'Poetic Justice' at 30: Reflecting on the Film and its Impact on the Black Community

Directed by the legendary John Singleton, the storyline of Poetic Justice is a relatively simple one—in the words of Janet in her 1998 song "Free Xone,"—"boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets cute girl back."A young hairdresser named Justice (Jackson) is grieving the loss of her murdered boyfriend, and uses poetry as a coping method. In the midst of her grief, Justice embarks on a road trip with her friend Iesha (Regina King), Iesha's boyfriend Chicago (Joe Torry), and Chicago's co-worker, Lucky (Tupac). At first it seems like the two aren't exactly a match made in heaven, but both begin catching feelings for one another.

Simple yet entertaining.

Obviously when you have the likes of Tupac and Janet Jackson working together, the soundtrack is going to be a banger. Jackson provided the theme song for the film, "Again," which would go on to be nominated for an Academy Award. Then you had Tupac's "Definition of a Thug *****." Other contributors included TLC with the track "Get It Up," Naughty by Nature's "Poor Man's Poetry," a young Usher with his song "Call Me A Mack," along with other notable names.

Obviously if we're talking poetry, Maya Angelou is the queen. Not only was her cameo in Poetic Justice perfect, but it left us with tons of inspiration and questions on what we could personally be doing better with our lives, attitudes, and decision making. Angelou had a way of doing that.

And lastly the impact. These are just a few recent examples.