....http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/hustle_and_flow/

Hears some good things about this movie, anybody seen it yet?

The director is gonna be there afterwards 4 a Q&A session as well.

Mostly reading its a black version of 8 mile (whatever that means), more likely a story of hip-hop from the south point of view.

But of course!

>Mostly reading its a black version of 8 mile (whatever that
>means), more likely a story of hip-hop from the south point of
>view.

Any comparison 2 8 mile immediately scares me as that's 1 of the worst movies I've ever been forced 2 watch. The fact that its Terrance Howard insteada Em in the lead tells me this will be much better even if it is a similar story. Plus it won the cinematography & audience awards down @ Sundance so I hope that means something. We'll see tho.

But it's on Tuesday the 21st, unless you're going to some other screening I don't know about. :-)

>The director is gonna be there afterwards 4 a Q&A session as
>well.


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My diminutive DVD collection: http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=kurlyswirl

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>But it's on Tuesday the 21st, unless you're going to some
>other screening I don't know about. :-)

Naw but check the site cuz he changed the date & location. Monday @ 7 @ Pacific Place now.

He should e-mail everyone with a reservation. This happened before, when he switched theatres and didn't notify us...luckily I caught it on the site.

If it said Pacific Place before, it's gone now. It says "tba." Better not be in Lynnwood or Redmond, lol.

>>But it's on Tuesday the 21st, unless you're going to some
>>other screening I don't know about. :-)
>
>Naw but check the site cuz he changed the date & location.
>Monday @ 7 @ Pacific Place now.


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My diminutive DVD collection: http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=kurlyswirl

I be Scrobblin': http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/TasteeTreat/

>He should e-mail everyone with a reservation. This happened
>before, when he switched theatres and didn't notify
>us...luckily I caught it on the site.

There was an email sent out but I think even the people w/o reservations received it as well. But I know what you mean. I saved myself a trip & skipping out on work by calling & finding out that 1 of those sneak screenings had been cncld altogether.

>If it said Pacific Place before, it's gone now. It says "tba."
> Better not be in Lynnwood or Redmond, lol.

Jeez! 1st it was SAM, then Pac Place, now who knows. But yeah Lynnhood or Redmond would suck. Although the new Lowes up in Lynnwood is pretty nice.

I saw it a while back at a preview screening. I was surprised at how good it was. I definitely would recommend it.

WARNING: i never wrote a movie review before and i don't study film so its mostly summary. and its not really a critique. i have to work on that. (if anyone wants to offer any tips, go ahead.) plus its pretty long for a post. but if anyone is interested...there it is

------

It is about three months until Hustle & Flow’s July 15th US release date, which is plenty of time for the marketing machine and critics to create a bunch of hype around it. The film, whose main character is a chain smoking pimp that dreams of a different life, already garnered much early praise at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in January. Paramount Pictures and MTV Films put in a nine million dollar bid for it, the biggest film purchase in Sundance history. But know that should an excess of Hustle & Flow worship break out come summertime, it is not just due to the sheep-like nature of critics. Exciting, disturbing and sprinkled with humorous moments, Flow is a quality film about trying to be more than you are, about the rewards and risks involved in reaching for who you want to be.

So what happens to a chain smoking pimp's dream deferred? For DJay, the man in question, a midlife crisis revives his old fantasy of recording his rhymes and becoming a well known rapper--a dream that until then had been drying up like a raisin in the blazing Memphis sun.

DJay, played by the extremely engaging Terrence Howard (Ray, Their Eyes Were Watching God), spends his days roasting in his old, air conditioning-less Chevy Caprice Classic . He tries to convince passersby to purchase his wares, aka Nola (Taryn Manning), his prostitute, driver’s seat companion and occasional sounding board for his philosophical ramblings. The other women in his charge are snarky Lexus (Paula Jai Parker), who dances at a strip club, and the sweet-as-pie Shug (Taraji P. Henson), who is not currently working because she is pregnant. Like an unorthodox family unit they all live together in a rundown house with newspaper for windows.

Despite his ignoble trade, the man presented in Hustle & Flow is neither evil villain nor shining hero. DJay is a frustrated man who hates what he does and who he is. Upon realizing he is fast approaching the same age his father was when he died, DJay decides to seriously pursue the hip hop life he actually wanted and try to get put on by famous local artist Skinny Black (Ludacris).

DJay partners up with Key (Anthony Anderson), an old school friend who is also DJay's polar opposite. He is married to a classy wife, lives in a lovely home and has a respectable job recording gospel tracks with church choirs. Yet DJay and Key are trapped in similar prisons, Key hates his mundane life and has his own dreams of owning a music studio instead of just supervising the recording of a choir. Just having the makeshift studio set up in DJay's shack of a house nurtures Key’s fantasy of having his own space to be free and creative.

The beauty in DJay's dream lies in the hope and happiness it inspires within the people, like Key, who help him pursue it, though these feelings may only be momentary. Key along with friend Shelby (DJ Qualls), whom he invites to help produce, and Nola and Shug all contribute to DJay’s work and through aiding him experience a greater sense of purpose as well.

Newcomer Craig Brewer, who wrote and directed the film, does an excellent job creating multi-dimensional and likeable characters who are all thirsting for something more in their bleak and stagnant lives. Through them Brewer conveys the limits of life with in this small, poor section of Memphis. But he simultaneously embraces the community and the south by using short scenes like that of a huge, but warm neighborhood party in a parking lot or a scene in which Shelby makes a mini speech linking the essence of Southern blues to rap. The southern world of Hustle & Flow is a small place, but nothing beyond it and the people there really seem to matter.

In the midst of rhyme, a rapper can become any persona, a facet of oneself that usually only exists under the surface or perhaps a completely foreign personality, an imitation of someone else. There is a transformation that the music, the mic, and the words allow the deliverer. He or she can embody a fantasy, a dream, even if it is just for a little while. The heart of Hustle & Flow dwells in those transformative moments. Even in trying to be someone else, a bit of the self is still revealed: the part that needs to be someone else, for life and sanity’s sake. For DJay, the hustle in Hustle does not just boil down to being a hard working pimp, but also working to be a man who can look inside and find the value in himself.

Thats a nice review, i know u said it wasnt a review but it felt positive and i could tell you liked this movie.

This shit better not suck and it better not spawn more shitty ass Memphis "rappers". Got a feeling one of the two is gonna happen.

"...most sistahs only recognize a good man when he's a character in a shitty movie, a shitty play, their favorite daytime soap or a shitty book written by a homosexual."
From Reggie Eggert's online review of "Diary of a Mad Black Woman"

Did you find Anthony Anderson & DJ Qualls 2 be convincing in their roles?

So, hopefully he brought it to this project as well.

>Did you find Anthony Anderson & DJ Qualls 2 be convincing in
>their roles?


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My diminutive DVD collection: http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=kurlyswirl

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He does a good job. It really was a tough role to screw up. Anderson does a very good job as well.

Black women are expendable.

1. The gratuitous botty jiggling close-up
scenes in the strip club were a little much.
We we gotta be hyper-sexualized and greasy.

2. Near the end of the movie one of the sista's
the one from Baby Boy thanks Terrence Howard for being
on the song. I could not help but think about how
destitute the writer/director was making this Blk character.

Other thank that....it was cool.

The female roles are not very strong at all in the film.

The film was entertaining, but if you are looking for a message in it or judging it on its morals, then it has a lot to argue against IMO. I went in with no clue what it was (it was a free screening) and was pleasantly surprised. But I went in with no expectations and wasn't looking for anything besides an entertaining plot.

you story will be compromised if you stand in judgement of the characters you create/portray. it is handicapping to HAVE TO distance yourself from unsavory characters you might write about. it is patronizing to plug in political correctness for the sake of portraying a redeeming charactor. this movie earned points from me cause it told that story honestly without pandering to people's needs to be comforted by those redeeming characters/charististics. i saw enough in the main characters to know that they all had struggles that pulled them between good and bad behaviors. none were completely fucked up. obviously, none were angels. i mean really, Howard played a drug dealing pimp turned thug rapper spitting about slappin' bitches. how you gon' be upset that he had pimp-able women around him.

