Hustle & Flow
A small-time Memphis pimp stuck in a midlife rut grabs one last shot at something better: recording a rap demo with an old school friend and slipping it to a hometown star. In Craig Brewer's 2005 drama, DJay (Terrence Howard) works the streets of Memphis out of an old Chevy, selling weed and running a few women out of his run-down house. When an old school friend, Key (Anthony Anderson), now a sound engineer, comes back into his life, DJay's long-buried dream of rapping comes back too. With Key and Shelby (DJ Qualls), a skinny beat maker, he turns a back room into a homemade studio and starts writing rhymes about the life he wants out of. Getting the demo made takes every hustle he has, and it strains everybody in the house: Nola (Taryn Manning), the pregnant Shug (Taraji P. Henson), whose voice ends up on the hooks, and Key's patient wife, Yevette (Elise Neal). DJay's whole plan rides o