The film director John Singleton died today. Singleton suffered a stroke two weeks ago while staying at a Los Angeles hospital. His family announced today that they would take him off life support, as Deadline reports. Singleton was 51.

Singleton grew up in Los Angeles and studied film at USC. At age 23, he wrote and directed the enormously influential 1991 film Boyz N The Hood, a tragic drama about young people growing up in South Central Los Angeles. Singleton based the movie on his own experiences and those of people who he knew. The movie was an instant sensation, and Singleton remains the youngest person ever to be nominated for the Best Director Academy Award. (He was also the first black person ever to be nominated.)

The movie was important for a number of reasons, not least because Singleton named the movie after an N.W.A song and cast a young Ice Cube in his first film role. Throughout his career, Singleton would continue to work with musicians whenever possible. He directed Michael Jackson’s “Remember The Time” video in 1992, and Poetic Justice, his 1993 sophomore film, starred Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur.

Many of Singleton’s films starred at least one musician in a prominent role: Ice Cube and Busta Rhymes in 1995’s Higher Learning, Busta Rhymes in 2000’s Shaft remake, Tyrese Gibson and Snoop Dogg in 2001’s Baby Boy, Tyrese Gibson and André 3000 (and I guess Mark Wahlberg) in 2005’s Four Brothers. Many of those musicians have had lucrative and rewarding second careers in acting, largely because Singleton gave them chances. Singleton directed Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris in 2003’s 2 Fast 2 Furious, and the two of them remain parts of the Fast & Furious franchise to this day.