The main characters of Babylon Boyz call their city "Babylon," meaning a place where evil reigns supreme, though the city is probably based on Oakland, California. In the high school the boys attend, youngsters carry knives and guns, finding ways to dodge the metal detectors they must pass through when they enter the campus. Violence at school is part of the routine, and the school even has its own drug dealer, Bam-Bam.

The city outside the school is even more dangerous—children move cautiously, always tense because terror can erupt at any time. The streets have drug dealers, panhandlers, and thugs. Young adults carry guns as a defense against a society that treats them as prey. Dante's father, Matthew, remarks, "Babylon sell its own children, an' the price keep gettin' lower all the the time." On the streets, in stores, and in apartments, people are in danger...