Boyz N The Hood – the teen drama which erupted on screen over two decades ago and arguably kickstarted the hood film genre – was specifically designed as a black film. It was the directorial debut of John Singleton, singlehandedly launching the film career of Ice Cube.

As the film celebrates its 24th anniversary this year, Turner Classic Movies hosted a screening at New York’s American Black Film Festival. Singleton took the opportunity to speak about the making of the film and how it was forced to overcome obstacles. However, in an interview with The Root, he had some choice words to say about how black filmmakers shoulder responsibility and don’t always put in their best efforts.

“Filmmakers who want to make a good movie are so concerned with what other people think about what they are making that they are not concerned with making the best culturally astute film,” he said. “When I do a movie like this, I’m trying to make it culturally specific to black people, and I feel that if I do that it becomes universal. I feel a lot of black filmmakers half-ass the shit. I don’t care what nobody says; I talk about this and I write about (it) in the trade papers because we have so many stories which haven’t been told, and not many opportunities to tell them, that I feel very, very strongly about black people telling our stories. I don’t give a fuck what nobody says.”