Hustle & Flow

Hustle & Flow (2005) is a Memphis crime drama you can watch online on iFILM. Director Craig Brewer follows DJay, a mid-level pimp who's been running the same corners for years and knows, somewhere deep down, that time is running out. Terrence Howard plays him with enough raw honesty to earn an Oscar nomination.

DJay writes rap lyrics in his head while driving. When he learns that hip-hop star Skinny Black — played by Ludacris — is rolling through Memphis, he decides to put everything on the line: record a demo tape and get it into the right hands, whatever it takes. His friends pull together around him — sound engineer Key (Anthony Anderson) and his girl Shug (Taraji P. Henson), who turns out to have one of the voices he needs.

The film won the Audience Award at Sundance 2005, and the track It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp took home the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Brewer made something grittier than a music-industry success story — a movie about what the first step actually costs. Stream Hustle & Flow (2005) online on iFILM.