#

>2. Near the end of the movie one of the sista's
>the one from Baby Boy thanks Terrence Howard for being
>on the song. I could not help but think about how
>destitute the writer/director was making this Blk character.
>>Other thank that....it was cool.

I understand that a criticism that often comes up in black movies is weak female characters. Its makes since when criticizing a lot of other movies, but it totally misses the point that main female characters in H&F are HOES. Women in that position ARE Destititue!!! SO it makes perfect since that proudest moment in this chacters life is being on a two bit hustlas demo tape.


**********

Reality check: according to the 2000 census, there were more than 31,000 black physicians and surgeons, 33,000 black lawyers. There are about 1,400 black athletes playing professional basketball, football and baseball combined.

But I didn't like how the white girl was the in one charge. I mean, he ends up falling in love with the black girl, but it was a white girl with the power role, even if she was a hooker.

Terrence Howard is really believable (as are all the characters), and I was really concerned about this possibly being some crappy 'wanna-be rapper story'. In reality it was so much more. Actually, Terrance Howard doesn't rap any worse and not much better than any aspiring amateur MC. He actually worked with cats from Three 6 Mafia to develop his character and the whole rap thing, and I think it worked well.

I am telling everyone to please give this movie a chance. It's truly worth your time to see.

you can't make a movie about a rapper in Memphis and not have at least one of these groups featured in the movie......



2004 Inductee - OkaySports Hall of Fame

2004 College Blowhards Fantasy Football Champion

Somebody from 3 6 mafia wrote all of terrance howard rhymes, i read it somewhere.

Dj Paul and Juicy J were...

Amazing film. Amazing writing. Great performances. Terrence Howard has slowly clawed his way to respected actor status. Coming off Crash and now this... wow.

Shit was so real to me. Howard's character, a 30-somethin' pimp and weed dealer is feelin' that itch to do somethin' with his life. He hasn't had the kind of success he'd imagined for himself. Cats he grew up with, no more talented than he is, are tasting success and he's yearning for it too. Odd as it may sound, he reminds me of the Walter Lee character in A Raisin in the Sun because there's this sense that it's now or never. As a 35 year old Black male who has had my share of wins and losses, i identified with dude too... i identified with bruh more than i'm comfortable admitting.

Anthony Anderson plays that dude walkin' a straight-n-narrow path who choses to gamble and dream-chase too. The women in the movie, mostly hookers, are lookin' for purpose and self-worth for themselves too.

I loved that we got to know some unscrupulous cats that hollywood movies rarely have you "connecting" with on a personal level. I love that the story is told without the prerequisite PSA statements that distance the writers from the dirty shit they portray on screen. I loved the insight into southern hip hop much of which, honestly, i haven't generally respected. I dug how it showed the similarities between hip hop and the blues and how, for the first time, you got to see a flick about hip hop that showed some of hip hop's creative process.

Can't wait til this comes out and i can read your thoughts on this movie.

was how they allow you to connect just enough to care, but they don't make any real heroes in the story. As you begin to realize the power that DJay has to suck people in, you figure out that you're sucked in too. Lovely.

>was how they allow you to connect just enough to care, but
>they don't make any real heroes in the story. As you begin to
>realize the power that DJay has to suck people in, you figure
>out that you're sucked in too. Lovely.

Yeah. The movie pulls this off and you don't even notice.

>was how they allow you to connect just enough to care, but
>they don't make any real heroes in the story. As you begin to
>realize the power that DJay has to suck people in, you figure
>out that you're sucked in too. Lovely.


.gigs.
*official site launch forthcoming*
.hobbies.
www.hiphopheads.com *coming Sept. 05*
.rants and raves.
www.hiphopheadz.blogspot.com
.myspace.
http://www.myspace.com/hiphopgyrl

n/m

n/m

seems like its worth paying the money. thanks.

*************************************
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everybody got one © Young Geezy

How many of y'all know where Texas is?
Stolen land, formerly Mexican © Bavu Blakes

http://www.myspace.com/7889858

MTV can't market for shit.

it is NOT the Southern 8-Mile. There's a lot more to this movie than some rapper shit

and i love terrence howard & am constantly complaining that he doesn't get enough shine. i will go & see though. i really didn't like the trailer though.

I had heard how good it was before I saw the trailer and then saw the trailer and had to tell everyone I was with that it really had gotten great reviews and just had a horrible trailer. It better not prove me wrong.

Nothing earth shattering, but I was pretty damn impressed. It was head and shoulders above 8 Mile, that's for sure.

Terrence Howard's performance was stellar. The rest of the cast was great as well, with the exception of Paula Jai Parker. I think she has a problem with over-acting. She was the same way in She Hate Me.

Even DJ Qualls surprised me. His character was really amusing.

I don't really like crunk music, but this movie made it enjoyable. I may even buy the soundtrack, lol. There are some infectious hooks in those songs, and I couldn't help nodding my head a little. Howard has skills...looks (and sounds) like he spent a lot of time preparing for the role.

I give it a B+.

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The fruits of my DVD binges: http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=kurlyswirl

I be Scrobblin': http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/TasteeTreat/

they helped Terrence develop his role, his flow, the song, etc. Knowing that really helped me to enjoy what they were doing.

when? where? how do I attend?
**********

Reality check: according to the 2000 census, there were more than 31,000 black physicians and surgeons, 33,000 black lawyers. There are about 1,400 black athletes playing professional basketball, football and baseball combined.

It was this past Monday in Seattle at the Uptown theater, lol.

>when? where? how do I attend?

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The fruits of my DVD binges: http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=kurlyswirl

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and it's really pissing me off

PLEASE people, give this movie a chance. Do NOT pay attention to those trailers!! lol

or that a black writer coudln't get this passed through
cause john signleton producing is funny
--------
photobloggin' it: http://richlouis.blogspot.com/
bloggin it: http://thehomelands.net/blogger.html

because a BLACK MAN put up 8million dollars of his own money to get it made. i think that's significant enough...moreso than that a black man didn't write it.

y'all ain't never happy.

d

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The fruits of my DVD binges: http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=kurlyswirl

I be Scrobblin': http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/TasteeTreat/

So it also won the Audience Award at Sundance? Ok...I definitely must check for this.

http://www.newyorker.com/critics/cinema/articles/050711crci_cinema

some folks can't access the links from work. Here is the review:

As a South Memphis pimp named DJay, Terrence Howard, the star of “Hustle & Flow” (opening on July 22nd), speaks in a soft, smoky voice that trails off into nothingness. DJay is very shrewd, but his life is at a dead end, and he knows it. He runs three girls out of an old multicolored Chevrolet; the tricks who roll up next to him have air-conditioning in their cars, and DJay doesn’t. He sells drugs on the side, but he’s halfhearted about it—the drugs are most useful not for making money but as a way of bribing a neighbor into doing a favor. It is the conceit of “Hustle & Flow” that this petty criminal is a man of decency and promise, and Howard, a major actor (he was the harassed TV director in “Crash”), anchors the conceit in flesh and blood. His chattering hustler has the obscure, ruminative wit of a street-corner philosopher who implies more than he says; Howard turns his come-ons and rants into a sullen art. The movie asks whether that particular art is convertible yet again—whether DJay’s hustle can be transformed into the thumping flow of the Memphis-style rap known as crunk. As Howard develops DJay’s frustration and rue, he avoids the obvious, the overemphatic. His self-mocking performance is so ironically refined and allusive that one might think that Duke Ellington himself had slipped into an old undershirt and hit the fetid streets of Memphis.

