Menace to Society: Impact of a Legend

“Through all the stress and the pain They done drove my moms insane. So I guess I gotta do work so I ain't finished I grow up to be a straight up menace.” - MC Eiht (Streight up Menace).

May 2023 marks 30 years since brothers Allen Hughes and Albert Hughes released their film debut Menace to Society, starring Tyrin Turner, Larenz Tate and Jada Pinkett Smith. The film chronicles the journey of Kaydee “Caine” Lawson and his life growing up as a troubled youth in Watts, Los Angeles. Created in the same vain as John Singleton’s Boyz N The Hood (1991), Menace to Society gets a lot of its inspiration from Boyz N The Hood with its social commentary about life for young African Americans living in the Los Angeles inner city and like Boyz N The Hood, Menace to Society has had both a major cinematic and social impact.

The film’s plot is centered around Kaydee “Caine” Lawson, a young Black male growing up in the poverty stricken, crime ridden streets of Watts, Los Angeles in California in the early 90s. Caine was born in the aftermath of the Watts Riots of the 1960s and was coming of age in the aftermath of the LA Riots of 1992. Caine’s father Tat Lawson portrayed by the legendary Samuel L. Jackson was a drug dealer and his mother Karen Lawson portrayed by Khandi Alexander was a drug addict, both raised him to be molded into their same lives of crime before subsequently being killed by violence and overdose, respectively. From here, Kaydee ends up living with his Christian grandparents.

By the age of 18 Caine has become a drug dealer and hangs among a friend group of both good and bad influences. The most notable bad influence is his best friend Kevin “O-Dog” Anderson, portrayed by the iconic Larenz Tate in what is the film’s most captivating performance. The positive influences in his life are his grandparents, his Muslim best friend, Sharif and Ronnie, portrayed by Jada Pinkett Smith, who is the ex-girlfriend and baby mother to Caine’s mentor of the streets, Pernell, portrayed by Glenn Plummer. These good influences try their hardest to pull Caine away from the street life of which he was raised to be a product, while O-dog only feeds the negative vices that make Caine a menace.

As the film’s plot progresses we see that Caine is trapped in a moral tug of war between his positive and negative influences. Though Caine is slowly becoming smarter and more aware of the dead end to which his lifestyle will lead him, he still struggles to let go of his old ways. By the time Caine finally smartens up his last minute pursuit of redemption is futile and he meets a fatal end.

What makes Menace to Society such a powerful and impactful film is it’s real life message which is conveyed in such a dramatically captivating way and the very complex characters who accompany the film’s plot. If you grew up in Black America’s inner city you could certainly relate to the film’s themes and characters. I grew up with all of these characters and was surrounded by all the drama in which they took part. The main character Caine is the most important and complex character of the film.

Though Caine is not perfect, he is also not all bad. From his very introduction we can see that he is young, Impressionable, smart and good hearted. We can see his potential to be better than the life he lives, but the mentality that he was raised on is hard for him to break because of how deep it has been embedded in his mind. I knew Caine growing up. I knew the kid who was stuck in the street life. He was some of my friends and family members, the ones who were smart, talented and even kind, but the mentality of the environment they were raised in was something they felt was just too hard to break and many of them ended up in prison or dead.

Like Boyz N The Hood, Menace to Society adds authenticity to itself by including many West Coast rappers to its cast who were known for rapping about many of the film’s regional themes like MC Eiht, Too Short, Pooh Man, Yo-Yo and Saaphir. Tupac Shakur who was previously a long time friend and collaborator of the Hughes brothers was originally part of the film and actually played a big role in the film being green-lit. Tupac was also supposed to co-star in the film as the character Sharif, but after creative disagreements with the Hughes brothers Shakur left the film. West Coast hip hop legend, MC Eiht who plays the film’s OG gangster character “A-Wax” performs the title song on the film’s soundtrack titled “Streight up Menace”.

Fast forward 30 years later and Menace to Society is still one of the most important films of Black cinema. It continues to speak volumes for its real life conscious messages directed towards young Black Americans and it helped to launch the careers of some of Hollywood’s brightest stars like Larenz Tate. I saw so much of my own life in this film and I’m thankful that it has spoke to me my entire life. Much thanks to the Hughes brothers for this landmark film of Black cinema.

“Being a Black man in America isn’t easy. The hunt is on and you’re the prey. All I’m sayin is…survive.” - Menace to Society.