Beyond being a PSA to the crack problem festering the country at the time, there’s some pretty solid action sequences, a “f*ck me? No, f*ck you” attitude, and a glimpse at NYC that films like THE FRENCH CONNECTION never had a chance of showing us before. Not only is NEW JACK CITY a time capsule into the early ‘90s, it’s also a solid action thriller with heroes that aren’t all-together honest and a villain that you love to hate. And at the heart of the start-studded cast and seediness of the NYC underground was the all-too-reel revelation of how crack was destroying the country, one neighborhood at a time. And while the music got better, the styles were still hideous-and the perfect vehicle to see these styles at play has to be NEW JACK CITY, the gritty crime thriller that changed Ice-T’s status from rapper to rapper/ actor, that labeled Mario Van Peebles as a director to reckon with, and that set a name for Wesley Snipes, a badass motorscooter who had the acting chops to prove it.

Pop culture was transitioning from the happy-go-lucky time of the ‘80s to the more serious and straight-edged time of the ‘90s, from pastel-colored pop music to hardcore gangster rap. THE KILL: The early ‘90s was kind of a crazy time. But as with any situation that deals with crack, shit hits the fan and things go wrong very quickly. To bring him down, two cops (Ice-T and Judd Nelson) go undercover in a sting operation, using an ex-crackhead (Chris Rock) as their way in.

THE PLAN: A small time drug dealer by the name of Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) rises to the top after discovering the profitability of selling crack to his neighborhood in New York. Starring Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Judd Nelson, Mario Van Peebles, and Chris Rock Tagline: They’re a new breed of gangster.

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