Craig Brewer

couldn't edit the movie and have air conditioning through our window unit at the same time so i'd have to get like my room really really cool and cold in august and then i turned it off and then i could turn on my computer because the the you know the circuit breaker would blow um you know uh that scrappiness you see in hustle and flow is really about us making my first film and uh

and the struggles to try to make it.

And also that to be a director sometimes is to be a manipulator and you're kind of trying to get everybody around you to share your vision and try to, in a weird way, sometimes you angle it where you think it's best for them.

But they're ultimately there to help you.

So John Singleton, I learned a lot about

the, the, the hustle with John.

I really did because he was making it with his own money, but he was a real fan of Southern rap, like way before everybody else was.

So when we were, we were, John was going to be flying into Memphis and Terrence, Terrence Howard and Taraji Henson were over at three, six mafia studio recording a song.

John was coming in because he wanted another song.

He wanted what he – we were all saying we need a pimp song.

And I was supposed to take him over to the studio.

But I pulled him into this other studio where my friend Al Capone was doing a song, Whoop That Trick.

And so John bought Whoop That Trick that's featured in the movie and now has kind of like become an anthem at sports arenas around the country.

But he then was very empowered to go in and negotiate with Juicy J of Three 6 Mafia who wanted more money.

Or probably the fair amount of money.

So we go to the studio and Juicy J goes, so I hear you're messing with another rapper.

You're going to hire Al Capone to maybe do that pimp song.

And John's like, hey, man, you know it's business.

And Juicy said, okay, that's too bad because I got this.

And he hit the space bar on his laptop and the beat of Heart Out Here for a Pimp began to play.