Featuring nearly 400 original interviews with close friends, family members, and colleagues, The Life of Singleton is the definitive account of prolific filmmaker John Singleton’s life and times.

John Singleton became a living legend at just twenty-four when he earned Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Boyz N the Hood, the sleeper hit of 1991 and one of the decade’s most important films. Over the next thirty years, he amassed a Hall of Fame career featuring more classic films, number one hits, and one of the top-rated series on cable television. Throughout his career, Singleton was committed to bringing the raw and authentic stories of Black America to the big screen, and inspired generations of filmmakers in the process.

Driven by diligent reporting, and featuring astute storytelling, sharp analysis, and fascinating anecdotes from a long list of sources, The Life of Singleton details the life and death of Hollywood’s first self-proclaimed hip-hop director. From Singleton’s time as a driven young film student at USC to his last days on the Costa Rica set of Snowfall, Thomas Golianopoulos takes readers behind the scenes of the filmmaker’s work, family, relationships, and controversies, and unwraps the complex man behind it all.

The Life of Singleton is perfect for readers of hip-hop memoirs and biographies like The Marathon Don’t Stop, The Autobiography of Gucci Mane, and Dilla Time, and film histories like Alright, Alright, Alright and Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.