Lloyd Avery II: How did his ‘Boyz N the Hood’ cameo cause these deaths?

There have been plenty of times Hollywood stories have transcended the screen and eerily had reflections in real life. Art imitates life, and life often imitates art. The trend over the past few years has been The Simpsons “predicting” the future from their iconic episodes, or Mike Judge’s Idiocracy mirroring the circus of the Trump years and late-stage capitalism.

However, there are examples of such fictional tales leading to real-life drama which occurred on a smaller scale than the grandiose examples mentioned. One of the least-covered cases of Hollywood stories jumping off the screen to real life comes from John Singleton’s 1991 masterpiece Boyz n the Hood. The film would make waves for years to come, but no one could have predicted the fate of one of its overlooked stars.

Ground-breaking

Boyz n the Hood changed movies forever and started a major trend in films of the 1990s. 

Do the Right Thing kicked off “hood movies” of the time period in 1989, but the genre wouldn’t come into its own until Boyz n the Hood started the avalanche of films like 1992’s Juice, 1993’s Menace II Society, and 1995’s Friday which smashed up box offices across the country.

Everyone who has seen Boyz n the Hood knows it’s one of the best films of the genre, and has one of the most harrowing endings of any movie of the early 90s. Any viewer can’t soon forget when Ricky is slain by an unnamed shooter with a sawed off shotgun during the film’s brutal finale. The scene is slow & painful, and the shooter captures the sheer pain of the moment. The actor who plays the shooter is Lloyd Avery II.

Knucklehead

In Level’s report on Lloyd Avery II, it’s pointed out the actor was only credited in Boyz n the Hood as Knucklehead #2. However, anyone who saw the movie when it dropped remembered Lloyd Avery II’s face, and the actor began snatching up roles after appearing in the Oscar-nominated smash. 

Lloyd Avery II popped up in 1993’s Poetic Justice, The Wayans’s classic 1996 “hood movie” spoof Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, and 2000’s Lockdown. However, Lloyd Avery II wouldn’t make many roles after, as he met his untimely death in 2005.

Transformation

Reports say soon after his appearance in Boyz n the Hood, Avery began to closely resemble his character in the film. The actor moved to South Central L.A., and donned a face tattoo of his rough neighborhood “JUNGLEZ” long before every twenty-two year-old Soundcloud rapper did so for clout. Furthermore, he wasn’t just sporting the look of a gangster.

Lloyd Avery II was reported to have acted erratically on film sets getting him fired, and taken violent action off-screen, like macing then super-star celeb Downtown Julie Brown at a California club. Before long, Avery would mirror the same crimes he’d committed on screen in Boyz n the Hood, and would meet the same fate as his character in death.

Fate

In July 1999, Llloyd Avery II shot Annette Lewis & Percy Branch over an alleged drug debt which led to the death of both individuals. Avery wasn’t apprehended until December 1999, after filming two movies on the run. By December 2000, Avery was sentenced to life in prison, but he would soon meet his death behind bars.

In September 2005, Lloyd Avery II was strangled to death in his cell by his cellmate Kevin Roby. The actor had met the same fate as his character in his break-out film, having killed and been killed as a result of his crimes. 

There is no definitive answer as to why Lloyd Avery II followed in the footsteps of his breakout character, and friends, family, and fans have speculated to no end. No matter what the answer, his life remains one of the eeriest examples of Hollywood transcending the screen.

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What’s your favorite moment from Boyz n the Hood? Sound off in the comments below!