You Know It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp

WATCH THIS MOVIE.

I'm serious. You think I'm joking? I'm not joking. This movie is fucking brilliant. I haven't felt this 'wow-ed' by a movie in a long time. After years of so-so hip-hop and ghetto based rags-to-riches tales, finally there's a movie filled with character, emotion, intensity and integrity.

It's genius is both its script and its casting - Terrence Howard is balls to the wall A-class amazing and any one of the girls from this pimps stable - from Taryn Manning to Taraji P. Henson to Paula Jai Parker - have more character and dimension than any $10 million lead female in your standard Hollywood fare. Then there's the rest of the cast: Anthony Anderson finally sheds the 'funny fat black guy' stereotype and Ludacris can act like a motherfucker.

And let's face it, boys & girls, when you think pimp you may think Snoop Dogg but the reality is a pimp isn't the most savoury of characters on the block. To have a movie where your main character is a pimp (and not a rich Jay-Z mofo at that), complete with all the anger, frustration and propensity to smack a ho down and yet get the audience to feel for his journey, to want him to get somewhere, that's a real accomplishment. You feel for it because in essence it's the archetypal story of fighting and sacrificing to make a dream come true. Done right, everybody's a sucker for it. Especially me.

One thing I especially liked and could relate to (you know it's good when a Malay kid can relate to a hip-hop movie set down South) was the entire process of trying to record their demo. From DIY soundproofing to shitty mikes to make-shift pop-filters and even the little touches are focused on, like switching off the fan before a take. And the way they make the song and the sound evolve is entirely realistic - from rhymes on a pad and trying to get that beat to practising, from trying to figure out what the hook is to finding the magic touch you were looking for - and by the time all the glitches have been sorted and Anthony Anderson presses the 'record' button you willbe hooked by that song and you will truly share the same feeling of elation the characters experience.

Just remember this movie isn't all happy-happy-joy-joy. It's a pimp. It's his ho's. It's a shitty run-down house in Memphis and the pimp's ride isn't even one whole colour. a fuck in the front is $20 and a fuck in the back is $40 and, in case you didn't know, these girls aren't enjoying it. Terrence Howard's 'DJay' isn't a selfish character who wants out from the pimping business, he's a caring character that wants to bring everybody he loves out of the pimping business and whatever dead-end jobs their in: his ho's, his producer's and finally himself.

8 Mile almost became the definitive movie of this genre, but whilst Eminem has some real and incredibly original flow (and he could act pretty good, surprisingly) Terrence Howard has got character by the bucketload and baggage by the carriage. Watch this movie. It won't dissapoint. I guarantee it.