The movie is at its best when the writer-director, Craig Brewer, a white man from Memphis, simply noses around the scraggly neighborhoods and down-at-the-heels clubs of his old home town. This is a hot-weather picture: everything unfolds in the kind of Southern steam that wilts any effort aimed at more than mere survival. Such cinematic time-passing is fine with me. I could easily spend two hours just watching Howard hassling the working girls (Taryn Manning, Taraji P. Henson, and Paula Jai Parker, all terrific) or listening to Howard and Isaac Hayes, who plays a club owner, greet each other—their conversational manner is that rich. But, with an awkward lurch, and an eye on DJay’s possible redemption, the movie shifts into a conventionally upbeat show-business story: DJay assembles a group of irregulars, including a henpecked sound engineer (Anthony Anderson); a skinny white guy (D. J. Qualls) who makes his living servicing concession machines but knows how to lay down crunk’s bass-heavy tracks; and one of DJay’s women, Shug (Henson), who learns to sing an introductory hook. Using DJay’s bottom-dog laments (“It’s hard out here for a pimp when you’re trying to get the money for the rent,” etc.), this gang works up a song, “Whoop Dat Trick,” which they hope will be a hit. As a myth of creation, the putting together of the song, element by element, over a period of days, is enormously enjoyable, even if it isn’t especially convincing.

“Hustle & Flow” may resemble other show-business fables in its over-all shape, but it has an acrid flavor all its own. DJay places his bets for success on presenting “Whoop Dat Trick” and other songs to a Memphis-born rapper named Skinny Black—Chris (Ludacris) Bridges—who has made a fortune in the music business and is back in town for a few days. Howard and Ludacris memorably met once before, in the front seat of an S.U.V. in “Crash.” This meeting, which goes through assorted moods of screw-you indifference, drunken bonhomie, and crazy violence in about ten minutes of hair-raising screen time, tops the earlier one. “Hustle & Flow” ends with a burst of movie-ish mayhem, and then a burst of sentiment, but when Brewer, Howard, and Ludacris stick to the bitter texture of South Memphis failure and success they produce a modest regional portrait that could become a classic of its kind.

>....http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/hustle_and_flow/
>
>Hears some good things about this movie, anybody seen it yet?

My first impression was that this film was going to be WACK but I'm not so sure with it getting so much positive feedback. I'll see for myself whenever they begin the screenings in DC.

.gigs.
*official site launch forthcoming*
.hobbies.
www.mountainhighradio.com
.rants and raves.
www.hiphopheadz.blogspot.com
.myspace.
http://www.myspace.com/hiphopgyrl

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The fruits of my DVD binges: http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=kurlyswirl

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The fruits of my DVD binges: http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=kurlyswirl

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I'm droppin' a quote(able):

"Nah, this's good leather, mang. Keeps you the temperature you wanna be."


-taperedjeans.blogspot.com-

I thought this was cute:

Here is a letter from the film's writer and director, Craig Brewer:

Hello FiLM Club Member,

Before you watch my movie, I wanted to tell you about an experience I had with Tequila. Not the kind of Tequila you put in a margarita, I'm talking about the kind that spins around a pole, wearing platform heels and a G-string.

Hustle & Flow is not my first stab at feature filmmaking. My first film, The Poor & Hungry, was a black and white, DV movie. I had a crew of two: my brother in law, Seth Hagee, held the boom pole, and I held the camera.

One of our locations for the movie was the King of Clubs, a strip joint in South Memphis. I had made arrangements with the owner to shoot some scenes on Sunday just before they opened their doors to the public. Many of the dancers came early to participate in the movie as background extras.

Since Seth and I were the only crew members, we ran into a bit of a problem. Seth had to flash a red light across the stage, which meant there was no one to catch audio by holding the boom.

This is when I met Tequila.

She was country as all get-out, with freckles running across her tiny nose, and a twang that would turn Loretta Lynn's head. She eagerly volunteered to be our boom operator (and if there are any boom operators reading this, let me tell you, watching little Tequila hold that boom over her head, wearing her clear high-heel pumps, and bright orange bikini, was a sight to behold.)

When we were packing up our gear, Tequila came up to us, excited and sad. "Y'all comin' back t'morrow?" she asked. "Cuz I can hold the pole s'more for ya."

I saw it in her eyes. She had been bitten by the creative bug.

For many of us, creative expression and collaboration with others is nothing new. But we must never forget that there are many in this world who've never been asked to express themselves with movement or words or paint.

Regardless of our given circumstances, we are all entitled to contribute a verse. It is our right as human beings. A right that belongs to you, to me, and to a country stripper named Tequila.

I hope you enjoy the film.

Craig Brewer
Writer/Director of Hustle & Flow

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The fruits of my DVD binges: http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=kurlyswirl

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>For many of us, creative expression and collaboration with
>others is nothing new. But we must never forget that there are
>many in this world who've never been asked to express
>themselves with movement or words or paint.
>
>Regardless of our given circumstances, we are all entitled to
>contribute a verse. It is our right as human beings. A right
>that belongs to you, to me, and to a country stripper named
>Tequila.

n/m

>>For many of us, creative expression and collaboration with
>>others is nothing new. But we must never forget that there
>are
>>many in this world who've never been asked to express
>>themselves with movement or words or paint.
>>
>>Regardless of our given circumstances, we are all entitled
>to
>>contribute a verse. It is our right as human beings. A right
>>that belongs to you, to me, and to a country stripper named
>>Tequila.

http://tinyurl.com/88rtk

RED
Ora et labora

Damn good movie. Please see it.
______________________________________________________________________
<---- last seen on Baddstreet, U.S.A.

I saw it when I went to see "Crash"..i think since it also followed the preview of "Rize" I was like "THA FUCK"..LOL..

but the previews are shit..

but over time I been like damn it might actually be good..my boys were all making fun of the previews forever..
but I think we all gon see it..

and prior to hearing any of the positive-n-negative buzz about it. I remember leaving and thinking about how it's gonna be hard to promote that file for what it is. I new the trailers would make it look like that latest No Limit Films release. The movie was excellent.

i really want to hear whoop that trick in the club. seriously.
big ups to 3-6 for the rhymes/production/whatever the contributed. it had their finger prints all over it.

At the end when the strippers had their names on their locker one of them was apparently named Wet Dream.

That's the GOAT stripper name

I really was NOT going to go see this movie. The previews made it look like it would be worse than Soul Plane. Something I definitely should not put down hard-earned money to watch.

But I guess I will go see it, after hearing these reviews.

Craig Brewer summed it up here (thanks kurlyswirl):

"For many of us, creative expression and collaboration with others is nothing new. But we must never forget that there are many in this world who've never been asked to express themselves with movement or words or paint.

Regardless of our given circumstances, we are all entitled to contribute a verse. It is our right as human beings. A right that belongs to you, to me, and to a country stripper named Tequila." - from Landmark Theatres newsletter

Hustle & Flow was very much about pimps, tricks, and hoes, about the down-on-their-luck folks and the dreams that often lay dormant...deferred. Langston Hughes once wrote

"What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?"

In Hustle & Flow, DJay ponders this question and soon he discovers the answer and it's not a happy ending. That would have been too Hollywood, to end of the rainbow and not the point.

The question, “What happens to a dream deferred?” appears to be answered with nothing but more questions. But take the time to analyze each question and you'll get an idea of what Hughes and DJay really believes about dreams being postponed.

