I grew up with hip hop. And I don't mean that as some sort of white guy who got introduced to the culture through Eminem. I was 10 years old when I got into graffiti and thereby the whole hip-hop culture. This was mid 90s. Tupac and Biggie still had another year on this Earth. I, however, was more about the traditional ideas of hip hop as a movement against drugs, violence and racism. I was into Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, Run DMC, Sugar Hill Gang, Beastie Boys, Afrika Bambaataa and stuff like that. So, having spent the late 90s watching all the "gangster movies" like Boyz & The Hood, A Menace To Society, Dead Presidents, Colors, Blood In Blood Out, etc. Etc. I hade an honest and profound love for the genre and I had the necessary references for this movie. So, let's cut to the chase.
If you are into those movies and do have a love for hip hop then this movie is a blast and an absolute must, in the same way as the Wayans brothers classic "Don't be a menace to society while..." But if you have no love for NWA and know nothing about the culture then most likely you won't know the necessary references to really enjoy this.
I laughed my mass off the first time I saw it. I have not rewatched it since perhaps early 2000. But my rating is based on the experience I had back then. Hell, I liked CB4 so much that I even started a new graffiti crew called WL4 just because I found it so cool to have a letter in an acronym. Where their's is Cell Block 4, ours was "Writing on Line 4" as we were graffiti writers and the line that we ruled was number 4.
Enjoy!
