"Hustle and Flow" has two primary concerns as far as storytelling goes. Its first obligation is to capture the hood, or seedy Memphis Tennessee neighborhoods, the way directors like John Singleton and The Hughes Brothers did for Los Angeles in the 90's. It's second obligation is to the "Rocky" tradition in film of the underdog story, most recently depicted in "8 Mile".

First time writer/director Chris Brewer tackles these traditions with a fresh and empathetic eye, and with a lot of help from the form of hip-hop called "krunk."

We see a decayed hell in Tennessee, where the streets sit still with rust, dust, sweat and old wood planked houses. In the center of it all is the pimp DJay (Terrence Howard, "Ray"). Or at least we assume so until the story begins to unravel. When a homeless man trades DJay a child's keyboard for drugs, a light kindles in his eyes and he remembers his high school days when he spit rhymes on the school intercom.

DJay lives in a decrepit home with his prostitutes, Nola (Taryn Manning), Yevette (Elise Neal), Shug (Taraji P. Henson) and Lexus (Paul Jai Parker). When DJay runs into an old high school friend, now church choir sound engineer, Key (Anthony Anderson) the two decide to collaborate on hip-hop music. For DJay, the goal is to slip a demo tape to Skinny Black (played by Ludacris).

During the creative process, a house that should be a broken-down prostitution ring becomes a creative arena where the women provide the hooks and the men build a recording studio out of rudimentary materials such as cup holders. Brewer makes watching the act of creation very fun.

The film works because of the music. Krunk music is primitive, percussion based and most importantly it provides a rallying call for frustrated members of society. After the work hours, music is blasted in the parking lot of a roller skating rink because the freedom of the night allows it. "Hustle and Flow" is about taking that one iota of freedom and creating something bigger out of it.

Brewer's style is sometimes gritty and reminiscent of Gordon Parks' "Superfly" with touches of wah pedal guitar buttressing choice scenes. Isaac Hayes makes a cameo as if to ensure Brewer is working from fine tradition.

This role of DJay is a breakthrough for Howard, who was primarily relegated to bit roles. "Hustle and Flow" revolves around his temperament. He initially didn't want the role, but after reading Craig Brewer's nuanced portrait, Howard agreed. Howard mostly dawns a wife beater and carries the nervous ticks of a child when recording his music. The mid-life crisis presented by Howard is a perfect balance of desperation and pensive planning, in soft tones of stage business that dictate everyone else's reactions. Howard is the emotional core.

"Hustle and Flow" will finally be released in Oklahoma after successful runs on the coasts and an award-winning showing at the Sundance Film Festival. Audiences will continue to cheer because "Hustle and Flow" comes from a real place, unlike most of this summer's offerings.
hello there & you too