''Big Money Hustlas'' is a 2000 American

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by John Cafiero as his feature film debut. The film, a homage to

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...

s of the 1970s, focuses on a streetwise

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

detective who tries to take down a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

crime lord. It stars

Insane Clown Posse Insane Clown Posse, often abbreviated as ICP, is an American hip hop duo. Formed in Detroit in 1989, ICP's best-known lineup consists of rappers Violent J (Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (originally 2 Dope; Joseph Utsler). Insan ...

's Joseph "Violent J" Bruce and Joseph "Shaggy 2 Dope" Utsler, and

Twiztid Twiztid is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan, known for both their horror-themed lyrics and rock-influenced sound. Formed in 1997, Twiztid is composed of rappers Jamie "Madrox" Spaniolo and Paul "Monoxide" Methric. Spaniolo and M ...

Jamie Madrox James Arthur Madrox, also called the Multiple Man, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Len Wein, he first appeared in '' Giant-Size Fantastic Four'' #4 (February 1975). ...

and Monoxide Child, and features appearances by Harland Williams, Johnny Brennan,

Rudy Ray Moore Rudolph Frank Moore (March 17, 1927October 19, 2008), known as Rudy Ray Moore, was an American comedian, singer, actor, and film producer.Mick Foley Michael Francis Foley (born June 7, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler and author. He is signed to WWE, under a Legends contract while also serving as an ambassador. Foley worked for many wrestling promotions, including the W ...

and the Misfits. Released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

, the film debuted at #1 on ''Billboard'''s Top Music Videos

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

, and was later

certified platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. A

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

genre follow-up, '' Big Money Rustlas'', was released

on August 17, 2010.

Plot

Sugar Bear (Shaggy 2 Dope), a streetwise detective from

, is brought to

by its chief of police (John G. Brennan) to take down Big Baby Sweets (Violent J), a notorious crime lord who controls the entirety of the city's criminal underworld with his right-hand men Big Stank (Jamie Madrox) and Lil' Poot (Monoxide Child), and his personal security ninja Hack Benjamin (Robert Bruce). After getting a firsthand look at the police force's incompetence via Officer Harry Cox (Harland Williams), Sugar Bear prevents a robbery of a local doughnut shop by one of Big Baby Sweets' thugs, Ape Boy, and begins a romance with a 300-pound stripper, Missy (Sindee Williams). He soon arrests Big Baby Sweets, Big Stank and Lil' Poot himself, but the police are forced to let them go because of a lack of evidence. The gangsters retaliate by terrorizing the city and sending a pair of stealthy Magic Ninjas to murder Missy, leading Sugar Bear to depressed alcoholism. Sugar Bear's idol,

Dolemite ''Dolemite'' is a 1975 American blaxploitation crime comedy film and is also the name of its principal character, played by Rudy Ray Moore, who co-wrote the film and its soundtrack. Moore, who started his career as a stand-up comedy, stand-u ...

(Rudy Ray Moore), appears before him to reassure him and begin training him to bring down Sweets' evil empire. Sugar Bear kills the Magic Ninjas and Hack Benjamin, and has Big Stank and Lil' Poot carted off by their wealthy, upper-class parents before defeating another one of Big Baby Sweets' henchmen, Cactus Sac (Mick Foley), in a wrestling match. During Big Baby Sweets' personal confrontation with Sugar Bear, Sweets is shot by his mother, and Sugar Bear removes Sweets' face paint, revealing him to be Harry Cox.

Cast

Violent J Joseph Frank Bruce (born April 28, 1972), known by his stage name Violent J, is an American rapper, record producer, professional wrestler, actor, and part of the hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse (ICP). He is a co-founder of the record label Ps ...

— Big Baby Sweets / Ape Boy *

Shaggy 2 Dope Joseph William Utsler (; born October 14, 1974), known by his stage name Shaggy 2 Dope, is an American rapper, actor, record producer and professional wrestler. He is part of the hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse. He is the co-founder of the rec ...

— Sugar Bear * Harland Williams — Officer Harry Cox * John G. Brennan — The Chief *

Rudy Ray Moore Rudolph Frank Moore (March 17, 1927October 19, 2008), known as Rudy Ray Moore, was an American comedian, singer, actor, and film producer.Dolemite ''Dolemite'' is a 1975 American blaxploitation crime comedy film and is also the name of its principal character, played by Rudy Ray Moore, who co-wrote the film and its soundtrack. Moore, who started his career as a stand-up comedy, stand-u ...

— Big Stank * Monoxide Child — Lil' Poot * Myzery — Green Willie * Alex Abbiss — Hazad *Kayla Kleevage — Phat Tittie Kittie * Fred Berry — Bootlegg Gregg *Sindee Williams — Missy *Bob Greenberg — Magic Ninja 1 *Lee Willet — Magic Ninja 2 *Stefan Kudek — Dr. Dinglenut *

Mick Foley Michael Francis Foley (born June 7, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler and author. He is signed to WWE, under a Legends contract while also serving as an ambassador. Foley worked for many wrestling promotions, including the W ...