The “dream” is a goal in life. Hughes position is clear that any important dream or goal that must be delayed can have serious negative affects. As DJay ponders the question we find out what those affects are. Like Hughes' poem, Hustle & Flow offers a possibility of each negative affect. The dream or life goal of a human being is central to what makes the human a valuable member of society, but suppose that person with the dream is told he cannot fulfill his goal just yet...it's a cycle of self-fulfilling prophecies.

I thought that the writing in Hustle & Flow was inspiring and the acting well done. I've been to Memphis and other cities like Cleveland, Louisville, St. Louis. I have relatives who are living in the same conditions as what people see on screen. Like DJay they all ponder the question: What happens to a dream deferred? Hustle & Flow shows us that having to postpone one’s deepest desires can lead to destruction.

I can't stop singing "Hard out here for a pimp"
The story was a good one and it really was about the dreams of the down and out

so many quotables in it.
and the music was fantastic.

it's certainly worth your time. and money.
piece,
R.


"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
-Albert Einstein

1) T. Howard's accent was very Southern, like if your name was Jim Bob or Bubba, not Junebug or Peanut. (i.e. it was hella white, like on some Toby Keith, Tim McGraw whiteness)

2) His accent played into his rapping - which was akin to your white bread 4th grade teacher Mr. Corley trying to stay relevant while he teaches you the difference between a numerator and a demoninator.
"this number goes on top...
and you don't stop..."

3) The mechanics of the rhymes - (i'm not talking about content, yet) - This is a taboo subject on the Lesson, cause it requires folks to put aside their hate for black folks, ignorance, the south, rap in general - But when you really start looking @ the rhyme schemes, the # of syllables in 1 line as compared to the next, and the use of the same word to rhyme with the same word (sometimes it's blatant, other times it's diff word same word in line A, and diff word same word in line B) - You start to see a good # of breaks from the traditional rhyme rules in hip hop. The South has always played fast and loose with those traditional rhyme rules...

Eg - the Infamous South Park Mexican Freestyle

"I got a freestyle for y'all
I make the cat go woof woof
and the dog go Meow"

Where done with the correct Houstonian/South Park/Latino accent, it's not only funny (cause as a G he was subtlely clowning the whole traditional hip hop scene in Housotn), funny on the literal level, but y'all and Meow rhyme in this accent.

So throughout the flick, the diff mechanics in the Memphis steez sound extra awkward coming out of Terrence's mouth.

4) Whoop Dat Trick - Honestly, of all the Southern mc's in the mix, I don't know why they got ol boy from 3-6. (prolly cause Brewer is from Memphis and it takes place im Memphis)...But MJG or 8-Ball was too busy doing something to come in as technical consultants?

It's like folks here on okp, love Paul Wall, but have no idea that in H-Town within Paul Wall's scene - there are much better lyricists. (I won't even speak on the underground split in Houston, cause that's too much for this)

Regardless - the actual content of the rhymes - fitting of the *stereotype* of what crunk is and is about.

Indeed, I think in terms of the rhymes - in trying to discuss the pain and hard times that the mc has to go through - you're not supposed to day, "i've had pain and hard times" - All the best Southern joints on the "ghetto desperation" theme don't flat out tell you, "this is a song about ghetto desperation". Good songs don't use the Spike Lee approach when it comes to messages.

5) The reaction to whoop dat trick. Perhaps Craig was trying to comment, or maybe not. But 2 scenes in my mind stand out.

- Anthony Anderson's wife shows up to the studio - not really looking like the hip hop fan - hears the music and isn't immediately appalled. (She was on some Cosby steez)

- @ the end of the flick - Baby Mama prostitute is singing whoop dat trick to her infant baby girl.

I don't know where you stand on the issue, but the "disturbing" content of the lyrics is *not* an issue in the film. At no point does Djay and company have to justify or explain the music to people who are not sympathetic.

Does the film need this for it to work within the story? Maybe, maybe not.

But thinking worst case scenario, Those Sundance mf'ers as well as the cosbyites on GD and throughout the world - were thinking that when they saw the film. One thing to be in the cipher, or at the studio going "whoop dat trick", whole nother thing

As a director/writer the question I wonder, "If I know the audience is going to be thinking something, something that will take away from my film, should I address that in the film?"

6) The production. - Yeah dawg, just hook up your MPC, grab a drum machine, and in all of 20 seconds you've got a tight ass beat coming together.

6. a) - Dj Qualls aka Shelby. - His connecting the blues with Southern hip hop....umm no. I'll leave it at that.

7) Motivation - What's interesting to me about this flick, but something i used to see fairly regularly in the real world, is that there is no love for *rapping* in this movie. Most rappers are motivated to rap because they like rap. Either they like the act itself, or they like what rapping brings.

I don't think this is a real abstract or intellectual point, but it *used* to be that the typical rapper - was also a fan of rap music. They'd listen to rap, they'd bust flows with the fellas @ at the lunch tables. No matter what side of the game they were on, the national/traditional/east coast style, or the local/gangsta/west coast style - there was a love for the music. The people were going from fans of rap to makers of rap music.

So in the South, a cat like Slim Thug had listened to the geto boys and tupac, and jammed their music coming up. Prolly around 12-13 they picked up a pen and decided they were going to become a rapper. Or the alternative press release story, is that even when they was moving weight and before they got shot and made a life change they would bust the occassional flow for the homiez.

In this flick, you get the idea that one day Djay gets fed up with his life, inspired by the operatic gospel, gets a casio and decides to become an mc after seemingly neglecting it for what would prolly be a decade. You don't see him rolling his Box Chevy with 12"s in the back bumping some old school Project Pat. The radio isn't stuck on the black radio station.

In essence when he decides to drop ho's and pick up flows, it really is his hustle.

Ice T said it best in Pimps Up, Ho's Down "I really can't act. Hell I really can't rap....This is my hustle".

The pic kinda tells us that this was an artist trapped by his life choices and circumstance, and finally one day he decides he's gonna go for it...try and make something of himself. Anderson's character says it, and it's later repeated in one of the songs, "This ain't it for me"

But coming at it from the view point where I know hella cats been scratching and scraping for years, putting out tapes, doing demos and talent shows, busting freestyles in ciphers, entering flow contests held @ the beginning of many a concert - this film does not even try to touch on that reality.

Well, they try to, and they explain the indy route via Skinny Black selling out his trunk...But that's kinda the extent of it.
_________________________________

It could be that Craig needed to cut the realistic aspects of hip hop out to convey his message, "everybody has the right to contribute 1 verse"....But I think had he left some of the realism in, it would have made for a stronger flick.

>1) T. Howard's accent was very Southern

A lot of my cousins sound like Howard did in the movie. We're from Kentucky and most of us are Black. When I escaped KY for New York City I winced every time I ran into country-ass folks (in Brooklyn), including my college roommate and Terrence who was as country as any of my peoples in Looahvul. You have to take into consideration the regional dialect of the actors/people. Junebug in Atlanta or Houston sounds different from my cousin Junie from Louisville or Cleveland. Class also is a factor as far as speech. I noticed that both Terrence and Paula Jai Parker are from Cleveland. Elise Neal and DJ Qualls are from Memphis or near Memphis. If you listen to them you can hear differences in dialect. This has to do with where they are from and I am sure they tapped into that when playing their characters.

>So throughout the flick, the diff mechanics in the Memphis
>steez sound extra awkward coming out of Terrence's mouth.

Perhaps but I would have to hear more examples of Memphis rap music to compare/contrast with the movie music.

>Indeed, I think in terms of the rhymes - in trying to discuss
>the pain and hard times that the mc has to go through - you're
>not supposed to day, "i've had pain and hard times" - All the
>best Southern joints on the "ghetto desperation" theme don't
>flat out tell you, "this is a song about ghetto desperation".
>Good songs don't use the Spike Lee approach when it comes to
>messages.

Yeah but it's a movie soundtrack. It's not just playing to the lowest denominator. You have to make it clear/plain for some (read white, middle or upper class) audiences.

>I don't know where you stand on the issue, but the
>"disturbing" content of the lyrics is *not* an issue in the
>film. At no point does Djay and company have to justify or
>explain the music to people who are not sympathetic.
>
>Does the film need this for it to work within the story?
>Maybe, maybe not.

I don't think so. I think folks who see this film believe that the characters in that environment sympathize with the music. To justify it would seem fake.

>6. a) - Dj Qualls aka Shelby. - His connecting the blues with
>Southern hip hop....umm no.

Why not?

>In this flick, you get the idea that one day Djay gets fed up
>with his life, inspired by the operatic gospel, gets a casio
>and decides to become an mc after seemingly neglecting it for
>what would prolly be a decade. You don't see him rolling his
>Box Chevy with 12"s in the back bumping some old school
>Project Pat. The radio isn't stuck on the black radio
>station.

Recently, I went to Cleveland and was hanging out. I noticed that some of the Black folks were listening mostly to country music, not r&b or rap.

>In essence when he decides to drop ho's and pick up flows, it
>really is his hustle.
>
>Ice T said it best in Pimps Up, Ho's Down "I really can't
>act. Hell I really can't rap....This is my hustle".

True.

>But coming at it from the view point where I know hella cats
>been scratching and scraping for years, putting out tapes,
>doing demos and talent shows, busting freestyles in ciphers,
>entering flow contests held @ the beginning of many a concert
>- this film does not even try to touch on that reality.
>
>Well, they try to, and they explain the indy route via Skinny
>Black selling out his trunk...But that's kinda the extent of
>it.

But that's how it is in Memphis or Cleveland or anyplace where there's concentrated poverty/segregation. It's about the hustle more than the music. I remember I was one of a few at my high school who were into rap music. I could count on one hand the guys trying to get in the rap game. When I moved to New York it was very different. At Pratt all my friends were into rap music and we used to sit in the studio till dawn on some days with the 808 and equipment, making demos for folks who wanted to get in the game. I was the crate carrier and that was how I got into the clubs and parties. Everyone was trying to be down. Back home was a whole other story.

>>1) T. Howard's accent was very Southern
>
>A lot of my cousins sound like Howard did in the movie.

No, it was *white* southern. listen to enough 3-6 or 8ball and you can tell the difference.

> Class also
>is a factor as far as speech. I noticed that both Terrence
>and Paula Jai Parker are from Cleveland. Elise Neal and DJ
>Qualls are from Memphis or near Memphis.

But we're talking about actors playing a role. The role includes the accent. Terrence Howard does not sound like that in real life. So when he decided to do the accent, he picked the wrong one.

It's kinda like how Don Cheadle sounded South Afrikan instead of sounding Rwandan.

There's a tension with regard to realism in every film. It has to be real enough for the critics/for the audience, but it's still fiction. This is an example of where realism has to suffer in order for the film to get made.

>>So throughout the flick, the diff mechanics in the Memphis
>>steez sound extra awkward coming out of Terrence's mouth.
>
>Perhaps but I would have to hear more examples of Memphis rap
>music to compare/contrast with the movie music.

Well, the entire reply depends on knowing something about the music in the film, hence the hip hop perspective in the title.

I.E, the film is fine if you don't know anything about hip hop.

My reply is for folks who do know something about hip hop, in particular dirty south hip hop.

>>Good songs don't use the Spike Lee approach when it comes to
>>messages.
>
>Yeah but it's a movie soundtrack. It's not just playing to
>the lowest denominator. You have to make it clear/plain for
>some (read white, middle or upper class) audiences.

In this film, white.middle.upper class audiences are the lowest common denominator. Black, lower class audiences, especially southern, will identify with the flick, but they'll see the problems in the portrayal that the LCD sundance and NY times reviewers miss.

I.E, it's supposed to be a for us by us, but it's actually for them, maybe by them, with us kinda in the middle of it.

>I don't think so. I think folks who see this film believe
>that the characters in that environment sympathize with the
>music. To justify it would seem fake.

Maybe in the film, but that's the weird thing about the convention of film.

In real life, somebody becoming a rapper has to justify what they say in their own communities, because the question comes up. I know this, because I've seen it time and time again.

"Why you she gotta be a ho" - and that's not some college educated ivory tower comment, it's the type of thing that you hear regular average everyday black folks discuss when they outside of the club environment.

For instance, A.Anderson attempts to interject when they start talking about "beat that bitch" not being able to get on the radio. They almost touch on it, but they don't really.

>>6. a) - Dj Qualls aka Shelby. - His connecting the blues
>with
>>Southern hip hop....umm no.
>
>Why not?

Because it's part of that great white fantasy supported by black folks that will paint every black artistic endeavor with a broad brush.

In this case, 1973-74 hip hop was not blues men material.
Indeed it's not just the topics that make something bluesy, but it's how those topics are talked about. When Luke was doing his thing back in the day, he wasn't thinking about the great bluesmen of the south, and it's arguable that he was even listening to that when he came up with "Face down, ass up, that's the way.." The only connection he has, is that black men have liked big black female asses and sex for thousands of years. That doesn't mean there's an artistic connection.

It's the same mistake that LaChappelle does in Rize, in trying to connect 2003-04 krumping with 1975 Afrikan dance footage.

It totally denies Djay's agency when Shelby attributes his life as pimp turned into lyrics, with what Robert Johnson n'nem was doing.

You live your life as a pimp using verbal and physical way of controlling women. That's entirely different than a guy on the chitlin circuit singing about sex using metaphors. It's only on the most basic level of abstraction can you make the connection. Black people talk about sex with music. Once you leave nursery school and start to think about a real connection, that's when it fails.

>>In this flick, you get the idea that one day Djay gets fed
>up
>>with his life, inspired by the operatic gospel, gets a casio
>>and decides to become an mc after seemingly neglecting it
>for
>>what would prolly be a decade. You don't see him rolling
>his
>>Box Chevy with 12"s in the back bumping some old school
>>Project Pat. The radio isn't stuck on the black radio
>>station.
>
>Recently, I went to Cleveland and was hanging out. I noticed
>that some of the Black folks were listening mostly to country
>music, not r&b or rap.

Which is neither here nor there.

Slim Thug's mama says she doesn't listen to rap, only country, but she's not the one rapping, Slim is.

>>In essence when he decides to drop ho's and pick up flows,
>it
>>really is his hustle.
>>
>>Ice T said it best in Pimps Up, Ho's Down "I really can't
>>act. Hell I really can't rap....This is my hustle".
>
>True.
>
>>But coming at it from the view point where I know hella cats
>>been scratching and scraping for years, putting out tapes,
>>doing demos and talent shows, busting freestyles in ciphers,
>>entering flow contests held @ the beginning of many a
>concert
>>- this film does not even try to touch on that reality.
>>
>>Well, they try to, and they explain the indy route via
>Skinny
>>Black selling out his trunk...But that's kinda the extent of
>>it.
>
>But that's how it is in Memphis or Cleveland or anyplace where
>there's concentrated poverty/segregation. It's about the
>hustle more than the music.

Lol. I'm not in Brooklyn, i'm in the Dirty South, and have been here for the past 24 years. I know a DJay and I know Shelby. I used to play their demos on my radio show. Damn near everyone I know is somehow in the music game. I'm not just talking as a consumer of rap, but as a person who's involved on the production side and see all sorts of how the music business works @ the street and artistic level.

Hustling or not, the cats who want to be rappers, like rap music. The real life Djay likes Rap, and if you were to follow him around, you'd see that he liked rap. He may not be 4 elements and breakdancing and all that other historical stuff, but he's banging screw and busting flows while passing that killa. (weed)

But again, this is from the hip hop perspective.

