If you’re keeping track, please add HUSTLE & FLOW to the list of summer ’05 movies that hold the fuck up. Maybe at the top. I think this is the first time I’ve seen it since the theater, and I wasn’t sure if I was building it up in my memory. No, this is really something special.

It takes place in Memphis, where small time pimp and weed dealer DJay (Terrence Howard, WHO’S THE MAN?) revives an old dream to become a rapper. It kinda happens by coincidence. First one of his customers (Claude Phillips) insists on trading him a Casio keyboard for drugs (“What am I, a pawn shop?”), which gets him thinking about playing music. Then he runs into Key (Anthony Anderson, URBAN LEGENDS: FINAL CUT), who he knew in middle school, at a convenience store, has a conversation and ends up going to watch him record a singer at a church. If DJay had shown up five minutes later or if Key hadn’t needed batteries none of this would’ve happened. But they do, so DJay later shows up at Key’s house, raps for him and convinces him to come over and help him record a demo tape.

Like I said, DJay is a pimp, so he’s not a good guy. His associates are Nola (Taryn Manning, 8 MILE), who he’s very hard on, Lexus (Paula Jai Parker, GET ON THE BUS), who’s pretty fed up with him, and Shug (Taraji P. Henson, BABY BOY), who doesn’t work because she’s pregnant but she’s very sweet and tries to take care of him. He believes he works very hard but it seems to me they’re doing the work. I don’t think highly of a person like that, but then I see him sitting in a pew watching that singer, see his eyes water and then a tear roll down his face, and I see the power of music to melt a hardened man like that. It humanizes him to see that he can be moved by the music, or at least the reminder that he could be trying to do that too.

He’s very aware of his mortality, talking to Shug about being the age his dad was when his heart gave out, how the thought has “just been fucking with my mind, you know?” I don’t know what the official logline was for this but “a Memphis pimp has ‘one of them midlife crises’ and decides to pursue his dream of becoming a rapper” sounds pretty funny. And it’s definitely a movie with humor, but it’s taking that idea seriously. It means it. Even a pimp has dreams and regrets of paths not taken.

His bar owner friend Arnel (Memphis legend Isaac Hayes, TRUCK TURNER) invites DJay to bring some of his good weed over on the 4th of July when the place is shut down for local boy made platinum artist Skinny Black (Screen Actors Award Winner Chrs “Ludacris” Bridges, CRASH). DJay claims to have known Skinny back in the day and thinks he can pass a tape to him, maybe get a big break.

There’s a funny thing about 25 minutes in where we see Key at home having dinner with his wife (Elise Neal, SCREAM 2). I believe the only women we’ve seen in the movie up to this point have been hookers and strippers, but here’s Yevette, a civilian gossiping about what Beth Ann said about why she didn’t get the sales-supervisor promotion. So she plays the part of the uptight wife mad that her husband is hanging out with a pimp and his hoes, except then she seems to realize that her husband spending all this time away from home means he found something that’s important to him, so she shows up with sandwiches to give her support.

You also gotta kind of love Shelby (DJ Qualls, CHERRY FALLS), the notably white kid Key brings in to make the beats. Qualls was known for playing the funny nerd – he could’ve turned into the Eddie Deezen of the aughts – but it doesn’t take long for him to be accepted by this group. If his musical skills hadn’t already won over DJay I think when he got high and started preaching passionately about southern hip hop’s parallels to the blues would’ve done it.

I have unfortunately learned through the technology of computers that there are still many people roaming around who think Three 6 Mafia winning a Best Original Song Oscar for creating DJay’s song “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp” was some sort of laughable occurrence. Honestly it makes my blood boil because I felt then, and have had almost 20 years to confirm that I was obviously extremely correct, that it was one of the most deserving wins ever in that category. Yes, it can be great to just have a catchy song that people like that’s in a movie. “I Just Called to Say I Love You” and “Say You, Say Me” won Oscars (I won’t say for which movies – can you guess?). Also iconic movie songs like “What a Feeling” for FLASHDANCE, “Take My Breath Away” for TOP GUN and “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” for DIRTY DANCING., and “My Heart Will Go On” for TITANIC – as a theater employee in 1997 I heard that song over 2.6 million times between cleaning the three theaters it was playing in and the CD that was on a loop in the lobby. I don’t object to any of those winning. But I think a higher level of winner is a song like “Lose Yourself” which is not only a classic on its own but is crucial to getting across the themes and tone of 8 MILE.

Now here we have a really good, catchy song that’s diegetic. As we watch its fictional inspiration and creation on screen it holds up through multiple renditions, expresses the life and attitudes of the character, is catchy as hell, also was amazing to see performed on the Oscars. None of this would be controversial to say about “Shallow” from A STAR IS BORN, another very worthy winner. But there seems to be something about Three 6 Mafia and their style of music that invalidates those qualities when it comes to awards consideration, according to these people. I have not seen them complain about the following year’s winner, the Melissa Etheridge song from AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH that I assume was probly on the end credits but I bet even Melissa Etheridge couldn’t tell you. They’ll let that go but they’ll keep bringing this one up like it’s an obvious target we can all agree on. Weird. Things that make you go hmm.

There is exactly one (1) not asinine argument against “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp” winning an Oscar and that is if you’re gonna argue that it should’ve been “Whoop That Trick.” That’s what really struck me this time. All the songs are great. And that’s so crucial in a movie about music. You have to believe the nodding heads and stinky faces are sincere. You have to believe everybody in that room sees the potential and needs to be a part of it. You have to believe that even Yevette sees it. And I believe it.

