3 December 2025
Poetic Justice (1993) John Singleton, 109 min, United States
A young melancholic Janet Jackson stars Justice who works at a local hair salon in South Central Los Angeles. One day mail man Lucky (Tupac Shakur) shows up and he falls right away for her beauty. No way Justice is into him so the following situation kind of disturbs her.
Justice’s best friend Isha (Regina King) talked her into a roadtrip to Oakland with her boyfriend Chicago (Joe Torry). At the time of departure Lucky - Chicago’s friend - arrives and joins them in the postal van. Along the road they bump into family barbecues and carnival festivities. As the relationship between Isha and Chicago worsens, Justice and Lucky grow towards each other. Their roadtrip is accompanied by the soft voice-over of Justice’s thoughts. Poet Maya Angelou wrote the poetry for the film.
John Singleton's second feature Poetic Justice may be less known today, it hit an amazingly high box office in 1992. There was a great hype surrounding the releases because of the music cast. Compared to his first film Boyz n the Hood it’s smoother and sweeter: it’s Janet Jackson sharing her poems and Tupac Shakur being a gentle soft hearted hero playing a romantic game. Get in the mood with the hip hop and R&B playlist and get to know the songs of Maya Angelou
