I have to admit, when I initially heard about Hustle & Flow, I rolled my eyes. I'm sure I'm probably in the minority but I'm tired of seeing black men portrayed as rappers, pimps and hustlers all the time. What really gets to me is that nowadays we are often the ones perpetuating that stereotype. Having said that, you can understand why I wasn't thrilled with a movie about a pimp suffering a midlife crisis who really wanted to rap.

Terrence Howard plays DJay, the small-time pimp and drug dealer. He's got three hos. One, Shug (Taraji P. Henson), is pregnant and not working. The second, Lexus (Paula Jai White), works out of the local strip club. And Nola (Taryn Manning), is DJay's primary ho, a white girl, whom he pimps out of the back of his Cadillac. As fate would have it, an addict exchanges a keyboard for some dope and that small keyboard begins to unlock the rapper within DJay. Soon after, he meets up with an old junior high school friend, Key (Anthony Anderson) who happens to be a sound engineer. Like DJay, he too has a dream and it's a lot bigger than his day job which consist of recording church groups and court depositions. Against the objections of his straight-laced wife Yvette (Elise Neal), Key and DJay begin laying down tracks like 'Whoop that Trick' and 'It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp'. Their goal is to have a demo ready when platinum rapper Skinny Black (Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges) comes back to Memphis for a Fourth of July party. But things take a dramatic turn for the worst when the two rappers finally meet.

I do believe that this will be a career-defining role for Terrence Howard. This has been a great year for him. While he's worked consistently for a while now, between this and his critically-acclaimed performance in Crash earlier this year, he has really come into his own. Howard is believable as a man who has finally found his voice and who passionately wants to be heard. He has the magnetism and the talent to carry this picture and carry it he does. Anthony Anderson, who often plays the comic relief, plays it straight here and also gives a solid performance. Taraji P. Henson also deserves a mention as the pregnant matron of the group who has a genuine love for DJay.

Writer-Director Craig Brewer avoids some of the obvious clichés and as a result, he creates characters that have depth and that resonate with some truth. I especially like the way he handled the relationships. You see DJay and Shug, two wounded people grow in the realization of their love for each other. At the same time, you see the marriage between Key and Elise grow stronger as they realize that supporting your partners dream can be the ultimate display of love.

Hustle & Flow also makes an excellent use of atmosphere. Set in Memphis and filmed there, you can almost feel the heat of a humid southern summer. The scenes in the makeshift studio are some of the film's best as they pop with the energy of the creative process.

Hopefully, for the sake of diversity, we can see movies with the heart of Hustle that go beyond the realms of hustling and pimping. Because while it might be hard out there for a pimp, it seems to be even harder to be a law-abiding, gainfully employed black man, at least on the big screen.