I'm not trying to step outside of that, cause more than enough people can give their uninformed about hip hop but allegedly informed about black people "minps" angle on it.

>No, it was *white* southern. listen to enough 3-6 or 8ball
>and you can tell the difference.

Just those two rappers? My point is to not generalize as far as dialect/accents. I'm Black and from the dirty South and you couldn't even tell when I was 16. Now my family on the other hand...some sound like Jim Bob and others sound like Junebug.

>Terrence Howard does not sound like that
>in real life. So when he decided to do the accent, he picked
>the wrong one.

The Terrence Howard I went to school with had an Cleveland, OH accent. He had hay behind the ears the first year he was in college but whatever.

>There's a tension with regard to realism in every film. It
>has to be real enough for the critics/for the audience, but
>it's still fiction.

Sure.

>Well, the entire reply depends on knowing something about the
>music in the film, hence the hip hop perspective in the
>title.

I need to hear Memphis rap music, not Southern hip-hop. That's too general. If you ask me about Louisville/KY rap music I will play some Nappy Roots.

>In this film, white.middle.upper class audiences are the
>lowest common denominator. Black, lower class audiences,
>especially southern, will identify with the flick, but they'll
>see the problems in the portrayal that the LCD sundance and NY
>times reviewers miss.

Perhaps but the Southern Black folks I talked to, who say Hustle & Flow, say it's close enough. When I sat in the theater near the Fenway (Boston) the middle-class white folks behind me frequently snickered when nothing was funny (the Black singer in church). I could hear some of them hush the others when they noticed no one else was laughing. They did not get it.

>Because it's part of that great white fantasy supported by
>black folks that will paint every black artistic endeavor with
>a broad brush.

Black folks do it, too.

>In this case, 1973-74 hip hop was not blues men material.
>Indeed it's not just the topics that make something bluesy,
>but it's how those topics are talked about. When Luke was
>doing his thing back in the day, he wasn't thinking about the
>great bluesmen of the south, and it's arguable that he was
>even listening to that when he came up with "Face down, ass
>up, that's the way.." The only connection he has, is that
>black men have liked big black female asses and sex for
>thousands of years. That doesn't mean there's an artistic
>connection.
>
>It's the same mistake that LaChappelle does in Rize, in trying
>to connect 2003-04 krumping with 1975 Afrikan dance footage.

Well, I see the connection in some (not all) things because we do have a culture and a legacy that is passed down, like I pass down 70s and 80s hip-hop and r&b to younger folks.

>Slim Thug's mama says she doesn't listen to rap, only country,
>but she's not the one rapping, Slim is.

I was talking about the young Black guys listening to country (in Cleveland), not their mothers.

>I'm not trying to step outside of that, cause more than enough
>people can give their uninformed about hip hop but allegedly
>informed about black people "minps" angle on it.

Man, I am more "hip-hop" and Southern than you think.

nitpicking is for film students and critics...

i can't comment right now since i haven't seen the flick yet myself. i'll try to hit the theater this evening if i can get all my work done.

so it is a very relevant comparison between the two in Memphis.Although hiphop is universal no cliche-o, each region of it is different. For Example, Crunk music in ATL is *NOTHING* like crunk music in Memphis(3-6 used to rap about the devil, vs the happy go lucky crunk-lite in the A), usually if you're a fan of one, you're almost always *not* a die hard fan of the other. I appreciated the movie becaue of how it represented the Memphis rap scene.
<-----50 Years of Handsome, My Dad




"Girl you know I can't be your man. Pinky rings, but no wedding bands."

or a firemans review of Rescue ME... or a Lawyers review of Boston Legal

"look I know more about this subject than the movie... and here are all the little nitpicky ass things that they didnt get exactly 100% right"

and as far as your first point.... WACK... have you ever heard Randy Moss talk?

god you are so fuckin wack!

http://www.myspace.com/themanthemyth

<---Wu-Tang!!

the South.

i'm not gonna talk about you haughty hiphop dissection. it's every bit as pretentious as the folx you rail against and do battle with in The Lesson

seriously....the anal quality of that post was TOO high....it's a movie, so i don't expect themto get all of the technical parts right...they didn't need to...i didn't really care about any of the aspects you mentioned while watching the film....altho, when ole girl was singin the song to her baby i laughed. cuz that's simply reality...

great casting and good story line. the writing/angle of the story was uniquely good.

<--- that's me. if you see me on the subway, street, or in a store/restaurant you should SAY HI.

but i suspect you'll find yourself in the minority in the weeks to follow

SPOILERS abound, of course
I got a separate post, but just in case it gets locked. I read a few replies in this post and wanted to address them right quick.
DJ Qualls is from Nashville, Elise Neal is from Memphis. Paula Jai Parker is from Texas, I think. Terrance Howard is from the midwest and grew up in New York. Their accents were dead the fuck on. Paula Jai was pitch perfect when she pronounced fair as "fhur" just like any Memphian I know.
If you can get to Memphis to see this flick, by all means, DO IT!!!
Usually, I make a point to not go see "popular" movies the night they open or the first Saturday night because the knuckleheads would be out in force. But this flick kind of begged me to do it. Plus, I had a free ticket for Fantastic Four from my "Man on Fire" SE DVD. So I figured I could absord it again today (which I did).
First off, the do-rags and headbands and white tees with another t under them were in full force. It was 103 degrees during the day and 90 last night, but these Memphis cats...
First off, Terrance Howard did his thing playing DJay. Pulled off the Memphis dialect, attitude and relative ignorance like he lived here his entire life. Anthony Anderson was dope, and DJ Quarles took what could have been a caricature and fleshed it out, but this flick belonged to Taraji P. Henson as Shug and Taryn Manning as Nola. Neither of them will be remembered come awards time and if one of them is picked, it'll probably be Taryn Manning, but Taraji was a Memphis chick! She was THE Memphis chick. Even when she wasn't the focus of the scene, I was still watching her, and not cause she's fine (and she was pregnant through the whole flick anyway). Probably one of the cutest and ironic scenes in the film is when she's singing "Whoop that Trick" to her newborn baby. If that ain't Memphis, I don't know what is. Paula Jai Parker and Elise Neal, though underused were serviceable in their roles.
You guys know the story, so I won't rehash it, but there's always something cool about seeing places you've been and go to on the screen. There just is. There's been a lot of local complaining about the flick because of "the way it portrays the city", and even a local columnist weighed in with her Sunday column, saying she would have rather had the city portrayed for a high graduation rate (which it doesn't have), great educational system (doesn't have that either) and no crime (please).
The city was a character in the movie and could have been any damn southern city in the country. While Craig Brewer hasn't helped his own cause by saying "everybody in Memphis looks like they could have stepped out of a blaxploitation movie", the shit was realistic and fascinating at the same time.
When DJay finally hooks up with Skinny Black (Ludacris), the movie could have taken a turn for the cliche, but there's a tension between Luda and Terrance that when it reaches its climax, brings us crashing back into reality, and the movie ends the only way it could and not screw up everything that it took great steps in establishing.
The Memphis crowd was properly amped and into the whole flick, especially when local "icons" DJ Paul, and Juicy J had their cameos, cats lost it. When DJay and Key compose "Whoop that Trick" and "Hard Out Here for a Pimp", Crunkfest III damn near broke out, followed by the cops stopping the flick for about 5 minutes until these fools calmed the fuck down. This has happened before in this theatre and the cops are there in force EVERY Saturday night.
Same thing damn near happened when DJay whooped Luda's ass.
As either a testament to Howard's performance, or the lack of skill required to be a Memphis rapper, he lays down rhymes that are better IMO than most of the shit that comes out of Memphis. I think somebody wrote the rhymes for the movie other than Brewer, but still...
Overall, the flick was damn good and also pretty damn funny with a few throwaway lines like when composing "whoop that trick", Djay admits "I ain't gonna call no ho no bitch", and while they were coming up with lines for the same song, arguing the value of "Beat that Bitch" versus "Beat the bitch ass". The best thing that can happen as a result of Hustle and Flow is more movies get made in Memphis that show more of the city (and 21 Grams does not count). The worst thing that can happen is a lot of no talent hacks start thinking they can rap. But, just like a bunch of my white co-workers thought they were freestyle kings after 8 Mile dropped, that probably will be just the thing that happens.

