My aim is two-fold: map the melodramatic mode onto a previously unconsidered genre – the ‘hood film cycle of the early 1990s – and then analyze the impact of what amounts to be the melodrama of the map. Plotting the melodramatic mode onto such a disparate and seemingly incompatible genre such as the ‘hood film should explicate the geography of the melodramatic mode, showcasing its fundamental characteristics and concerns. Witnessing its application in such a violent and ‘masculine’ genre as the ‘hood film should also prove the versatility of the melodramatic mode. Following this structuralist task, this new melodramatic incarnation will be explored in terms of its evolution of the melodramatic mode, demonstrating melodrama’s capability of constant reinvention. With the ‘hood film, a key shift occurs: the home – a crucial concern in melodrama – becomes the ‘hood, and it requires fleeing. Intimately connected to this disfigured sense of space is that other, often overlooked concern of melodrama: the melos. Music in the ‘hood film is of central importance in stressing the spatial and temporal logic of the ‘hood. With the ‘hood film, melodrama is put in service of a much larger than normal concern: the crisis in the African American urban community.