John Singleton, the Oscar-nominated director and screenwriter, died Monday after being removed from life support in the wake of what was reported to be a stroke.

His death at only 51 feels like the passing of an artist interrupted. Though Singleton had focused more on producing and directing for television in recent years, the six films he made in his first decade of work (from 1991-2001), showcase a filmmaker of variety and intelligence, skilled at telling stories on canvases big and small, with an unerring eye for new talent. Here’s where to watch them.

‘Boyz N the Hood’ (1991)

Where to watch: Rent it on Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play and YouTube.

Singleton’s debut film burned with the kind of energy and intensity that only a first-timer can produce — the feeling that they may not get another shot, so they’re making this one count. Singleton’s heartfelt story of growing up in the Crenshaw section of Los Angeles netted him Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best director (he was both the youngest-ever nominee in the latter category, and its first African-American), and launched not only his career, but those of several cast members, including Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, Angela Bassett, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long and Regina King. Our critic Janet Maslin praised Singleton for “saying something familiar with new dramatic force, and in ways that a wide and varied audience will understand.”

‘Poetic Justice’ (1993)

Where to watch: Rent it on Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play and YouTube.

Singleton’s follow-up retained his first film’s setting and style, but broadened its narrative canvas, augmenting the mostly-male dynamics of its predecessor to tell the story of Justice (Janet Jackson), a young poet trying to make her way in the world. The film’s sky-high expectations and muted reception led to the expected whispers of “sophomore slump,” but freed of that atmosphere of heated expectation, “Poetic Justice” has much to recommend it: Singleton’s dialogue and relationships are relaxed and naturalistic, his sense of time and place is again spot on (the picture was shot in the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and the bones of those South Central buildings make their way into the background) and he again displayed a sharp eye for casting, handing important roles to the likes of Jenifer Lewis, Q-Tip, Khandi Alexander, and (most of all) Tupac Shakur, who generates warmth and sincerity as Justice’s potential love interest.