Bloggin Ain't Easy But Somebody Gotta Do It

"You know it's hard out here for a pimp when you tryin' to get this money for the rent. For the Cadillacs and gas money spent will have a whole lotta bitches jumpin' ship." -- Hustle and Flow

Before the movie hit the theaters, before a frame was lensed, before it won the audience award at Sundance, I (and many other Memphians) knew. I knew weeks ago, months ago that Hustle and Flow would be considered a crowning achievement in Memphis cinema history. What I didn't know was how lucky we are to have people like Craig Brewer, the hometown-loving filmmaker filled with fascinating ideas and enough chutzpah to put them out there, showing their affection for the town we live in.

Before you start with your "it's just another rap flick" chatter, I would like to make some observations about the film for outsiders. Number 1, it's overwhelmingly accurate -- to the point of stereotype, but absolutely correct and on point. Anyone watching Hustle and Flow trying to tell you Memphis isn't like this is seriously misrepresenting what we live in every day down here in the hopes you'll believe what they're spittin' at you. Memphis is pimps, playas, hustlas, ho's, bitches, tricks, 30's on Yokohamas with spinnaz glossing an '82 Chevette, running game, spittin' lyrics, doin' time, chasing the dream, poor and hungry, proud as hell. Changes do not come around quickly here, time moves at its own pace. There are about 12 people who control everything that goes on in our city, and they like it that way. They don't want it to change, and nobody is stepping up quickly enough or with enough money in their pockets to make that change happen any faster.

In many regards, Memphis is a city that is for sale, yet at the same time we are absolutely not for sale. This is what we come from, rich or poor, and there is no need for the minority population of our city (meaning the people with all the money who ran away to Cordova and Collierville because they're scared of blacks and gays) to try and point you in any other direction.

In fact, Memphis has all of that. It's a diverse dichotomy of lifestyles punched against one another, stilted traditions, racism, people controlling corners, leary of outsiders and fierce independence. There are more churches than gas stations, every public school is a halfway house, every business (except FedEx, AutoZone and International Paper) is understaffed. According to Wikipedia, "The per capita income for the city is $17,838. 20.6% of the population and 17.2% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 30.1% of those under the age of 18 and 15.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line." Deciphering the fine print: Memphis ain't bullshittin', and neither is Hustle and Flow.

It's 102 degrees outside today in the shade, people are melting on their front porches sipping ice waters and fanning themselves with old newspapers or, if you are lucky enough to have air conditioning in your car, rolling around town with the music turned up full blast, bass banging out of the trunk and the a/c blasting it's cool breezes past your sweat-drenched skin. And somewhere in this city of dreams, someone is trying to make a name for themselves doing the thing they love. It might be me, it might be you, it might be any of us. But the poverty, the crime, the dichotomy of our clashing lifestyles being in such close proximity with one another all lend themselves to the struggle for that goal.

It may be no different anywhere in America, but not every city in America has a film like Hustle and Flow to let people know how things really go on the other side of this town.

I grew up in Memphis on the edge of the suburbs. My father insisted that we stay in Memphis. He bought the one house "so close to Germantown that we don't live there, but we can spit on the people who do if we want to". In fact, the dividing line between Germantown and Memphis ran (truthfully) right down the middle of our street. For many years, I didn't know about South-South and North-North, Nutbush, Millbranch, Jackson Avenue, and other "off-limits" areas of the city (aka "where white people aren't supposed to go"). As I have grown older, I have begun to embrace these parts of our city because, in reality, it is what the other half of the city feeds off of. It gives those people out in the suburbs a cause to rally against, something to point a finger at, those church-going minions something by which to define their own cultural standard.

It also creates a great deal of controversy within the black community here because upper and middle-class black families feel that they are "under-represented" or "misrepresented" in film which leads to racial stereotyping. What those proponents need to realize is simple: that is an issue which must be dealt with within the black community. One of the great points of the film is this: even if you make it, you're still trying to make it in this world. It is not a reason to attack the truth. The ugly, dirty truth, no matter how you want to sugar coat it or throw money at it, will always be the truth.

I have never been more proud than I was walking out of Hustle and Flow because, at the end of the day, it represents the best of who we are in the face of the worst of what we can be. This movie is no joke. This one is truly from the heart, almost too accurate for it to seem like a work of fiction. If you haven't gone to see it, make a date and go see it tonight.

Fuck what you heard about it misrepresenting Memphis from anywhere else. Anyone telling you that needs to quit hitting the snooze bar and wake their asses up. We've got nothing to hide, and thank you Craig Brewer for pulling back the covers on the real.