— Cactus Sac * Jumpsteady — Hack Benjamin * Floyd Vivino — Announcer

Production

''Big Money Hustlas'' was inspired by the video ''Big Ballers''. Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid had seen the movie and loved the video's low-budget comedy style. Using the ideas that he, Joseph Utsler, James Spaniolo, and Paul Methric created, Joseph Bruce wrote the entire script himself in one month.

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

gave him $250,000 to produce the film. ''Big Money Hustlas'' was shot in New York. Most of the crew disliked the movie and the cast. They went on strike twice, while only a few crew members continued to work. The movie was shot in two months, but went way over budget. Halfway through the movie, Bruce had to pay $100,000 of his own money to continue filming. Island never paid the crew for the last two weeks of work due to the film going so far over budget. The movie features many friends of Insane Clown Posse. Mick Foley was brought in as his "Cactus Sac" persona that the duo has used in their ''Strangle-Mania'' videos.

Robert Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against England. He fought successfully dur ...

, Joseph Bruce's brother, also appears in the movie in multiple personas which include The Preacher, Hack Benjamin, and an officer. Harland Williams appeared at the request of Joseph Bruce, who was grateful and impressed that Williams, who had appeared in major studio productions such as ''

Half Baked ''Half Baked'' is a 1998 American stoner film starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams, and Guillermo Díaz. The film was directed by Tamra Davis, co-written by Chappelle and Neal Brennan and produced by Robert Simonds. ''Half ...

'' and ''

There's Something About Mary ''There's Something About Mary'' is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by the Farrelly brothers, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ed Decter and John J. Strauss. The film features Cameron Diaz as the title character, while Ben S ...

'', would be willing to appear in a low-budget independent film like ''Big Money Hustlas''. John G. Brennan and Kamal Ahmed of

The Jerky Boys The Jerky Boys are an American comedy act from Queens, New York City, New York (state), New York, whose routine consisted of Prank call, prank telephone calls and other related Sketch comedy, skits. The duo was founded in 1989 by childhood friends ...

appeared separately, because they were unable to get along with each other during the filming. In contrast with the members of the production who received the movie negatively, Bruce gave bonuses to some cast and crew, including Foley,

Rudy Ray Moore Rudolph Frank Moore (March 17, 1927October 19, 2008), known as Rudy Ray Moore, was an American comedian, singer, actor, and film producer.Jerry Only Gerald Caiafa Jr. (born April 21, 1959), better known by his stage name Jerry Only, is an American musician, best known as the bassist for the Misfits and later the vocalist as well. He is the only member to appear in every Misfits lineup exce ...

only appeared in a small cameo with his band The Misfits, he stuck around for the entire shoot. Jerry Only's son plays the altar boy in the opening scene. Violent J also appeared in a gorilla costume as "Ape Boy"; Jamie Madrox recorded a dub for the character's voice. Although a production company was paid $8,000 to replace the original audio with the dub, they told the director that they were unable to do it, and a decision was made to instead keep the original audio track, with Violent J's voice.

Soundtrack

The film's music was written by Psychopathic Records producer Mike E. Clark. A soundtrack album was released in 2002, and featured new music from the film, in addition to previously released tracks by Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid, and the theme to the 1976 film ''

The Human Tornado ''The Human Tornado'' is a 1976 American blaxploitation film directed by Cliff Roquemore. The film is a sequel to ''Dolemite''. In the film, a sheriff's wife has an extramarital affair with Dolemite. Her husband orders one of his subordinates ...

'', performed by

Rudy Ray Moore Rudolph Frank Moore (March 17, 1927October 19, 2008), known as Rudy Ray Moore, was an American comedian, singer, actor, and film producer.Gert Wilden's album Schoolgirl Report. The song "Girl Faces" was used during the bedroom love scene, and "Little Girls" played in the background at the gentlemen's club. Gert Wilden was noteworthy for erotic music in the 1970s, and thus the reason his music was used in the film.

Impact

''Big Money Hustlas'' debuted at #1 on ''Billboard'''s Top Music Videos

. On January 23, 2009, the film achieved

platinum certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. A follow-up, entitled '' Big Money Rustlas'', began filming in mid-January 2009 and concluded on February 24, 2009. Based in the

genre, ''Big Money Rustlas'' was released on DVD on August 17, 2010. The record label Majik Ninja Entertainment, formed by Twiztid in 2014, is named after a line which they delivered in the film.

Certifications

References

External links

Official website
* {{Psychopathic Records 2000 films American crime comedy films 2000s English-language films American exploitation films Films set in New York City American independent films American parody films Psychopathic Video films 2000s hip-hop films 2000 directorial debut films 2000 independent films 2000s American films English-language independent films English-language musical films 2000 musical films