It's Hard out Here for a Pimp

"It's Hard out Here for a Pimp"
Song by Three 6 Mafia
from the album Hustle & Flow soundtrack and Most Known Unknown (reissue)
Released2005
GenreMemphis rap
Length3:02
LabelAtlantic, Grand Hustle
Songwriter(s)DJ Paul, Juicy J, Frayser Boy[1]
Producer(s)DJ Paul, Juicy J

"It's Hard out Here for a Pimp" is a song written by American hip hop group Three 6 Mafia, alongside Cedric Coleman, as the theme song to the American drama film Hustle & Flow (2005).[1] It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and in 2006 was ranked number 80 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop".[2]

Background

The song was performed in Hustle & Flow by Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson as their respective characters DJay and Shug. Three 6 Mafia included their own version of the song with vocalist Paula Campbell on a 2006 special edition reissue of their platinum album Most Known Unknown.

In 2015, Howard and Henson competed against each other in the Season 1 finale of the Spike series Lip Sync Battle and, by popular demand, performed the song as the first duet by competitors in the show's history.[3]

78th Academy Awards

At the 78th Academy Awards in 2006, Three 6 Mafia and Henson performed the song shortly before it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.[1][4] Howard did not wish to perform at the ceremony, and since two of the song's writers are themselves artists in the form of the trio Three 6 Mafia, they were given the opportunity to perform it. Three 6 Mafia became the first hip hop group to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the first hip hop artists to perform at the ceremony.[5] It was the second hip hop song to win an Oscar, after Eminem's "Lose Yourself" from the film 8 Mile (2002).[1]

This song became the third in five years to win the Oscar without a Golden Globe Award nomination. The others were "If I Didn't Have You" from Monsters, Inc. (2001) and "Al Otro Lado del Río" from The Motorcycle Diaries (2004).

References

  1. ^ a b c d Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 137. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. ^ "Blog.vh1.com". Archived from the original on December 24, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
  3. ^ Lip Sync Battle First Competitor Duet - It's Hard out Here for a Pimp (from Hustle and Flow) - Terrence Howard & Taraji P. Henson Spike TV on YouTube
  4. ^ Popkin, Helen A.S. (March 5, 2006). 'It's Hard Out Here' for a good Oscar song. MSNBC. Accessed April 12, 2008.
  5. ^ "Three 6 Mafia Wins Oscar". xxxlmag.com. March 6, 2006.
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