This page was created on June 16, 2005
This page was last updated on September 6, 2005

—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections

Dial up modems will take a few moments

Directed by Craig Brewer
Written by Craig Brewer

Cast (in credits order)
Terrence Dashon Howard .... DJay
DJ Qualls .... Shelby
Ludacris .... Skinny Black
Taryn Manning .... Nola
Anthony Anderson .... Key
Isaac Hayes
Taraji P. Henson .... Shug
Elise Neal .... Yevette
Paula Jai Parker .... Lexus

Produced by
Stephanie Allain .... producer
Preston L. Holmes .... associate producer
John Singleton .... producer
Dwight Williams .... executive producer

Original Music by
Scott Bomar
Al Capone
Three 6 Mafia

Cinematography by Amy Vincent
Film Editing by Billy Fox

MPAA: Rated R for sex and drug content, pervasive language and some violence.
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM, and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG

Hustle and Flow

Djay is a pimp suffering a midlife crisis, yearning to be a rap star, and after being galvanized by a gospel song, he gets to work, finding it a very hard road to fame and respect.

Every few years a movie is released that stands out from the rest.  Hustle and Flow, which resembles a documentary, is this years' stand out film.  John Singleton captures "life on the streets" in such a way that it brings the viewer into the life of DJay, a struggling pimp and would be rapper.  Hollywood has attempted to make movies that illustrate the hard life that many Americans experience because they live on "the wrong side of the tracks, "but their accuracy has failed.  Singleton does not glorify the "hard knock life," instead he exploits it for what it really is!

The film follows DJay and his girls' around as they hustle everyday in order to survive.  Nola serves as his obedient prostitute, who wants to be more involved in DJay's life.  Lexus is pregnant and keeps care of the house, while Yvette strips at the local club.  All three give their money to DJay, who seems to have no purpose until he is given a CASIO electric keyboard.  A fresh breath of life was breathed into DJay, who hooks up with an old friend, Key, to make a record.  The process of making their record is the best part of t! he film.  To sound proof the room in DJays's house, so that they can record, they staple egg cartons to the wall, not having a microphone stand Key tapes the microphone to a make shift stand, and they record on a cassette tape.  All of these improvisations are comical because they are real life. Jay-Z got his start with a karaoke machine, Eminem in the basement of his mom's house, and the list goes on.  Most everyone in the music industry, especially the hip-hop community can relate to the upward battle of getting music produced.

Key brings DJ Qualls from his church to assist them on the record.  Qualls is a skinny white boy who can produce catchy beats to go along with the rhymes.  The trio began to spit out music, but nothing stuck.  DJay needed to clean up his language so he could get radio play.  After cleaning up his language we see a transformation in DJay, he becomes more business minded, looking past his own nose.  He realizes that he does need help from the very people that he's been hustling with.  He begins to treat Lexus as if she's his girl and gives Nola more responsibility.  The amazing part in all this, we see a successful collaboration between a pimp and Key the worship team leader at the church.  The moral that we can pull from this is acceptance of different cultures.  If Key would have criticized DJay for his life style then their record would never had happened.  Oddly enough DJay receives the most criticism from Skinny Black, who is a rap artist from the same hood as DJay, but made it out through his music (Skinny Black didn't want to remember where he came from).  In a confrontational conversation between the two, DJay begs Skinny to remember where he came from and make his music more real.  An unfortunate trend in the music industry today is the selling out of music artist.  They begin to buy their lyrics and their beats instead of collaborating with those who helped them in the beginning.  Some argue that this is ruining hip hop. Since hip hop, at least the music, is a channel for those who want to have a voice.  The government and higher society don't pay much attention to "the streets" and the only way for the disenfranchised to express themselves is through hip hop. 

When DJay finally gets radio play, striving rap artist come to him and ask for his help.  The demo that they give him is on tape, the way he started.  This leaves us with a powerful message; no matter what the means the ends can always be achieved, just have to  hustle for it

I traveled to a distant land. People spoke a strange language (although it was somewhat familiar). There were strange customs, and the way the people there treated women was unspeakable by my standards. The name of this strange place? Memphis, Tennessee, as portrayed in Hustle and Flow.

Okay, so Memphis isn't all that strange. But this film immersed me in a culture that was thoroughly foreign to me. I have no idea of the difference (if there is one) between rap and crunk music. I don't know a lot of the slang used. I have no idea what the life of a pimp is like. But that was the world that I was drawn into through this film. And I was happy to have made the journey.

The story centers on DJay, a pimp and drug dealer whose life is going nowhere. It may seem hard to conceive of being able to identify with such a character, but the film (and Terrence Howard's performance) makes him so emotionally approachable that we easily do so. That is not to say that DJay is an exemplary character. He is a misogynist who mistreats his women. He uses people. He is foul-mouthed and self-centered. We are attracted to DJay, not because of these things, but in spite of them, because we see that underneath all that there is a kernel of ourselves.

When DJay discovers Skinny Black, a now famous rapper who grew up in Memphis the same time as he did, will be coming back to town, DJay plans to make his own rap demo and pass it to Skinny. If he can get a chance to record his rap, he'll have a way out of the life he is in. Maybe he can become famous and rich.

What he is really seeking is to have a voice – that is, to be someone. That search for a voice is where all that seems foreign to me is transformed into a universal story. We all want to have a voice. We may not care if we are rich or famous, as long as there is some evidence that we have a place in the world – that we are not invisible – that we are heard.

Being white, male, educated and in a profession, I am in a position of privilege in our society. As a pastor, I even have an outlet for my voice each week. But even with all that, there are times I yearn for a voice. I yearn for my pain to be heard over the ambient noise of so much other pain. I yearn for my views to be heard as loudly as the views of those in high places. If I, from my position of privilege, want to have a voice, how much more for those in society who have traditionally been silenced.

That yearning for a voice is what we see first in DJay, and then in those around him as he begins his quest to be heard. The technicians who help him make the recordings are searching for their own voices. The women in his house find their lives open up as they are allowed to have a voice (in singing or promoting).

In time, DJay gets a vision that the fame that Skinny has achieved may not be as fulfilling as DJay had thought, but still he pushes on, not for the fame anymore, but because of his dream to become more than he is.

It should be noted that there is a lot of mistreatment of women in this film. They are treated as unimportant. They are expected to support the man (financially as well as emotionally) without complaint. Their voices have been even more silenced than DJay's. It is hard to decide how to view this misogyny. Should it be seen merely as a reflection of the subculture? Should the film have addressed it more forcefully? We see, by the end of the film, some progress made by the women, but still, they only find their voice in service to DJay's.

The film doesn't quite make it to the point of a completion of DJay's dream or a redemption of his life, but it brings us to a point where we see those things as possible. The end of the film really gives us the idea that there is a new story ready to begin. That story may or may not lead to a better life, but it represents a hope that the weight of DJay's life so far may not be a burden that can not be escaped.

This may seem like a distant land to many people, but it really isn't. This may seem like a Black film, but really, it is a universal story. I fear many will see the actors and hear a bit of the music and think this film isn't for them. Hustle and Flow is certainly worth a journey to a culture that may seem foreign to find the truth that this film gives voice to.

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