There’s a long history of great rappers whose careers took them away from a previous life of drug dealing. Here writer/director Craig Brewer plays with the idea of “bad” people being able to make good art, and also of the creation of art helping people to be “good.” The act of creative self expression does bring out a nicer side of DJay.

But it’s not a miracle cure. Brewer walks a delicate line – he has to underplay the reality of pimping a little to make you not hate DJay, but he can’t completely white wash it, or it would just feel like too much bullshit and not work at all. DJay’s darkest moments are when he kicks Lexus out (with a baby!) for disrespecting him, and when he makes Nola give a guy a blowjob to get a better microphone. “I’m not gonna suck dick every time you come up short, D!” she says. Also is he talking to Shug like her pimp when he’s telling her how to sing? Are we comfortable with the fact that it seems to work?

This is definitely a thrilling story of underdog triumph, but DJay doing a few horrible things even after he’s starting to change makes it a little more complex. When he ends up in prison it seems about right. More of an inevitability than a downfall. It also seems to propel him to whatever level of success he has – local hit single, maybe. I like that we don’t know if it goes any further than that.

Even if that’s the end of it, he’s brought a new light to the lives of everyone involved. I really like that we don’t know if this led to careers for anyone, because what matters is the satisfaction they felt from creating something, from unlocking unknown, unused or dormant talents. My favorite moment in the whole movie is when Shug hears her voice played back with the music for the first time and is overwhelmed with emotion.

Nothing needs to be said. Later she does tell DJay what it means to her but that works too because we learn that she doesn’t see it as a career, expects to be replaced by a professional once DJay is established but still needs to thank him for giving her that moment of pride. “It made me feel real, real special.”

That also goes for Key, who has used his engineering talents for something more exciting than recording depositions (though he still does that); for Shelby, who celebrates hearing his beat on the radio while working his job stocking vending machines; and even for non-musician Nola, who actually does wear a jacket and headset as joked about earlier and is genuinely succeeding at promoting the record. Brewer also throws in Lexus hearing the song from the locker room of the strip club. I don’t know, maybe you’re supposed to think “Ha ha, you shouldn’t have jumped ship,” but it makes me think “Oh yeah, that was fucked up when he did that.” Let’s not be engraving his name on the Nobel Peace Prize just yet.

You could probly say they don’t make movies like this anymore, but they didn’t really then either. This was John Singleton (Fireman, BEVERLY HILLS COP III)’s first time producing someone else’s movie, and that’s not just a vanity credit – he strongly believed in the movie and funded it himself after they couldn’t find a studio to do it.

I wish Brewer were more prolific in the years since – I did enjoy BLACK SNAKE MOAN, his FOOTLOOSE remake, and obviously DOLEMITE IS MY NAME, which come to think of it shares this theme of outsiders finding confidence in themselves through creating art together. COMING 2 AMERICA is not great but had some laughs I guess, and he had a story credit on THE LEGEND OF TARZAN (I think he was gonna direct it at one point). Like anybody he’s done some TV, including several episodes of Empire starring Howard and Henson. He has two more music related movies on the way: one based on the documentary SONG SUNG BLUE (about a Neil Diamond cover band) and then he’s supposed to do a Snoop Dogg biopic.

HUSTLE & FLOW made about 8 times its budget in theaters, surely quite a bit on video, it won the aforementioned Oscar, and also Howard was nominated for Best Actor. (Philip Seymour Hoffman won for CAPOTE.) It was also nominated for 3 MTV Movie Awards, which seems like a conflict of interest since it was produced by MTV Films. But my point is it was an indie movie that kinda came out of nowhere, with a director nobody had heard of, and a cast of up-and-comers shining like the sun, making it a big movie, a cultural event. I think it definitely made an impact, it’s remembered, but did you remember it was this good? I really want to remind you.

Notes:

Summer 2005 connections:

Cinematographer Amy Vincent was the 2nd unit d.p. for BEWITCHED.

And it has ‘70s-inspired freeze frame credits like THE DEVIL’S REJECTS:

That is a top level title screen right there. Damn.

Other 2005 releases from MTV Films:

COACH CARTER, THE LONGEST YARD, MURDERBALL, GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’, AEON FLUX.

Two Personal Notes From My Travels:

When I visited Memphis many years later my mother-in-law asked a doorman at a bar on Beale Street about non-touristy places to go – embarrassing since she wasn’t about to go to any of them. But his name was Sweet Potata, he recommended the bar seen in the movie, and he seemed pleasantly surprised when he asked if we’d heard of HUSTLE & FLOW and my wife said “Of course!”

Another one: Walking through the airport in Burbank I passed and made eye contact with Anthony Anderson and as I was realizing that was who I was looking at I also realized he was giving me a “do not approach me” glare. I swear I would not have even if he was in EXIT WOUNDS. (And he was.)

Cancellation levels:

I truly hate to bring this up but Anderson was accused of sexually assaulting an extra on this movie, with some corroborating evidence, but the charges were dropped. Despite other subsequent accusations he went on to star in a hugely popular sitcom for eight seasons without controversy.

Howard has been arrested for assaulting two different wives and a flight attendant. He is enough of a weirdo that he has sections for “Educational claims” and “Pseudoscientific theories” on his Wikipedia page. Look up “Terryology.” But he continues to work and this movie led to one of the other biggest roles of his career, when Henson convinced him to reunite with her on Lee Daniels’ crazy music world soap opera Empire.

Manning has been accused of assaulting her personal assistant and a couple girlfriends during her struggles with substance abuse.

But they all starred in a movie about a flawed person trying to do something better with his life. I hope they all have found/will find help and learn to treat others better.