South LA Filmmaker Gregory 'G Bone' Everett, Director Of '41st And Central,' Dies From COVID-19

Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily newsletters. To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now.

Los Angeles filmmaker and hip-hop historian Gregory "G Bone" Everett has died from COVID-19 complications, according to a statement from his family. He'd been dealing with the coronavirus since early January before his death Sunday at a hospital. He was 58 years old.

Everett was an important figure in South L.A. and West Coast hip-hop history. Everett, whose father was a Black Panther, is best known for the 2010 documentary 41st & Central: The Untold Story of the L.A. Chapter of the Black Panther Party.

Activist Cliff Smith discovered Everett's work in the late 2010s as police killings of unarmed Black men were increasingly in the news. He was there when the L.A. City Council honored Everett and members of the Black Panthers in a 2018 ceremony. As Smith passed out leaflets calling for justice in the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Anthony Weber by Sheriff's deputies, Everett invited him along as he met with members of the Council.

Smith compared Everett's work with Nipsey Hussle, emphasizing that Everett came out of the community himself. Smith told LAist that both Everett and Hussle were "getting recognition and acclaim for their talent and their skills, but they still have a deep connection to this community of South Los Angeles -- the history of it, and the struggle. It's a different kind of loss than had it been some celebrity filmmaker that had done the same film from outside."

Everett had a deep connection with elders in the community, Smith said, bringing the lineage of his father's Black Panther involvement.

"He's somebody that's carried the history of the community," Smith said. "It's very motivating to see somebody who achieved those levels of recognition, but still be that centered, to carry his community and his family with him."

Smith noted Everett's deep affection for his family, with his wife and children always at his side.

Everett was also one of the first West Coast DJs to play rap music in the 1980s, DJing under the names MCG and G Bone Kapone. He promoted dance parties through his company Ultra Wave Promotions, a centerpiece of the '80s L.A. hip-hop community.

During the 1992 Los Angeles riots/rebellion, Everett was a freelance writer for Rap Pages and The Source magazine. His film work includes producing a documentary for Ruthless Records and BET about the late rapper Eazy E.

More recently, he curated a hip-hop exhibit/event, "Project West: Secrets of West Coast Hip Hop." His projects have included work for the L.A. Sentinel, the city of Compton, Kobe Bryant, and L.A. council members Bernard Parks and Curren Price.

A GoFundMe fundraising page has been set up to support his family and help with funeral expenses.

You can watch the original short film version of 41st & Central below: