FILM(S) MONITORED
HUSTLE & FLOW

Before falling for the musical beats of “Hustle & Flow,” please read the lyrics below to two of the songs that some critics describe as “the pleasure of watching characters create music from the ground up, beat by beat, take by take….ripped-from-the-gut lyrics (‘Whoop that trick – get ‘em!’).   Those words imprint themselves on the audience.” [Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly]; “The result, a synth-heavy churner called ‘Whoop That Trick,’ deserves to be blasted out of car trunks.” [Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York]; “the song this pimp works up…is catchy and moving.” [Jami Bernard, New York Daily News]; “an infectious, hard-driving ode to the streets called ‘Whoop That Trick.’….it’s impossible not to think that this is a part of the American Dream, too.” [Ann Hornaday, Washington Post]; and the best of all – “at a screening in Park City, Utah, a 60ish woman emerged singing DJay’s signature tune, Whoop Dat Trick.” [Claudia Puig, USA Today].   No doubt, this is most likely a White “60ish woman,” which is supposed to make it really cool and acceptable, right?

Decide for yourself if these lyrics are really worthy of such critical praise on a national scale:

“Whoop That Trick”
http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/

“It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp”
http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/

Some of the other general critical praises for the film itself include the following:   “it possesses the gumption and spirit of the breeziest gotta-dance fable”; “feel-good movie of the summer”; “about family values”; “crowd-pleaser”; “women’s characters build…to something honorable, even profound”; and the best of all is from Jay Carr of amNewYork – “‘Hustle and Flow’ is the ‘Ray’ of rap….This picture is really complete….It’s the best thing to come out of any hood since Singleton’s [John, producer] own ‘Boyz ‘n the Hood’….‘Hustle and Flow’ is one of the year’s best and ought to figure strongly in the Oscar picture.”   Oh really, these critics think this much of this movie?   Wonder why?   Could it be a possible springboard for putting the spotlight on the career of this movie’s writer/director Craig Brewer, who is a White male?

Fortunately, not everyone who has an audience (national or otherwise) was hoodwinked and jumped on the praise-only bandwagon for this movie.   The New York Times’ A.O. Scott gave a much more balanced critique of the film that he correctly describes as having “a lot of heart…and a lot of nonsense as well….is a volatile mixture of slickness and sincerity, hard-edged naturalism and sheer show-business hokum.”   Movie Review | 'Hustle & Flow': A Pimp With a Heart Follows His Dream .   The Village Voice also gave a review that aptly discussed the bottom-line basics of the film, from the visuals to the character development, “DJay’s two-tone sedan to the cellulite at a roadside strip joint, Hustle revels in the skids….And in another true pimp stroke, Brewer ensures that the two characters with the most innate ambition in his story are White:   Manning’s washout with a sudden head for business and DJ Qualls’s stoner church pianist who lays down DJay’s crunk beats.”   Click here for the full review:   Memphis Bleak .   And lastly is an op-ed piece by New York Daily News columnist Stanley Crouch, who writes “Some will defend it because of the remarkable performance by Terrence Howard, who portrays a low-level pimp with a dream of becoming a rap star.   With that arrives a muddled conception of morality in which up is down and down is up.   The condescension toward Black people and women is astounding….This film is not about facts or morality or the artistic accuracy of tragic vision.   It is about commercialism masquerading as Black authenticity.   How Singleton [John], Lee [Spike] and Smith [Will] went for this package is a serious question.”   http://www.nydailynews.com/ .   As always, you decide for yourself!   Is this movie really a stroke of genius as most critics appear to want us to believe or is it much more simplistic?

With our new monitoring format, we will no longer put the range for the number of times the N-word is used in a film because once is too much, especially if it’s unnecessary and/or excessive usage.   Also, based on the history of White Supremacy in this country and the fact that there’s a connection between Blacks/Jews/White Supremacy that’s worth exploring in general, but specifically as it connects within the entertainment industry, we will include a column (for the monitored films only) that will note if any derogatory Jewish slang terms (kike, hymie, hooknose, etc.) are used.   [ NOTE:   If necessary, see BN-W #34 for a more detailed explanation of the unfortunate need to monitor this link.]

If you missed any other BN-W monitors, just send an e-mail to bannword2@yahoo.com and request that it be sent to you.   It’s very hard not to give any content critique on the films we monitor, so we will no longer even attempt to abide by that statement.   But we definitely do continue to highly encourage you to see these films for yourself and, if applicable, make your own judgment call on the N-word usage – appropriate/inappropriate? necessary/unnecessary? sensible/nonsensical? does it add to or take away from the film’s concept? does the N-word have to be used at all? is there a valid reason for doing so? is it mandatory for the scene(s) to be effective? what are the circumstances/situation that necessitate any use of the word? is it just thrown in for humor, fear, crime, insult? are other culturally insulting slang terms used as much as the N-word in the film?   Lots of questions and a whole lot of reasons to wonder what’s the real purpose and thought process behind why these actors, writers, directors, producers, executive producers, distributors, and studios/studio heads and executives give the “greenlight” for these crews to liberally use (or allow to be used) the N-word.

FEATURE FILM(S) :

H U S T L E   &   F L O W

[Release Date:   7/22/05]

Starring Terrence Howard, Anthony Anderson, Taraji P. Henson, Taryn Manning, DJ Qualls; screenplay written by Craig Brewer; directed by Craig Brewer; produced by John Singleton, Stephanie Allain; executive produced by Dwight Williams; studio – Paramount Classics/MTV
 

NOTE :   Aside from the predictably excessive and ridiculous use of the N-word by all of the main male characters, Terrence Howard does an excellent job in this role – as he does in most of his roles, including “The Best Man” (who can forget that guitar-playing scene!) and “Lackawanna Blues.”   In this role, however, he’s given an opportunity to be the lead character.   If he can so effectively play a burned-out pimp/hustler/drug dealer, then imagine if he played roles that characterized the careers (not necessarily the lives) as well as imperfections of the following Black men:   Norbert Rillieux, Bernard Shaw, Guion Stewart Bluford, Jr., Paul R. Williams, W.E.B. Du Bois, Michael Croslin, Hale Woodruff, Daniel Hale Williams, Frederick Douglass, Duke Ellington, Julian Francis Abele, Thurgood Marshall, Charles Hamilton Houston, Benjamin Banneker, Alexander T. Augusta, Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, George Washington Carver, William Grant Still, Charles Drew, James A. Jones, Ernest Everett Just, Matthew Henson, Frederick M. Jones, Jan E. Matzeliger, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Paul Robeson, Frank Robinson, George Baker, Theodore Lawless, Henry Brown, William A. Hinton, Stevland Morris, Thomas L. Jennings, Samuel L. Gravely, Louis T. Wright, Benjamin Carson, Granville T. Woods, Lloyd A. Hall, Andrew Young, Garrett A. Morgan, W.B. Purvis, and Henry Blair.   Of course, there are many, many, many more careers and characters Howard and many other Black actors could very effectively play, so why does playing a pimp trying to reform get all the glory, especially when “pimping” is currently so much a part of popular culture that is already glorified right now?   Do you agree or disagree that we have a lot of the pimp lifestyle being marketed to us?   By the way, we’ll provide you with what the men we just listed do or have done in BN-W #42.

BN-W Monitor Coming Soon:   “Stealth” [Jamie Foxx, Josh Lucas]; “Four Brothers” [Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin]; “Broken Flowers” [Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright]; “Pink Panther” [Steve Martin, Beyonce Knowles]; “An Unfinished Life” [Jennifer Lopez, Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman]

Also Coming :   DVD Monitoring; Summer 2005 Music Monitoring

Below is a story we initially received from www.playahata.com but it can also be found at www.daveyd.com about the experience of a biker traveling through Africa who comes across a store named “Niggers.”   It’s a sad fact but interesting piece that we are forwarding as the writer, David Sylvester, requests and we think it’s worthy of such.   To see the picture click here:   http://www.playahata.com/images/gallery

Hi Black Folks!

