Standard Hood Film Protagonist

I am gonna back up my fam in the block, even if it means coming at you a glock. BREAK YOURSELF!!!!

Ever since the success of Boyz N the Hood, works of gangster fiction, specifically hood films, create a number of gun-slinging, street-smart, warrior-like bad boy/girl protagonists.

The protagonist in question is usually an Anti-Hero (Villain Protagonist at worst) who is struggling to survive in a crime-ridden environment. He is usually born to teenage parents, attends a Sucky School with either a Cool Teacher and/or Stern Teacher. He is more often than not a delinquent with Anger Management issues as a result of dealing with a dysfunctional home and/or school life. To survive in the streets, he resorts to hustling/gangbanging. He is an excellent albeit undisciplined gun-shooter/hand-to-hand combatant. He values his friends/loved ones to the point of willingly put their lives on the line to save them or do anything to support despite how immoral their methods are.

Examples of Standard Hood Film Protagonist include:

Anime & Manga

The "yankee" anime genre feature delinquents participating in criminal activities. Most said delinquents grew up in relatively poor neighborhoods called slums.

• Yusuke Urameshi from Yu Yu Hakusho downplays this trope as a Stock Shōnen Hero. He is a street-fighting delinquent who skips school on a daily basis. He lives with an alcoholic prostitute mother who gave birth to him at age 14 and dropped out of middle school to care for him, with his father being absent from his life. He also lives in a neighborhood filled with delinquent activities, with Yusuke himself being the most feared and respected of them all. In addition to being a talented brawler, Yusuke also uses his Spirit Energy through his right index finger to create his signature move, the Spirit Gun.

Films-Live-Action

• Darren Baker, aka Doughboy, from Boyz N the Hood is the Trope Codifier. He grew up in Crenshaw with his abusive single mother and younger half-brother Ricky. He is the leader of his gang and sees them as his founded family.
• Jahkor Lincoln from All Day and a Night. He is an aspiring rapper who receive a life sentence for murdering a local ex-drug dealer and his wife. He grew up with an abusive junkie of a father who taught him about the gangster life.
• Moses from Attack the Block is this in a Survival Horror comedy. He is an orphaned delinquent who is the leader of his gang and, unlike most hood film protagonists who are brawlers and/or gun-shooters, he is a great swordsman who slays aliens.
• Joseph "Jody" Summers from Baby Boy zig-zags this trope. He is an immature 20-year-old ex-con who lives with his single mother despite being the father of two kids, one from each woman no less. He hustles with women's clothes for money and is a moderate street brawler.
• Kool from Hot Boyz is a downplayed example. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he didn't start out as a delinquent or a street hustler and is implied to come from a decently stable family despite growing up in the hood. He is a good-hearted aspiring rapper who values his friends and loves his girlfriend LaShawna, going as far as to make a deal with the cops to help put down a local drug kingpin behind bars to release LaShawna from prison when the latter was falsely accused of murdering a cop. It wasn't until after LaShawna was murdered by a corrupt cop that Kool becomes a gangster, leader of the titular gang and walks down the path of vengeance.
• Kaydee Lawson, aka Caine, from Menace II Society is a deconstructed example. He grew up with a cocaine addict for a mother and a drug-dealing murderer for a father, both of whom have died when Caine was only 10 years old, resulting in him to live with his religious grandparents, whose guidance fells null and void on Caine as a result of his late parents' toxic influence. As Caine comes of age, he becomes a street hustler to provide support for his mentor's ex-girlfriend and son, who are the only people who help Caine to be a semi-decent person. His crimes and thuggish lifestyle begin to catch up with him when his pregnant one-night fling sends her gangster cousin to confront him after he denies being the father.

Video Games

• Carl "CJ" Johnson from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas fits this to a T. He is a member of the Grove Street gang led by his older brother, is an expert gun-shooter and values his family and friends to a fault.
• Franklin Clinton from Grand Theft Auto V. He grew up with a single mother, with his father being completely absent from his life, until she passes away. Afterwards, he lived with his aunt until he comes of age. Like CJ before him, Franklin is a member of the Grove Street Gang, shoots guns very well and values his gang.

Web Comics

• Maxeeno Manervolkan is a downplayed example combined with Stock Shōnen Hero traits. He is a mischievous and rebellious delinquent who lives with his dysfunctional aunt and older brother in a violent neighborhood, uses N-Word Privileges and excels in street-fighting. Like Yusuke Urameshi before him, he uses his life force to shoot magma-like bullets from his right index finger to pull his signature move: The Volcanic Cannon.