the making of

movies the one that really changed it

for us is what changed it for a lot of

people which was Scarface and that was

the first time where Cinema met pop

culture at the same time and it was kind

of like a movie and a film but I think

our love for film came through something

pretty obvious and overstated now scorey

Good Fellas of what really got us uh

into the gangster movies we use that

movie an example of how to do something

right 91 when we were 19 we did a lot of

hip-hop music videos uh we did hip-hop

videos for for Tupac Too Short we did

like 2930 videos I think we did that for

one year and we got lucky we're

developing men during that time old dog

was the craziest [ __ ] alive America's

nightmare at the time Los Angeles was a

hot bed for gang activity drugs and

police brutality it just wasn't a good

environment to be a black male anywhere

you ain't got to be creeping I don't

know why you trying to act like you

cleaning up there was a big racial

tension going on down there between the

Koreans and blacks anytime you walked

into one of their stores they follow you

around always think we going to steal

something and the black community felt

that for so long that when the rice did

go down they took it out on those

businesses or they took it out on the

closest thing that they can see to The

Establishment yeah things have been

bursting at the seams already with the

police and um the minorities if you will

you know not just blacks Latinos

everybody and everyone's frustrations

just boiled over and it became Anarchy

just like the watch rights the watch

rights demolished that area and all the

business left mind I think the same

thing could be said of the 92 rights

these kids that are coming up nowadays

are affected by that that city was just

completely decimated you know and

nothing came back you know if they

barely had anything before then there

was nothing after we friended in that

cont text just to show that if our

people expect to have nothing down there

then expect to get a gun in your face at

some point cuz youve just bred the

criminal you know we enlisted a writer

by the name of Tiger Williams who

happened to be the brother of our best

friend in high school Ryan Williams who

was in the in the film play Stacy [ __ ]

