When Hustle & Flow premiered at Sundance, it wasn’t just another indie drama. Craig Brewer’s Memphis-set story of a pimp turned rapper became a breakout that would take Hip Hop to the Oscars. What ...

20 years ago this month, two sweaty, skanky, Southern-fried flicks showed up in multiplexes: the quasi-musical hip-hop dramedy Hustle & Flow and the hicksploitation horror show The Devil’s Rejects.

Being a white guy from Memphis clearly hasn't kept filmmaker Craig Brewer from getting down with the gritty barbeque-and-blues essence of the sleepy Southern city in his jamming little underdog movie ...