"...most sistahs only recognize a good man when he's a character in a shitty movie, a shitty play, their favorite daytime soap or a shitty book written by a homosexual."
From Reggie Eggert's online review of "Diary of a Mad Black Woman"

>Terrance Howard is from the
>midwest and grew up in New York.

He spent summers in New York but that guy is from Cleveland.

>Their accents were dead the
>fuck on.

Thank you.

>First off, Terrance Howard did his thing playing DJay. Pulled
>off the Memphis dialect, attitude and relative ignorance like
>he lived here his entire life.

:)

cuz the peabody place was NOT crunk at all

my homegirl told me the whole theater started chantin "WHOOP THAT TRICK!" when terence howard was whoopin luda.

8/10.

i watched it last nite & im already planning 2 go watch it again....

but im biased as i spent 5 years in the south

just about everyone involved acted their asses off.

It was cool seeing Isaac Hayes up in there too...

>It was cool seeing Isaac Hayes up in there too...

Saw the flick last night and enjoyed it. Standard plot and storyline, but the acting was good and the movie entertained me. Howard is getting well deserved buzz. I still need to get past the black people as pimps & hoes thing going on, but it was a good movie.


-------------
Favorites songs of the month
Time Bomb
The Well's Gone Dry
Whispering Pines

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/24/AR2005072401275.html?sub=new

this is about Al Kapone, the dude who wrote the music DJay performs in the movie. I just read it in the paper in thought ya'll might be interested.

On a sidenote I thought this might be the best movie I've seen this year, second only maybe to Sin City. I don't even know where to start, shit was just real and that's about as easy as I can make it.

is she famous within memphis?

does anyone know what track was playing in the begininng before djay changed the radio?

movie was definitely well done and had minimal cliches for what it was trying to acheive.

But It sounded vaguely jimi-esque, twas dope.

I am sitting at my desk with my jaw dropped because its so many good reviews for this movie. Y'all are really loving it, but HAVE NOT seen it and I look at it like this:

The previews come from the movie right? Previews suck, then.......?

So, my beef (just with the previews) is the whole "White man being the night in shining armor to come and get the po' black folk up out the 'hood......and of course this all cannot be done without inspiration from DJay's white girl because she's the most important one.

O.k. is this not the "Dangerous Minds", "Substitute", etc. theme. 'Here comes the white man to save the day because a po' black man can't do anything good without the white man'

This is ALL I think when I see the previews. Am I wrong? I can't stomach the idea of watching this movie without going in to the theatre with that in my head.

Hey, if I'm WAY off, then help me out.......

D

There's no "great white savior" in the flick.

"like shut the fuck up" ...........

"like" Your response tells me why you didn't like my question.....

"like" Case Closed *shuts the book*

The reviews are what I go by...and there are plenty of them, both for and against the movie. You'll have to choose like I did. I chose to see the flick and I am glad I did.

I will take note.....

great flick.

hopefully you'll see the movie

I saw it at the Malco Majestic, which is up the street from my house. Cool theatre, but a lot of knuckleheads go there and they've had a lot of car breakins since I've lived here. This means it was the perfect place to see the flick.
Here's a link to all of the hidden Memphis references:
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/movies/article/0,1426,MCA_15400_3946197,00.html

The singer was Jennifer Bynum, a local gospel singer. I think she sings at Al Green's church.
The song playing at the beginning of the movie was Buddy Guy's "Please Don't Leave" from his last album (I think).
Everybody I talked to locally loved the flick, but my boy at the gym was saying the accents were "too country". Not being from here originally, I had to argue with him and tell him that he sounds like that his damn self.
There's also been a lot of backlash like this column that I referrred to in my review above.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/news_columnists/article/0,1426,MCA_646_3950169,00.html

This chick also wrote a column a couple of weeks ago that dissed Good Times as "a negative portrayal of black men". I'll post it if I can find it. It was unintentionally hilarious.

"...most sistahs only recognize a good man when he's a character in a shitty movie, a shitty play, their favorite daytime soap or a shitty book written by a homosexual."
From Reggie Eggert's online review of "Diary of a Mad Black Woman"

they just weren't Memphis accents at all to me. They just sounded like a southern accent, not a specific Memphis accent at all...

That girl w/ the curly blonde hair who DJay kicks out sounds nothing like the typical Memphis chick. It kind of made me think they should have spent more time here or something.

The only person who sounded right to me was the white girl cause I've met plenty of white girls from here who sound exactly like that lol.

>they just weren't Memphis accents at all to me. They just
>sounded like a southern accent, not a specific Memphis accent
>at all...


they sounded more white hick than any memphis dude I know. And I'm not hating on this movie, it was good. But if you want a good example of how we talk down here, rent "Choices".


>
>That girl w/ the curly blonde hair who DJay kicks out sounds
>nothing like the typical Memphis chick. It kind of made me
>think they should have spent more time here or something.


She sounded more Texas than anything. She was a ghetto chick, but if anyone came up to me talking with that accent, I'd immediately know they were not from Memphis.


>The only person who sounded right to me was the white girl
>cause I've met plenty of white girls from here who sound
>exactly like that lol.


true

I could find you ten chicks that sound like either of those characters. Everybody in Memphis doesn't talk like that but walk around any public place and you'll find some chicks that talk like that.
The Memphis accent has evolved since Southern rap started becoming more mainstream because cats are trying to represent the south by exaggerating their accents these days. I blame Nelly, who ironically, isn't from Memphis. But before he hit it big, everybody I knew from St. Louis (all three of them I went to TSU with) talked like they were from Chicago, while the Memphians rolled their R's and put R in any word that started with a U. A lot of people do that shit on purpose down here. If you spend enough time here, you'll do that shit too.
"...most sistahs only recognize a good man when he's a character in a shitty movie, a shitty play, their favorite daytime soap or a shitty book written by a homosexual."
From Reggie Eggert's online review of "Diary of a Mad Black Woman"

and I've NEVER heard that accent here. It just sounds like a generic southern accent.

>and I've NEVER heard that accent here. It just sounds like a
>generic southern accent.

NOBODY called anyone else "FOOL" once during the movie!!

It's funny that every native Memphian I talked to about that flick says "we ain't THAT country."
Uh, yes, actually. You are.

"...most sistahs only recognize a good man when he's a character in a shitty movie, a shitty play, their favorite daytime soap or a shitty book written by a homosexual."
From Reggie Eggert's online review of "Diary of a Mad Black Woman"

.

she never specified that she was from Memphis
she was a lot lizard, so she could have been from anywhere really

>

my favorite line. lol
>
>

as they're laying that "whoop that trick" track...shit was dope.

