John Singleton, director of Boyz N the Hood, dies at 51

Filmmaker John Singleton, who debuted with the Oscar-nominated Boyz N the Hood in 1991 and continued making movies that probed the lives of black communities in his native Los Angeles and beyond, has died. He was 51.

Singleton's family said Monday that he died after being taken off life support, about two weeks after he suffered a major stroke.

"This was an agonizing decision, one that our family made, over a number of days, with the careful counsel of John's doctors," the family said in a statement Monday.

"We are grateful to his fans, friends and colleagues for the outpour of love and prayers during this incredibly difficult time. We want to thank all the doctors at Cedars Sinai for the impeccable care he received."

Singleton, 51, suffered a stroke while at the Los Angeles hospital on April 17, his family said in an earlier statement. He had been in a coma since, according to a conservatorship court filing on Friday.

Singleton was 24 when he earned a pair of Oscar nods (original screenplay and direction) for Boyz N the Hood. He was the first black filmmaker to receive an Oscar nomination for directing as well as the youngest contender ever in that category. 

An inner-city, coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of gang violence, the debut feature earned critical accolades and was eventually added by the U.S. National Film Preservation Board to the Library of Congress National Film Registry. 

For many, the 1991 release captured the explosive mood in Los Angeles in the months following the videotaped police beating of Rodney King. Boyz N the Hood also came out at a time when, thanks to the efforts to Spike Lee and others, black films were starting to get made by Hollywood after a long absence.

"I think I was living this film before I ever thought about making it," Singleton told Vice in 2016. "As I started to think about what I wanted to do with my life, and cinema became an option, it was just natural that this was probably gonna be my first film. In fact, when I applied to [University of Southern California] film school they had a thing that asked you to write three ideas for films. And one of them was called Summer of '84, which was about growing up in South Central L.A."

His other credits included Poetic Justice, a romance starring Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur, a Samuel L. Jackson-led remake of Shaft, the racing action blockbuster 2 Fast 2 Furious and crime drama Four Brothers, starring Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, André Benajmin and Garrett Hedlund.

Most recently, Singleton had co-created the FX crime drama Snowfall, exploring the rise of the crack cocaine epidemic in early 1980s Los Angeles. The series was approved last fall for a third season. 

Singleton's passing prompted widespread praise for a filmmaker who, as his Shaft star Samuel L. Jackson said on Twitter, "blazed the trail for many young film makers," while "always remaining true to who he was & where he came from."

Actor Jordan Peele described Singleton on Twitter as "a brave artist and a true inspiration" whose "vision changed everything."

On Monday, Boyz N The Hood actor Morris Chestnut posted a photo of himself and a smiling Singleton on Instagram, writing, "The magnitude and world-wide impact that his ground-breaking film would have for society cannot be measured. Helping to bring awareness of what it takes to come to maturity as a black male in the 'Hood, or die trying..."

According to the family statement, Singleton's survivors include his mother, Shelia Ward, father, Danny Singleton, and his children: Justice, Maasai, Hadar, Cleopatra, Selenesol, Isis and Seven.

Details of a memorial service would be provided at a later date, the family said.

The Oscars also tweeted in tribute to Singleton, citing his nomination for directing.