hell yeah that's that [ __ ] man trying

to be me and [ __ ] they needed someone to

write something gangster for him you

know and I told him my brother's a rider

you know you know I can hook y'all up

you know and sure enough I hooked them

up sat down got together and we would

hang out a lot you know during the whole

we just sit around hang out and talk

about story first I get shot then you

going to drive me home somebody must

want me to die we just researched and

went out to Jordan Downs watt South

Central something few people know is we

based this Loosely after a character me

and tiger interviewed so we just got the

screenplay flushed out in like a month

or two and started getting this shopped

around I had a project with new line

that fell part in the late stages and so

I got a job producing a music video and

that's where I met the Hughes brothers

who were directing it it was the music

video to Brenda's Got a Baby I'm

pregnant what and as we went along on

the project I would talk to them and I

said well what's your ambition what do

you want to do yeah you guys want to do

commercials music videos is that's

that's it and they're like no no we want

to be filmmakers we want to make movies

and they said well we're developing a

script with a friend of ours now and it

was menace to society and they started

telling me about it and it sounded

really intriguing and I read it and uh

it shocked me Darren Scott had given it

to new line so Bob Shay had put the

script on weekend read which meant we

would probably get an answer on Monday

on whether or not they're going to do

the movie and after he read it I called

and you know and I I didn't know what's

what what's his reaction you know and so

I asked and they said Bob cried and I

was like oh well I guess we got a movie

then now [ __ ] hurry up go in there

Buck them [ __ ] and get the [ __ ] out

don't be playing I think honestly the

reason why Bob Shane new line decided to

give this movie a chance especially with

two 20-year-olds like that hadn't done

anything before was and I I wouldn't

have said this in the past but I think

Boys in Hood had a lot to do with it

boys was a story about one kid who makes

it out and we wanted Minister Society to

be the antithesis and we wanted to

examine really why so many kids don't

make it out and what are the reasons why

they don't make it

out what the [ __ ] is that through line

and the casting of men was like who's

real who feels real who looks real so

casting Kane was like a no-brainer for

us [ __ ] I know you ain't dumb enough to

be showing [ __ ] the robbery tape man

what's up with that we had seen an

episode of America Most Wanted and there

was this young kid in there playing a

gangster and the way he was talking and

his mannerisms were like he gets it you

know Tyron Turner wasn't even a

professional actor but he had this look

that I think everybody could kind of

vicariously live through we got a lot of

resistance from New Line cuz he was a

raw talent the time the first rehearsal

was kind of a disaster he wasn't ready

and everybody wondered oh wow wow is

this guy going to be able to do the part

you know he has the look but pretty much

nothing else but we got him a coach and

by the time we were shooting he was King

I see you hold it like this and pull a

trigger pow punk ass Loren tat plays o

dog the badass in the movie it was

amazing because we don't go for cliches

but at the time we thought we're going

to get this big black buff guy got

mations in his face and ashy Knuckles

and he's going to play odogg and so we

were interviewing a lot of people for

odogg and we couldn't find him and

finally we told our casting director to

bring in the tape of the rejects and the

first reject was this kid came in right

the Disney casting 101 I had this sort

of Disney look you know this really

fresh young kid look but I'm originally

from Chicago so my interpretation of the

guy was based on some guys that I had

seen in

Chicago and I said you know the odds are

against me so I got to flip this I have

to really go in there and knock it out

oh you would sound like a little [ __ ]

man we yell action and he got down start

playing a dice game in ad liing and it

was like oh [ __ ] like right away you

recognize like this is crazy cuz this

kid was so spot on and his mannerism

body language lingo everything what you

say about my mama he nailed it you know

there there's no way anybody has even

come close to this [ __ ] [ __ ] I smoke

anybody I just don't give a [ __ ] just

hit us in the head we go this is even

scarier This Charming looking kid oozing

all this this evil

[ __ ] damn suck on that you [ __ ] ass

trick we wanted to tell him he got the

job and the casting agent's like no no

just wait let me go call him and I ran

out to the elevator when he got on the

elevator and said this is

yours I didn't believe him and I didn't

think much of it until I got the call

and they said that you landed the par

and this was my first film I had never

done a movie i' always been a television

actor so you like my little tape don't

you yeah that [ __ ] was Co [ __ ] yeah [ __ ]

