Hustle & Flow, a hopeful tale about a pimp/rapper, entered the weekend box office at No. 7, an impressive debut considering the film was in fewer theaters than top dogs like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Wedding Crashers.
The film pulled in $8.1 million and appeared in just over 1,000 theaters. The movie stars Ludacris, Anthony Anderson, Taryn Manning and Terrance Howard as the aspiring pimp-turned-rapper D-Jay. Also, Hustle & Flow, was produced by vet John Singleton and Stephanie Allain and directed and written by Craig Brewer.
In addition to money, the film is raking the acclaim from the Hip-Hop community. Young Jeezy of Boyz N Da Hood said that Singleton’s most recent foray is comparable to a classic movie that chronicled the experience in South Central Los Angeles.
“This is like [the Boyz n The Hood] of the South (which launched Singleton’s career), especially for the town [of Memphis]. I don’t know where [Terrance Howard] is from, but he represented for Memphis. That’s how they talk down there, ‘mayne,’” Jeezy raved to AllHipHop.com.
Howard, a 36-year-old native of Chicago, is already garnering an Oscar buzz with his depiction and subsequent humanization of the aging pimp, a person that has been relentlessly stereotyped in Hip-Hop.
Jody Breeze, another member of BNDH, said that the movie realistically portrayed the struggle some Southern rappers experience in seeming desolate situations.
“They showed a lot of love for the game, man, both the grind and the hustle,” Breeze said. “There’s a lot of ni**as that don’t know that part of the game.”
Producer John Singleton said that, even though the film deals with the squalid world of prostitution, the tremendous efforts of the characters will transcend to all people.
“The bottom line is that everybody has a dream. Not everybody has a way to get there to express it, but everybody’s got something in them that they want to get out,” Singleton told AllHipHop.com. “Even if they’re a pimp.”
Singleton’s next movie, Four Brothers, hits theaters August 12 and features Andre 3000 of Outkast, Mark Walberg and Tyrese Gibson and Garrett Hedlund. Also, Terrance Howard will co-star with 50 Cent in Get Rich or Die Tryin,’ which is due in theaters Nov. 11.