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"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). 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".

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.

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. 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. It was the second hip hop song to win an Oscar, after Eminem's "Lose Yourself" from the film 8 Mile (2002).

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. ^ 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.

• Songs about procurers
• 2005 songs
• Three 6 Mafia songs
• Best Original Song Academy Award–winning songs
• Songs written by Juicy J
• Gangsta rap songs
• Songs written by DJ Paul