2004 Inductee - OkaySports Hall of Fame

2004 College Blowhards Fantasy Football Champion

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The fruits of my DVD binges: http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=kurlyswirl

I be Scrobblin': http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/TasteeTreat/

and a bunch of middle-age white folks and other catz were dead in motion.. i was wildin'...

nopeace
liveiLL

n/m

i luvd this shit from start to finish..
the muzik, the cinematography, the acting..
all of it was dope, and fit together..
the end was on some next level shit too..

coulda done without djay kissin' shug in the end...

nopeace
liveiLL

>coulda done without djay kissin' shug in the end...

that was his breakthrough and was extremely important to complete his evolution throughout the film... when he opened himself up to allow the voice/hunger inside him to get out, he also, inadvertently, opened himself to allow love to come in. he never let himself love any of the women that he came in contact with...i thought the kiss was beautiful but WAAAAAAAY too long and repetitive.

d

even the second time around I gasped like a little girl
too cute

It was long, but I think it was kind of over the top purposely - he was in too much of a hurry to have sex with her. haha

we have tons of people here who love the flick, eventually the haters will start to show their face (and I'm not talking about people who've trashed the flick and haven't seen it)......



2004 Inductee - OkaySports Hall of Fame

2004 College Blowhards Fantasy Football Champion

lookin at it on the surface instead of the symbolism etc....

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The fruits of my DVD binges: http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=kurlyswirl

I be Scrobblin': http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/TasteeTreat/

except to say that its a story withing the
basic FRAMEWORK of southern hip hop. in the
same way CROUCHING TIGER was in the basic
FRAMEWORK of feudal china/japan and the
GODFATHER was in the basica FRAMEWORK of
the mob.

i don't really care if its more accurate
than that. i was entertained, i was never
offended, and i felt dude's struggle.


that heat:
www.typeillypress.com

the atari throwback t-shirt cause y'all had patterns to ms. pacman, too!)
http://www.cafepress.com/typeillypress/716579

the golden age of hip hop
http://www.cafepress.com/typeillypress.26289114

ON INSTANT MESSENGERS:
m

Has an odd balance of extreme corniness and honest characters that you can relate to.

At some points I couldn't tell if they were making fun of the simple crunk songs or were dead serious about it and that was cool to me. I find a lot these songs hard to take seriously but at the same time I can enjoy them.

The parts involving the home studio were great. I could honestly relate to that, and the geeked out white boy on the beats was quite appropriate in my opinion.

Other character relationships were pretty funny to me. I think it's just the idea of the pimp that wants to be a rapper cracks me up. Plus, they have you sympathize for a guy that just kicked out a woman and her baby onto the streets. It's odd, but so is life.

I'm gonna have to get this on DVD.

_____________________
i like björk
http://myspace.com/entitee

This is the last movie I felt completely moved by since I saw 'Motorcycle Diaries'.

Fabulous fucking movie.

Not good.

Fabulous.

Great movies often take a simple formula and and load them with extraordinary subtleties--this movie is a textbook example.

By the way, I will never look at crunk music the same way again.

Detailed review later.

I got a kick out of Tajari Henson rapping "Whoop That Trick" to her baby girl.

Overall, an alright movie that is overhyped...But in today's society where that is a rarity for a Black movie (although, yes, it is directd by a white guy), I'll let it slide.

Terrence is so damn pretty.

The acting overall was okay...There were times when I couldn't understand what the hell Terrence was saying.

but a black man put his money down to get it made.....



2004 Inductee - OkaySports Hall of Fame

2004 College Blowhards Fantasy Football Champion

when you are talking to someone who hails from Memphis, or pretty much, all of TN, it's like that. That's why ppl are saying how convincing Terrence Howard is, in this role.

>>There were times when I couldn't
>understand what the hell Terrence was saying.

and the IQ i lost because of watching this movie.
and i love terence howard for the most part
but the could've done better
i hated this movie. it was boring.very simplistic storyline
and i can't believe all of y'all actually dugg this shit.
i guess okplayers have bad taste in movies?

I agree totally. I lost brain cells watching this shit. My intelligence was insulted.

if the majority of people who don't like the movie are under the age of 27 or so

seems like older folks really "got" what the movie was saying

>if the majority of people who don't like the movie are under
>the age of 27 or so
>
>seems like older folks really "got" what the movie was saying

The amount of times he said that....

his accent was WAY off...but he said "mayne" about a million times...which is pretty accurate, mayne.

people kill me nitpickin tho....it wasn't about the accents or hip hop or pimpin...it's simply about a dude who realizes he's at the bottom and doesn't wanna be there anymore...story of hopes and dreams..

i was going in with high hopes but was prepared if it had let me down and i wasn't. i could relate to the djays struggle of wanting to get out and get heard and do something else with his life. and i like the way he had support behind him helping him with his dream, i do agree with some that the female characters were not strong or portrayed as ho's but what the hell could you have expected when the movie was just buzzing the synopsis was saying that the dude was a pimp. it wasn't just an expression. terrence howard proven to be a very good actor has gained a lot of attention for the role but who surprised me most was taryn manning i've seen some of her flicks but i liked the way she portrayed her role. and those that are mad with djay making the white chick in charge in the end even though he fell in love with shelby seem to forget that she was the obvious choice, she was right there with him during all his momments of clarity and his main breadwinner, and had more knowledge of how to hustle, and she looked damn good in that power suit. i may be a little late on the comments but i just saw it last night.

What's the name of the song in the beginning of the movie? Shit's been bugging me since I saw it last night.

Oh, and I loved the flick. That whole intro sequence might get chalked up as one of the best intro sequences I've seen in quite a while.

Once I saw that, I was in.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Brother's gonna work it out
Brother's gonna work it all out

what did they say about Hustle and Hoes?

sheesh longo...

lol

What was the song played when the title came up, near the beginning when they're driving in DJay's car? That song sounded great, but I don't think it's on the soundtrack.

This is really bugging me, if anyone knows what song I'm talking about.

i thought this shit was funny as hell...terrence howard is dope, and he's actually alright a rapper for an actor...as many rappers that try to act these days, i thought it was kinda funny to see the script flipped. i thought his accent was weird tho. but then again, how many people from memphis do i know?

but yeah, i couldnt really see this for much more than a blaxploitation flick...its really not that great. good to see isaac hayes out there too tho.

even though the pimp shit and even the rap star shit isnt glorified like it couldve been doesnt mean it isnt blaxploitation either. its like neo-blaxploitation...instead of "breaking down" the stereotypes as some reviewers suggest, it seemed more to me that he was just linking them together.

"Cut that tears shit out". now, ive seen black men tell their 8 yr old sons not to cry or something like that..but no one is gonna tell an infant to "Cut that tears shit out", not even a pimp...thats a gross overstatement of black male machismo...it was just moments like that that these cats are callling "poetic" and "emotionally complex" that i find incredibly absurd and reductive...but whatever.

djay's an emo-thug of fantasy. not real. thats my problem with him..there are no "people like djay" and when i say that, i dont mean multi-dimensional black people either.

it was a joke..from the start..the whole opening speech? a fuckin joke...a super-philosophical pimp turned crunk rapper? thats just some voyeuristic white boys wet dream, man...i also love when he tears up at the gospel recording...lmmfao...a horribly forced and completely unconvincing scene thats supposed to make djay "human" and shit...give me a break...i could go on and on and on....how bout dj qualls "every man has a right to contribute a verse!"? wtf?! its like the writer/director screaming "THIS IS WHAT THE MOVIES ABOUT, YO, CHECK IT..IN CASE U HAVENT BEEN WATCHING THE FUCKING MOVIE FOR THE LAST HOUR, YA DIG, HOMESLICE?!"

gay.

AND i hate how people are just now noticing that terrence howard is a great actor...yes, im glad he finally got a lead role, but i wish it wasnt such a sucky one in such a sucky movie...he's done tons of shit better than this, yet this is most of america's introduction to him..and thats a shame...*sighs*

but yeah..this movie is just...i dont wanna say pure fantasy, but its really just...there were so many instances when i just started laughing cuz the shit was just off....like when djay gets the casio keyboard from homeboy in front of the stripclub..and proceeds to start playing it in the fuckin parking lot....? comedy! just horrendous...for real.