One of several crossover filmmakers who made both hip-hop music videos and Hollywood feature films, F. Gary Gray began his directing career with videos for artists like Ice Cube and Cypress Hill before helming his feature debut at the tender age of 26, the buddy comedy Friday. Set It Off is an altogether different film, a female-driven, nail-biting heist movie boasting the all-star cast of Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, and Kimberly Elise, who star as four close friends working the night shift together at a janitorial services company in LA. As various tragedies befall the women, a desperate need for money drives them to the much more lucrative career of armed bank robbery. “I ain’t thinking about 5 years from now, I’m just trying to get through the day.” It’s operatic in its tragedy, and much like Michael Mann’s Heat (released the year before), Set It Off is the rare crime film that manages to both gleefully deliver elaborate and violent action sequences without sacrificing any empathy for its characters. It’s hard to stand out in a cast this stacked, but Queen Latifah’s butch, lowrider-driving, lapdance-getting Cleo is one for the ages.

Ayana Contreras is Content Director of Vocalo. She is an avid collector of vintage vinyl records, and shares her knowledge as host of Reclaimed Soul on both Vocalo and WBEZ. As a DJ, she has shared the stage with a wide variety of artists, from Roy Ayers to Gang of Four.