top performance from epps and shakur make this film watchable and the story a fairly mundane one of street youth gang drift into crime in search of kick and streetcred and juice ( or power ) . shakur be the nutter who lead the way on a downward spiral and eager to get involve in any crazy venture and lead his more cautious friend down with him and epps the good kid hop to escape the ghetto life through his djing skill . uniformly good act especially from the two lead and cameo from queen latifah and samuel l. jackson and tense atmosphere and a funny and slang heavy script all act in it favour and but a lack of originality and a rather mediocre end bring it down a notch or two . worth a look if it your scene though .