Nearly 15 years after composing the score for “Hustle & Flow,” Memphis musician, composer and producer Scott Bomar says he’s getting a chance to measure his growth. 

On Oct. 4, his latest film project, “Dolemite Is My Name” starring Eddie Murphy, will premiere in select theaters before streaming on Netflix starting Oct. 25. It's Bomar's third project with Memphis-bred film director Craig Brewer.

“Just a couple nights ago, ‘Hustle & Flow’ was on cable, and I watched some of that for the first time in a long time," Bomar said. The 2005 made-in-Memphis film won the Academy Award for best original song for Three 6 Mafia, and its star, Terrence Howard, was nominated for best actor.

"It’s really crazy to me to see that and then see ‘Dolemite Is My Name,’ and how Craig and I, in 15 years, have grown as artists," Bomar says. “I think a lot of things in our craft that make each of us who we are is still there. But I think time and experience shows in this film.”

Murphy plays Rudy Ray Moore, who bet on himself when he bankrolled a raunchy independent entertainment enterprise onstage, on record and in film.

Though it's set in 1970s Los Angeles, Bomar and arranger Marc Franklin employ Memphis’ trademark soul, direct from a rhythm section of veterans of the genre. Recorded at Bomar’s Electrophonic Studios, the rhythm tracks are performed by guitarist Michael Toles, organist Lester Snell and drummer Willie Hall.

“The three of us not only worked with Isaac Hayes, Michael and myself also came from the Bar-Kays,” says Hall, who has also backed The Blues Brothers.

“So, when you get a group of guys together like Lester, Michael and myself, and Scott, no matter what we play, it could be a nursery rhyme, and we’d put it in the pocket.”

Bomar says the film has an intrinsic link to his first collaboration with Brewer and their second film “Black Snake Moan,” but creating the “Dolemite” score was a very different process.

In previous projects with Brewer, Bomar says he started working on music sometimes with only the script to use as reference.

“There were songs that I made on both films, purely by Craig describing what he was looking for and me reading the script,” Bomar says. “And I would go to the set, watch it being filmed, then go home and write.”

This go-round, Bomar and Franklin were among the last members of the production to get their hands on the film. However, by the time they got it, some of Bomar’s older music was already temporarily edited in, for reference.

“So, it already had my flavor in it, in most of the places,” Bomar says. “And I just had to go back and get a feel for what they were looking for and what worked for the scene and came up with new music.”

It didn’t change Bomar’s approach toward making the music.

“When I score, I just try to totally immerse myself in the world that the film is in. That film is kind of a time capsule," Bomar says.

“It’s a very specific era, very specific sound, very specific instrumentation, very specific recording methods. I wanted the score to feel like it belonged in that era. I wanted it to feel like it was an original score to a film of that era.”

As in his previous two films with Brewer, characters in the film perform music to move the plot along. Actor, comedian and musician Craig Robinson portrays Ben Taylor, the real-life musical sidekick to Moore’s oddball stage and film act.

“In ‘Dolemite Is My Name,’ in my mind, the same band that is onstage with Craig Robinson and backing up Rudy Ray Moore, is the same band that’s performing the score,” Bomar says.

“So, when I was writing it, I was thinking about the band that you see on-camera, so it would feel like it’s all in the same world.”

The primary element in Bomar's creation of the score was making it feel authentic to the Memphis musicians in the session.

“When people are recording in Memphis, the first thing that they’re gonna say is, ‘How does that feel?’ It’s not going to be, ‘How does that sound?’ It’s going to be, ‘Yeah, that feels good.’ That’s usually the watermark for quality,” Bomar says.

“There might be a mistake here or there, it might be raw, but if it feels good, that’s what you’re looking for.”

Hall, capable of being a frenetic drummer, says he’s taken the opportunity to pull back through his work with Bomar on film projects through the years.

“Most of the time, on the Memphis-type drum tracks, they just want you to be a metronome. In certain cases, you have to accent the next phase of the music,” Hall says.

“In my case, being a drummer, I have to play the beat, but I also have to stay out of the way of something that’s not necessary,” he added, mimicking drum sounds.

“I can’t just be going everywhere.”

Hall says he’s thankful for the work Bomar has brought his way. Bomar, in turn, says he views Hall as mentor.

“I’ve learned a lot about production from Willie Hall,” Bomar says. “Not only is Willie a brilliant drummer, but he’s a brilliant producer. He knows how to make records. And I learned a lot about making records, and I learned a lot from him about music timing and tempo.”

Hall, who moved to Memphis from Pensacola with his family at 14 years old, says he's passing Bomar the legacy he received when he met his heroes, Booker T. Jones and Isaac Hayes.

“I grew up on that sound. I was in Florida, but I knew somehow that I would be a part of it some day. I just knew that was my destiny,” Hall says.

“This Memphis group, including Scott and Marc, we’re not just a bunch of fancy musicians. We actually are the Memphis sound, because we lived it, and it’s been embedded in us. It’s hard to explain. But we are the Memphis sound for our era.”