We saw this film when it first came out with family and friends and it generated a lively discussion. I scoffed at the idea that 'livin' in the Ghetto' was as uber-violent as was depicted, pointing out that while we were rapping about it in a van outside in the parking lot, nobody with nine millimeters and semi-automatic rifles was running around about to cross paths with us. But one of the members of my family casually asserted that the story content of NEW JACK CITY wasn't based on nothing, that indeed, there were zones even in Detroit City that could mirror and serve as the backdrop for the goings on of a Drug Load. At that time, I was scarcely aware of the enterprises of Butch Jones and Young Boys Incorporated (YBI) and how his activities could be seen to easily parallel those of Nino Brown, as played by Wesley Snipes, and the Cash Money Brothers (CMB), or better yet, the notorious wealth building success of The Chambers Brothers.
What was arresting to me was the sure handed direction of Mario Van Peebles, who certainly had come a long way from lying between a woman's thighs in his Daddy's film, SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG (1971), to manning the helm of his own production with aerial and surprise shots reminiscent of Hitchcock. The characters were all very colorful with catchy names like 'Gee Money' and 'Pookie', for Allen Payne and Chris Rock respectively, who play their characters with intensity and passion, whatever their back stories may be. More than half a dozen of the lead characters such as Russell Wong who plays Park, Vanessa Estelle Williams as Keisha, Bill Nunn as Duh Duh Duh Man, and Ice-T as Scotty Appleton, have since gone on to continued success. Even Nick Ashford, of the singing duo, ASHFORD AND SIMPSON, gets to strut his stuff and give his blessings as Reverend Oates, part of Brown's entourage.
The scenes where Brown's people are shown processing and packaging the crack cocaine feels like an Inner-City version and tour of someplace like the laboratories of Dow Chemical and is rich in intriguing details. The apartment complex known as The Carter in this film makes one wonder how much of its drug selling operations are based on what The Chambers Brothers did at The Broadmoor on E. Grand Blvd and Ferry St. around the lower east side of Detroit.
But Wesley Snipes makes Nino Brown his own, despite obvious allusions to Pacino's SCARFACE (1983), and the ending wraps up this tale with a swaggering panache, although I would have better liked to have seen Pookie deliver the final forget-me-not to Brown rather than Old Man Bill Cobbs. The only problem being its hard to bust a cap on someone from the grave. That aside, he probably would have had to stand in line behind Gee Money, Uniqua, Selina, Nick Peretti, and Scotty for his turn.
What was arresting to me was the sure handed direction of Mario Van Peebles, who certainly had come a long way from lying between a woman's thighs in his Daddy's film, SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG (1971), to manning the helm of his own production with aerial and surprise shots reminiscent of Hitchcock. The characters were all very colorful with catchy names like 'Gee Money' and 'Pookie', for Allen Payne and Chris Rock respectively, who play their characters with intensity and passion, whatever their back stories may be. More than half a dozen of the lead characters such as Russell Wong who plays Park, Vanessa Estelle Williams as Keisha, Bill Nunn as Duh Duh Duh Man, and Ice-T as Scotty Appleton, have since gone on to continued success. Even Nick Ashford, of the singing duo, ASHFORD AND SIMPSON, gets to strut his stuff and give his blessings as Reverend Oates, part of Brown's entourage.
The scenes where Brown's people are shown processing and packaging the crack cocaine feels like an Inner-City version and tour of someplace like the laboratories of Dow Chemical and is rich in intriguing details. The apartment complex known as The Carter in this film makes one wonder how much of its drug selling operations are based on what The Chambers Brothers did at The Broadmoor on E. Grand Blvd and Ferry St. around the lower east side of Detroit.
But Wesley Snipes makes Nino Brown his own, despite obvious allusions to Pacino's SCARFACE (1983), and the ending wraps up this tale with a swaggering panache, although I would have better liked to have seen Pookie deliver the final forget-me-not to Brown rather than Old Man Bill Cobbs. The only problem being its hard to bust a cap on someone from the grave. That aside, he probably would have had to stand in line behind Gee Money, Uniqua, Selina, Nick Peretti, and Scotty for his turn.