Various:
Hustle & Flow Soundtrack

Release Date: 12 July 2005

Reviewed By: Nina Carmela

1. I'm A King

2. Swerve

3. Microphone

4. It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp

5. Tell Me Why

6. Pussy Niggaz

7. Whoop That Trick

8. Bum Guy

9. Man Up

10. Carbon 15s AKs And Mac 11s

11. Lil' Daddy

12. Let's Get A Room

13. Booty Language

14. Bad Chick

15. We In Charge

16. Hustle And Flow (It Ain't Ovah)

17. Still Tippin'

18. Murder Game

19. Get Crunk Get Buck

20. Man Ain't Like A Dog

Mike Jones - Who Is Mike Jones?
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Taken from the movie soundtrack ‘Hustle & Flow’, this compilation mix features some of the finest past, present and future Hip Hop artists from the southern sides of US. The movie is a tale about a street boy who finds his talent from the bottom of his vocal chords and tries to rhyme his way to the top. His conscious lyrics of the everyday real life hustling experiences isn’t putting food on the table until he meets the man who directs him into a life DJay never knew of.  

The trailer for this movie describes both the film and the soundtrack, bringing some gritty rhymes and crunked up beats. The opening track ‘I’m A King’ featuring T.I, his Grand Hustle crew P$C, and Lil’ Scrappy is like reading the synthesis at the back of a book, describing DJay’s upfront character and the southern beats of the music he makes. The following track, ‘Swerve’ features Lil Boosie and Webbie who had released an album together back in 2003, proving that they still have what it takes. 

Skits taken from the movie tend to roll nicely into the tracks that follow, and even features tracks performed by actor Terrance Howard who plays DJay. One of those tracks is ‘It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp’, with an uplifting beat and old skool type vibe. ‘Whoop That Trick’ is another song that gets you into a Lil Jon-mood, along with Nasty Nardo who keeps it strictly crunked with ‘Let’s Get A Room’. 

One of the best joints on this mix is performed by 8Ball and MJG, on ‘Tell Me Why’, which has a feel good beat and a catchy hook. Old timer E-40 has his share in this venture on P*ssy N*ggaz’ but then P.Diddy’s latest signing, Boyz N Da Hood feature on ‘Carbon 15’s, A.K’s & Mac 11’s’, which is so repetitive, it’s weak. The next few tracks tend to follow that same route, and even newcomer Mike Jones on ‘Still Tippin’ (It’s A Mans World Remix)’ makes you still push on that skip button. 

Every album has its sing-a-long hook or a booty bouncing beat, but one track that has a rhyme that just sticks in your mind is ‘Booty Language’ by Juvenile, Skip and Webbie. It has a fun lyrical flow that makes you forget why you started dissing this soundtrack! With crunk sounds, it can be hard to put together artists that would always come up with something new; this mix worked at the beginning but the last few tracks flopped. 

Overall, with the likes of Grand Hustle, BME Recordings, Asylum Records and Bad Boy Entertainment putting out their artists for a tasty southern flavour, they did good. If you’re into ‘The Kings Of The Souf Sides’, then this soundtrack needs to be heard. 

Rating 3.5 out of 5 

Top 3 Tracks:

Tell Me Why - 8Ball & MJG

Lets Get A Room - Nasty Nardo

Booty Language - Juvenile featuring Skip & Wacko

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