Summaries

With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.

Aspiring emcee DJay works the angles to get his first record made with help from assorted people in his Memphis 'hood. And when he hears that hip-hop superstar Skinny Black is heading to his area, he throws together a supreme hustle to grab Skinny's attention.—IMDb Editors

An aspiring emcee from the Dirty South who is trying to make it in the hip-hop world has to deal with many different types of people who try to bring him down, including strippers, his baby's mama, and all the things that try to keep a player down. This is probably his last chance to make it: he is approaching his 40s, and his life is looking downhill.—Nick Ellis

Details

Keywords
  • car
  • drug abuse
  • disc jockey
  • audio cassette
  • electronic keyboard
Genres
  • Crime
  • Drama
  • Music
Release date Jul 21, 2005
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) R
Countries of origin United States
Official sites Official Facebook
Language English
Filming locations Tennessee, USA
Production companies MTV Films Homegrown Pictures Crunk Pictures

Box office

Budget $2800000
Gross US & Canada $22202809
Opening weekend US & Canada $8017808
Gross worldwide $23563727

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 56m
Color Color
Sound mix DTS Dolby Digital
Aspect ratio 1.85 : 1

Synopsis

DJay (Terrence Howard) is a streetwise hustler and Memphis pimp with a stable of 3 girls, Shug (Taraji Henson) who is pregnant and not working, Lexus (Paula Jai Parker) who works in a strip club, and Nola (Taryn Manning) who works out of DJay's old beat-up car in a back alley. Even with two girls working and DJay selling dirt-weed on the side, it is hard for them to make ends meet. The utility company is about to shut off their utilities, if they don't pay the bill. DJay feels that he has hit rock bottom, and he needs a change in his life. A bum trades him a Casio keyboard for some weed, and DJay takes it home. While playing the keys, DJay gets an inspiration to write rap music. He begins to write down his pimping style raps, his flow, in a little notebook while Nola is turning tricks. DJay runs into Key (Anthony Anderson), an old friend and sound engineer, who takes him to a church choir performance that reaches DJay's soul. DJay looks inside his soul and decides to get out of the business, and now he has a dream of becoming a rapper. DJay teams up with Key to make a demo song. Skinny Black (Ludacris) is a platinum selling rapper about to return to Memphis for the 4th of July. DJay believes he can hustle Skinny to hear his tape, and his dream will come true. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)

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A Memphis pimp attempts to launch a career as a rapper.

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