Pimps at the Oscars

This year the Oscar for best song went to rap tune "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp". The artists changed some of the lyrics when the song was performed at the Academy Awards on Sunday.

"We changed the lyrics up completely. I had to because my mom was watching. I didn't want to say any cuss words," said Jordan "Juicy J" Houston, who co-wrote the theme for the art-house pimp film "Hustle & Flow" with Paul "DJ Paul" Beauregard and Cedric "Frayser Boy" Coleman, according to Reuters.

Houston also told reporters that he and his collaborators were ecstatic when they were invited to perform and were happy to substitute some of the words.

Just a few days before the Oscars, though, Houston had said the word "bitches" would remain in the performance with the Academy's blessing. To everybody's surprise, though, the group switched to "witches" during the performance by Houston's rap group Three 6 Mafia and actress Taraji P. Henson.

The last rapper to win an Oscar was Eminem, he won best song Oscar in 2003 for "Lose Yourself" from the film "8 Mile," he skipped the ceremony and the song was not performed. When asked if he thought the group's win would be a further boost for the mainstreaming of hip-hop, Houston said, "Yes, yes, yes. Right now, when you look around and listen to radio and watch television, hip-hop is taking over."

The song competed against Dolly Parton's "Travelin' Thru" from the transsexual road comedy-drama "Transamerica," and Kathleen "Bird" York and Michael Becker's "In the Deep" from the best-picture Oscar winner "Crash."

The other music Oscar went to Argentina's Gustavo Santaolalla for his score to "Brokeback Mountain."