SOURCE: Verniere, James. “Singleton's Baby Boy Doesn't Stray Far from the Hood.” Boston Herald (27 June 2001): O47.

In the following review, Verniere offers a positive assessment of Baby Boy, though notes that the film is undeniably similar to Singleton's Boyz N the Hood.

Boyz N the Hood becomes singular with Baby Boy, John Singleton's hot-button follow-up to his groundbreaking 1991 drama, a debut made when Singleton was a baby boy himself.

His hip-hop filled new film promises to be just as provocative as Singleton's unflinching portrait of the South Central Los Angeles war zone and its effect on African-American families. Baby Boy begins with a voice-over quoting a psychiatrist's observation that young African-American men are experiencing a kind of group arrested development.

As we watch an image of the film's grown male hero in the womb, a voice-over observes that these “baby boys” call their girlfriends “momma,” their friends “boys...