My name is David Sylvester and I recently completed a charitable bicycle trip in Africa, riding over 7000 miles from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa.   The trip made me the first and only African American to cross two continents on a bicycle.  I have plenty of great and fascinating stories.  Many are funny, others bittersweet, some are poignant, but all are entertaining.  Surprisingly one story has stood out and if it was not for the fact that I have a picture of it, many would never believe it and it is for that reason that I am sharing it with you.

While in Lilongwe, Malawi, I came across a store by the name of “Niggers” -- that’s right “Niggers”!  The other riders, who were all White, could not wait to inform me of this to see my reaction. Initially, I thought that it was a very bad joke but when the other riders were adamant about the existence of the store, I had to see it for myself.

What I found was a store selling what the owner called 'hip hop’ style clothing.   It was manned by two gentlemen -- one of them asleep!  (Talk about living up to or in this case down to a stereotype.)  I  asked the guys what was up with the store name.  After hearing my obvious non-Malawian accent and figuring out that I was from America, the man thumped his chest proudly and said “ P-Diddy New York City!  We are the niggers!”

My first reaction was to laugh, because many things when isolated can be very funny, but it quickly dawned on me that this was so not funny at all. It was pathetic. I did these bicycle trips across the USA and through the ‘Mother –Land’ in honor of one of my good friends, mentors and fellow African American, Kevin Bowser, who died on 9/11.  Here I am, a Black man riding across the world on his bicycle in honor of another Black man, riding ‘home’ and what do I see??  Some Africans calling themselves Niggers!  They were even so proud of it they put it on their store front to sell stuff.  When I relay the story to folks back home in Philadelphia, most of them laugh too and rationalize it by saying ‘well, we can say it to each other’ or ‘there is a difference’ or even ‘they just spelled it wrong.  It should have been ‘nigga’s’ or ‘niggah’s.’  Gee like that would make a difference.

The issue is not the spelling.  I was wrong. We are wrong.  There is no justification for an infraction of this magnitude.  The word and the sentiment behind it is Flat out wrong! We have denigrated and degraded ourselves to the point that our backwards mindset has spread like a cancer and infected our source, our brothers, our sisters, our Mother Land.  I have traveled all over the world and have never seen a store by the name of “Jew Devils”, ‘spic bastards’ , ‘muff divin''’ dykes’ or anything like that - Only the store niggers!

I am to blame for this.  Every time I said the word I condoned it, by not correcting others or rationalizing it gave it respectability, by looking the other way when others said ‘hey nigga what’s up’ allowed others to see it and ultimately that when I purchase CDs, DVDs, T-shirts and other stuff, I enriched it.  I now see the error in my ways and I am so so sorry Black men and women.  The flame that we called entertainment, that was only to warm and entertain us, now engulfs us and scorches our own self esteem.  If a child only knows to refer to men and women as niggers, bitches, pimps and hoes, then what is he/she to grow up thinking of themselves and others as he/she gets older?

This is no joke you can see my site http://www.contribute2.org/ and read some more stories.  The bottom line is this I rode over 12000 miles on 2 continents through 15 states and 13 countries and broke 2 bikes in the process to get to a store in AFRICA called niggers.  I am willing to step and admit my part in the havoc that we have wrought on our mindset but I think that We all are to blame.

I finish with 4 things:

• If you don’t like being called a nigger, bitch, faggot, dyke, spic, Jew dog, wop, towel head or anything of that ilk- then THINK.  THINK before you speak those words, write those lyrics, support that rhetoric and most of all THINK before you purchase!  Purchasing is akin to compliance- I may like the beats and rhythms of some songs but I can not support it any more. You rappers are intelligent- find another word to describe your selves.
• A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS!
• Read the quote below: If they call you a nigger is one thing but if you answer to it then there is really something wrong!

Please forward this to the Black folks that you know and let us please, please stop the madness.