dykstraNet

Do you need a little inspiration? You think you’re struggling in life? What if you were a middle aged pimp/drug-dealer in uban-prairie Memphis trying to make ends meet hustling women and weed? In a way, I envy those that hit absolute rock-bottom so that they find the motivation to start climbing up again. Our main character in Hustle & Flow, DJay played by Terrence Howard, is just such a figure. And when he finds out that a local-boy-turned-famous-bling-bling-rapper is going to be back in town on the fourth of July, he finds his motivation to reclaim his old dream of making it in the music business.

Of course this puts the story-line in dangerously over-trod, hackneyed, played-out territory, joining 8-mile and probably several after-school specials in the “I just gotta catch my big break with my demo tape” genre.

Hustle & Flow still works and manages to be a bit unpredictable. It’s engaging as a depiction of sleepy, dusty, dead-end south. It is fascinating as a character study of walkers, talkers and manipulaters. And it is evocative for anyone who has reached middle life wondering if they still have a chance to recapture the dreams they had somehow forsaken.
Hustle & Flow