Excellent Examination of Urban Angst & Struggle

Rating: 9/10 (18 June 2007)

complete spoilers contained--
The film is produced by John Singleton, and written & directed by Craig Brewer. Terence Howard plays DJay, a Memphis pimp of middling means, who shares a ramshackle home with his three working girls: Lexus is the eldest, a part-time stripper whose toddler son also lives there; Nola is white and apparently DJay's main money-earner; mousy Shug is pregnant with DJay's baby. In his early 30's, DJay is having a mid-life crisis of sortshe's weary of spending his days pushing sex and nickel-bags of marijuana, but he doesn't know exactly what else he wants to do.
A chance barter gets DJay a Reagan-era Casio keyboard, and he takes it as an omen to try and become a rap singer. Arnel (Isaac Hayes) is a sympathetic bar owner, who tells DJay that a Memphis local, Skinny Black (Ludacris) has recently become a mainstream rap star, and he's poised to have a 4th of July party in town. DJay swears he used to know the guy, and now he plans to record a demo tape to pass along to Black in time for the party.
Soon, DJay rekindles a friendship with an old high school chum Key (Anthony Anderson)now married, Key's an audio engineer recording depositions at the city courthouse, and he becomes DJay's producer. They jerry-rig a recording studio in DJay's house, and along with vending machine-stocker/church organist Shelby (DJ Qualls) they set about to creating DJay's sound.
All the actors do a good job; Howard is very convincing as DJay; despite his role in his relationship with his hookers, he's just as lost and desperate as they are. The film doesn't glorify the pimp lifestyle but instead offers a glimpse at the reality that probably exists for most people involved: DJay doesn't drive a new model Cadillac, but a beat-up early-80's sedan; he's dressed not in flamboyant suits, but casual gear. The casual brutality of that world is glimpsed when DJay kicks Lexus and her son out of the house, and when he prompts Nola to do a sex job in exchange for an expensive microphone.
--Climax Spoilers-- DJay's ambitions increases the pressure not only on himself, but everyone around himLexus is constantly surly and snarly; Nola is increasingly antsy about turning tricks; Key's church-going wife is aghast at his newfound choice of friends. Eventually, DJay's group finish a song, "Whoop That Trick"on cassetteand DJay prepares to approach Skinny Black at Arnel's bar. It isn't easyBlack is surrounded by a posse of boorish hangers-on, and it takes DJay offering Black a batch of high-end marijuana to break the ice.
Unfortunately, Black turns out to be a drunken jerk, who ditches the demo tape in the restroom; when DJay finds it he beats him up, but then one of Black's henchman shows up, and a firefight gets startedDJay ends up doing some time. Key visits him, and lets him know what's been going on since then: Shug gave birth to a baby girl, and its clear that she's still holding a torch for DJay; Nola turned into DJay's defacto manager, shopping his song to assorted radio stations; as he's about to be released, his song finally hits the radio; even some correctional officers offer him their demo tape. "Everybody's gotta have a dream."