After ‘It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp’ won best song at the Oscars, it rocketed in popularity. “Why this song? Why now? When ‘white’ culture borrows from ‘black’ culture, it doesn’t necessarily borrow what it thinks it’s borrowing. The real meaning of the song, its reference to pimps, its role within a movie documenting the often pathetic efforts at stardom of a pimp who also makes music, isn’t particularly relevant. When a piece of cultural stuff makes the transition into the mainstream, it often does so on terms entirely different from what it originally meant.”