Though DJay, a streetwise Memphis pimp, has always had a way with words, that gift has long been misused; this philosopher-hustler lives a dead-end life at the fringes of society. Still, DJay wonders what happened to all the big dreams he had for his life. A chance encounter with an old friend, Key, a sound engineer who has always wanted to make it in the music business, spurs DJay: if he’s ever going to make his mark, it has to happen now. He begins to write down his freestyle raps – his flow – and the two team up with Shelby, a church musician with a beat machine, to lay down bass-thumping crunk tracks. DJay’s metamorphosis affects his entire house, as the women in his life – Shug and Nola – find ways to contribute to the creative process. With the impending visit to Memphis of hometown platinum-selling rapper Skinny Black, DJay has to make one last hustle if he’s ever going to flow.

Genres: Drama

Running Time: 1 hr. 54 min.

Release Date: July 22nd, 2005 (wide).

MPAA Rating: R for sex and drug content, pervasive language and some violence.

Distributor: Paramount Classics

Movie Website: Hustle And Flow

Rapper Lil’ Kim escaped a stiff prison sentence Wednesday after telling a judge she was a “God-fearing good person” who regretted lying to a federal grand jury about a 2001 shootout outside a Manhattan radio station.

The Grammy winner was sentenced to one year and one day for perjury and conspiracy — a term far less than the three years and seven months sought by prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge Gerard Lynch said he had weighed the public perception of sending a young black entertainer to prison far longer than Martha Stewart, who spent five months in prison and remains under house arrest after a false statements conviction.

Lynch suggested Lil’ Kim (real name: Kimberly Jones) deserved more time because she had lied about a violent crime, not a white-collar scheme. He also noted that unlike Stewart, she took the witness stand at her trial earlier this year and repeated her lies.

“You sat right next to me there and stared in the eyes of the jurors, and you tried to charm them and you tried to fake them out,” Lynch said.

But the judge also credited Lil’ Kim with returning to court Wednesday and admitting she had lied all along to protect members of her entourage.

“At the time I thought it was the right thing to do, but I now know it was wrong,” she said, her voice breaking.

Lil’ Kim said she wanted to “take complete blame” for the actions of her assistant, Monique Dopwell, who’s awaiting sentencing for the same crimes.

She also asked the judge “to consider my entire life’s work and not just the days in the grand jury and on the witness stand in the courtroom. I’m a God-fearing, good person.”

Lil’ Kim, who was ordered to report to prison Sept. 19, left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.

Some fans who showed up outside said they were relieved that the sentence wasn’t harsher.

“I’m just excited ’cause it’s not that long,” said Alfredo Borbon, 22, a waiter who wore a pair of boots with the rapper’s name on them. “We can wait; us fans can wait that long.”

The artist, who turns 30 next week, was the sidekick and mistress of the late Notorious B.I.G. As a solo artist, she has become known for her revealing outfits and raunchy lyrics.

The case stemmed from a gun battle that erupted outside WQHT-FM, known as Hot 97, when Lil’ Kim’s entourage crossed paths with a rival rap group, Capone-N-Noreaga.

Lil’ Kim’s group confronted the others about the Capone-N-Noreaga song “Bang, Bang,” which contained an insult to Lil’ Kim from rival Foxy Brown. One man was hurt in the shootout that followed.

Before the grand jury and at the trial, the rapper claimed she did not notice two of her close friends at the scene of the shootout — her manager, Damion Butler, and Suif Jackson, known as “Gutta.” Both have pleaded guilty to gun charges.

Jurors at Lil’ Kim’s trial saw radio station security photos that depicted Butler opening a door for the rap star, and two witnesses who once made records with Lil’ Kim said they saw her at the station with Butler and Jackson.

Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey was denied entry into an exclusive Paris boutique. Winfrey was denied entry into Hermes in Paris. When she tried the door, they refused her entry because they have been having trouble with North Africans.

THIS IS THE BULLSHIT RESPONSE FROM HERMES

“Hermes regrets not having been able to accommodate Ms. Winfrey and her team and to provide her with the service and care that Hermes strives to provide to each and every one of its customers worldwide,” the store said in a statement.

“Hermes apologizes for any offense taken due to such circumstances.”

BULLSHIT

The store said the incident occurred on June 14 around 6:45 p.m., about 15 minutes after the store closed. It said Winfrey and her team arrived at a time when “a private PR event was being set up inside.”

Harpo Productions spokeswoman Michelle McIntyre said Winfrey “will discuss her ‘crash moment’ when her show returns from hiatus in September.”

“Crash” is a film dealing with race relations. The phrase “crash moment” refers to situations where a party feels discriminated against on the basis of skin color.

The New York Daily News cited sources close to Winfrey as saying the talk show host was first rebuffed by a clerk and then a store manager. The Daily News reported Winfrey had gone to the store to buy a watch for singer Tina Turner, her dining partner that night.

McIntyre confirmed that account for CNN.

The New York Post, in its Monday Page Six gossip column, reported she was turned away because the store had been “having a problem with North Africans lately.”

In comments to CNN, an Hermes spokeswoman categorically denied that allegation.

“There was never any discussion of North Africans,” she said. “The story is not true.”

The spokeswoman said Winfrey came to the store 15 minutes after closing and a security guard informed her the store was closed and gave her a card, telling her she could come back the next day.

Surveillance videotape of the encounter supports the store’s account, according to the spokeswoman.

She said the CEO of Hermes has called Winfrey’s people to explain “the situation” and invited her to come back to shop in the store.

Rapper Cassidy is wanted in Philadelphia for the murder of a 22-year-old man during an April 15 shooting. A warrant for his arrest was issued on June 8.

Michael Giampietro, Cassidy’s attorney, said he expects his client will surrender himself to authorities on Friday morning. A police spokesperson said when he does, Cassidy will be charged with conspiracy, weapons possession and homicide.

According to police, Cassidy (real name Barry Reese) and two other men, armed with .45 and .40 caliber handguns, 9 mm pistols, AK47 assault rifles and 7.62 mm rifles, fired on three other men during an argument that unfolded behind a house in the rapper’s northwest Philadelphia neighborhood just before 1 a.m. on April 15.

One of the men who was shot, Desmond Hawkins, 22, of Philadelphia, died from a gunshot wound to the back. The two other men were treated at area hospitals for gunshot wounds and subsequently released.

Police said a second warrant was also issued for 23-year-old Abdul West, also of Philadelphia, who, along with Cassidy, was one of the three shooters involved in the incident. Homicide detectives have been unable to identify the third shooter. Police were not immediately clear as to what Cassidy’s connection might have been to the two other shooters. But according to a spokesperson for the department, all of the men involved “knew each other.”

The three victims were reportedly unarmed at the time.

Cassidy, the first MC of significance to be supported by Swizz Beatz’s J-affiliated Full Service label, will release his sophomore album, I’m a Hustla, on June 28.