5. New Jack City (1991)
New Jack City, which stars Wesley Snipes, is based around the notorious crack cocaine wars that took place between 1984 and 1990, specifically in New York. The movie, directed by Mario Van Peebles, is inconsistent, though for the way it harbours its blaxploitation roots to create something fresh, it's well worth your time. Snipes plays Nino Brown, whose gang, the Cash Money Brothers, become the number one crack cocaine supplies in New York City. It's up to Ice T - a determined cop seeking vengeance - to stop them.
The Influence? As with
Menace II Society,
San Andreas has taken a lot of influence from
New Jack City in terms of design, tone, theme, missions and characters. CJ, the main protagonist, seems to have been loosely based on Snipes' Nino Brown - at least physically, anyway. The most noticeable reference in the game, though, can be glimpsed in Big Smoke's crack palace, which is near identical to Graham Court in
New Jack City, also a crack house.