Yahoo Movies The 9 best Black films of the 2000s
Welcome to The Black List, a new series where we delve into the best of Black entertainment across the decades. Each week we’ll be exploring the world of Black cinema and highlighting ten movies you should be watching.
This time we're taking you through the best in Black cinema from the noughties. From Paid in Full to You Got Served, we’ve got you covered.
Love and Basketball
We're kicking things off with a romantic drama. Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps star as two childhood friends Monica and Quincy, who both have their hearts set on a career in basketball.
Monica struggles to balance her aspirations to play in the WNBA with her love life, while childhood sweetheart Quincy – whose father plays for the LA Clippers – is set for a career in the sport and expects Monica to put him above her love of the game.
Love and Basketball is a classic Black love story and challenges gender roles by focusing on Black female empowerment and ambition - all way ahead of its time.
Training Day
“King Kong, ain’t got shit on me”. The incredible Denzel Washington won an Oscar for his performance as rogue LAPD detective Alonzo Harris, who puts rookie cop Jake Hoyt (played by Ethan Hawke) through his paces on his first day with the narcotics team.
The action thriller, which celebrates its 20th anniversary next year, not only won Washington his first Oscar, but also placed a spotlight on the widespread police corruption inside the LAPD which had been exposed during the Rampart scandal in the late ‘90s.
Baby Boy
Another classic from director John Singleton, Baby Boy stars Tyrese Gibson as Jody, a young man who is forced to deal with the responsibilities of adulthood when his mum and her new boyfriend want him out of the house.
Haunted by a nightmare where he's shot dead in the street, Jody struggles with his responsibilities to his two kids and his girlfriend Yvette, played by Taraji P Henson, who is constantly hounded by her ex Rodney (Snoop Dogg).
Baby Boy brings together the raw complications of fatherhood, unemployment, relationships, and life on the streets.
Barbershop
Tim Story’s comedy classic stars Ice Cube as Calvin Palmer Jr, who struggles to make ends meet at his father's Barbershop and considers selling it to local loan shark Lester Wallace, played by Keith David.
Brilliant comedy aside, Barbershop also provided an honest sense of reality and view of the world through the eyes of African Americans in the South Side of Chicago – a view that was often left out of Hollywood.
And, let’s not forget, the movie also gave us Queen Latifah’s MASSIVELY underrated Beauty Shop spin-off.
Paid in Full
Wood Harris, Mekhi Phifer and Cam’ron star in cult classic Paid in Full, the story of three friends whose drug dealing at the beginnings of crack era Harlem led them into a world of intense violence, greed and betrayal.
The movie provides an important and gruesome message on life in the fast lane without over glamorizing it. Yes, the characters can have flashy cars and pockets full of cash, but they also have to deal with the consequences of their actions - whether that be imprisonment or death.
Soul Plane
Welcome aboard your flight on NWA Airlines (Nashawn Wade Airlines)! Comedy classic Soul Plane stars Method Man and Kevin Hart as the owners of an airline that specifically caters to Black customers.
The hydraulic-bumping, 069 flight is doomed from the start as “Soul Plane chauffeur” Captain Antoine Mack, played by Snoop Dogg – who learned to fly on a flight simulator while in prison – overdoses on mushrooms while in the air.
Even with a great cast this isn’t a high-budget, tightly-knit movie, and features some racial stereotypes, but despite all that Soul Plane delivers on the laughs.
You Got Served
Sorry Step Up fans, but You Got Served was the original dance battle movie of the noughties. The movie follows dancers David (Omarion) and Elgin (Marques Houston) who lead their crew in The Big Bounce street dance battle to win a cash prize of $5000.
Everything from the fashion, to the soundtrack, makes You Got Served a proper noughties classic and will definitely get you nostalgic for the era.
Coach Carter
Coach Carter, which is based on a true story, sees Samuel L Jackson play a basketball coach tasked with getting his former high school’s team into shape - both on and off the court.
But when the teens’ grades start to drop, he resorts to harsh, unconventional tactics like locking them out of the gym and canceling their championship season. These students should have known not to get on the wrong side of Jackson!
Coach Carter is as inspiring as it is heartfelt - and is one of the best basketball (and sports) movies of all time.
ATL
Starring TI as Rashad, Evan Ross as his younger brother Ant and Lauren London as New New, ATL focuses on the lives of two brothers after the death of their parents.
While the movie’s message centers on Ant's drug dealing and Rashad’s need to take them out of their poor neighbourhood, ATL also helped put the roller skating scene on the map.
Music from rappers TI and Big Boi, coupled with the epically choreographed moves on skates, makes this romantic drama one worth watching.
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