Here’s the Hustle & Flow writer and director:
There’s always been this feeling in Memphis that we’re a little bit worried about what people think about us. And even when you kind of have an attitude like, “Man, I don’t care what people think about me,” you can just smell the bullshit. They really do. They worry. Hustle & Flow got caught up in that. “What are we saying about our city?” “What are we saying about the people?” Well, first of all I’m not saying everybody is like the people in this movie, and also, what’s wrong with the people in this movie? So there’s that thing. And so, when the Grizzles and the whole “Whoop That Trick” thing happened, I think there was an attitude shift where nobody wanted to apologize for being Memphis anymore. And instead of being like, “Well, if only we could take you to a Peabody brunch you would see that we’re not rude or caustic or animals, we’re civilized,” now it’s like, “Oh, you’re saying something bad about my city, well, fuck you.”
If you aren’t from Memphis, that blockquote might not make much sense to you, so let me give you an analogy: remember how pissed off and cagey hardcore Apple fans were in the 1990s when the company or its users would come under attack? That’s how a lot of us feel now about our city.