problem Jada pinkit was on a different

world if I ever catch you with a gun in

your hand I will break your tail you got

that she didn't come in audition cuz I

think she was hesitant as a lot of

people were who who were trying to do

something legitimate in this business

cuz it wasn't looked at as a legitimate

project at the time so she came in to

meet with us and somehow we convinced

her to read a little bit watching Jada

pinket read Ronnie was probably the

strangest thing all of a sudden you're

watching someone bring a character to

life why are you tripping you ain't

doing jack [ __ ] here Kan why don't you

just come with me and on the spot we

knew that she was the the one for the

role [ __ ] Perell cuz you don't owe him

[ __ ] all right you need to be glad that

you graduated from high school and that

you're alive at 18 and you need to do

something with yourself before you end

up like he did Sam Jackson came to us

because we wanted to do some stunt

casting in certain

areas it was very intimidating because I

you know I work with the actors I was

very intimidated he would [ __ ] with me

every now and then just play with me

what the [ __ ] you mean you ain't got the

money yet [ __ ] Kea bring Mr

Butler a plate a nice size PL Charles

Dutton came the same way we just begged

for for a cameo on this day and the

other is

on and you're the prey the one that was

interesting was Bill Duke who was

retired from AC time had called and said

would we hire someone on the crew and we

said oh yeah we'll hire if you do this

role for us dad was actually a classic

moment I mean like you know Bill Duke

everybody talks about that you know you

done [ __ ] up now you know you done

[ __ ] up you done [ __ ] up you know

that don't you so we had three veterans

who came and rounded out the cast and

provided legitimacy to the movie that it

didn't have yo me some money

[ __ ] hell no but here you go

when we signed on to do Menace new line

there was a caveat that said you got to

hire a platinum rap artist in order for

this movie to be greenl slanging all

that [ __ ] in the hood y'all ain't got no

[ __ ] money we first saw mc8 in

a rap video and he was in a project and

he had this dripping Jerry curl and

we're like who snuck him past like the

the sensors you know like how you know

for Life a better way of saying you know

how they let this [ __ ] get by right you

know like this this guy is real right

here we got to get him hey homie you

need some

help Having Eight short ready to put a

hole in the [ __ ] yo yo don't

start that hood rat [ __ ] you know ain't

nobody no [ __ ] hood rat these

are the cats we grew up listening to

they brought a flavor to it and a versil

itude that was really helpful and making

people believe that you were dealing

with South

Central punk ass [ __ ] we made minutes

when we're 20 and I remember thinking

that was normal it wasn't too recently I

started realizing how abnormal that was

a real naive thing on our part was

thinking that we can go down to the

neighborhood and shoot and around real

Grape Street Crips and then Jordan Downs

the housing project and actually employ

the real gangsters we were able to shoot

there because at the time there had been

a peace treaty between the gangs and we

had hired a few of the guys on his

technical consultants and emissaries to

the neighborhood oh [ __ ] one

time it a scene where all just sitting

on the wall drinking beer and the police

comes around the corner chasing on the

alley now the guys all around them

dressed in purple are real guys they're

like giving each other pounds drinking

40 o and everything like that then

there's a scene where odog goes to

Kane's grandparents house after he comes

back from the hospital and everybody in

that scene is from that neighborhood and

a lot of my gangsters we always watching

our backs because you know we didn't

know what was going to happen being in

that neighborhood get your ass up out

the car [ __ ] we had a few scary moments

where sometimes the person on the crew

might say the wrong thing or do the

wrong thing get the [ __ ] out break

yourself [ __ ] but it was nothing major

man they loved us down there and we love

them yo what's up boy yeah they were

just happy than anybody was there in a

genuine way and involving them too hey

y'all going to follow us right yeah

[ __ ] we know where s I'll never forget

this one guy I forget his name but he

was the scariest guy in the area I mean

everything about him his manner his

approach his reputation you would think

if anybody was going to be somebody who

was going to cause US problems or hurt

somebody or anything it was this guy why

you come through this [ __ ] so

early all the time man you said 1:00 I

don't give a [ __ ] what I said [ __ ] and

I remember that to try to diffuse this

we offered him his job as like our head

neighborhood security guy and he did a

great job and at the end of it he came

came up to us and the guy was

practically in tears cuz he was like

nobody ever gave me a chance to do

anything like this before they were very

appreciative of Us coming down there and

not condescending them so we gleaned a

lot of real stuff from them or listening

to them or just having them around don't

worry about [ __ ] I'mma handle this [ __ ]

for you people were coming up to us as

actors thinking we were from grap Street

Len tap got that a lot get my

[ __ ] they thought I was one of

the cats in the neighborhood they

thought I was real one of the little bgs

in the hood so that was good for me we

still mad at you for dropping all that

blood on us Z's C really like yo what

Hood you from and I was like nah I'm I'm

just doing the movie Man and they were

like no for real like what set you from

do this for

hell man you getting down [ __ ] your

Hughes Brothers had an unusual

partnership Allan works with the actors

Albert's uh basically behind the camera

but they both could do either job but it

was just interesting to see how they you

know come together and to pull off what

they were able to pull off was amazing

what's going on big boy chilling man

first week there were some some days

where we clearly were out of our depth

third day into the shoot we thought our

careers were over with and we also had

the problem of some actors and crew

members doubting the movie I mean there

was an actor out right said I don't know

why I'm doing this [ __ ] at the time I

remember feeling like we just got to get

through this [ __ ] ironically sometimes

the days it feel like really bad make

for better scenes the days you feel like

you really got something you most time

you really don't have anything put that

in for you better go somewhere with that

black power [ __ ] you know that [ __ ] gets

no play in this ride sometimes we didn't

have enough time to do things or set up

a steady camera set up a dolly and we

would go handheld and a lot of people

thought that was a stylistic choice you

know like oh they're very good at that

gritty running gun style and it's like

no that was almost by accident or just

by Happ stance we just had to do that

you alive ain't you

and who says that's good first test

screening it went through the roof and

to this day was the highest score they

ever got at new line Cinema it scored

like bananas and it was really loud and

people were very involved it was like a

price fight everybody was jumping up and

down with excitement and um like they're

watching a boxing match and when the

lights went up there was like 20 game

members down in the front row weeping

their eyes out and the cards came back

and I think it was 97% which is unheard

of hey this for the homies who ain't

here going to con was great we were part

of the director's fortnite we didn't

know what to expect it was like 8 hours

a day of interviews back to back to back

to back to back we didn't have time to

even think we weren't prepared for it

and basically had to get like B12 shots

by the end of the second day because we

were so fried the can experience was our

first taste of pseudo celebrity there

was a moment where we were walking down

the street and Ebert walked up and

started talking to us about our movie

and there would be these kids that would

come up and go Le FR Hughes Le FR Hughes

and we would be signing these 8 by9

pictures they had of us out there when

the film was over got our Standing

Ovation and we were all

called to the uh stage and we stood on

stage and there's just this wall of

people going crazy and clapping and

screaming and and

hollering and standing on stage with

that in front of that wall of people I

said to myself this is the closest I'll

ever get to feeling like a rock star

right

now the film was pretty much positively

reviewed there were some hard reviews

obviously you know again socially

irresponsible and just excessively

violent Oprah is Mis positive and we had

heard through the gra Vine that she had

said this is a terrible movie don't go

see it negative and all this other stuff

and that was kind of a a stamp of

approval for us we're like if Oprah

hates this movie that's good for us

basically because we're not going for

the Oprah crowd the huge brothers and I

wanted to make a film that you either

love it or you hate it and if you love

it great but if you hate it I'm

perfectly okay with that cuz that's a

very powerful emotion rather make a

movie that you love or hate then you

don't really remember you know two weeks

later or a month later or whatever quote

is if if you hate black people this

movie will make you hate them more but

it basically meant if you're just a

dumbass hick that already hates black

people this ain't going to make you love

black people it was a big hit you know

we did the film for about $3 million and

it grossed almost $30 million

Bingo they did a survey in all the inner

cities we were beating Jurassic Park

that summer hell yeah hell yeah it

started out with a very high per screen

average but was only on about 7 or 800

screens and that movie just played and

played and played and played the

reaction was scary it was scary to me

because people loved it people were

standing up in some theaters you had

people talking back to the screen and

I'm not suggesting all brothers and

sisters to talk back to the screen but

on Menace you're damn right we got to

talk back to the screen uh I remember

going to the movie theater and watching

you know grown grown men grown Thug

rough G you know crying H the film get

some [ __ ]

help my n and what happens is you have

these gang members coming from each

territory to congregate in these

theaters and obviously certain things

happen what's up homies hey let's go

twist this nigga's cap back man it

really started back with colors and then

New Jack City and then boys in the hood

a lot of people in gang culture thought

mess to society was real and that what

they saw on screening they recognized

damn and we just going to find these

little marks and smoker [ __ ] ain't that

hard so they were all coming to the

theater at the same time to see this

movie and anytime you do that you're

going to get some

conflicts [ __ ] shut the [ __ ] up before

we blast your ass to do we feel

responsible for gang activity no do we

feel bad that if people were shot during

you know or killed for that

matter during viewing menes that hell

yeah that that that doesn't feel good

Min Society you know it's a cautionary

tale so we set out to make something

that was as real as possible and not

everybody's going to get the message you

know some people want to go out and

replicate but other people it's sort of

reflective so I think it really affected

people emotionally so people responded

to it either positively or negatively

based on own personal

experience [ __ ] that rushing n rushing

the character of Kane is somebody that

almost anybody can empathize if not

sympathize with you see in the early

scenes of him seeing his father murder a

guy right in front of him as a little

kid what chance did he ever have not to

have his life go along this path but you

can also see that he wants to break out

of it he just doesn't know how and it's

tragic that the decisions he makes to

escape this life come too late for him

and it's a cautionary note fight

fight the reaction was what we wanted we

had a lot of people other than black

people other than Latin people come up

to us and say wow I never knew that that

happened to these kids or that's where

they came from and that's why the way

they are

hey do you care whether you live or

die I don't know

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