Article about "Pimps" In Hip-Hop, Please Read

[Lincoln]

http://206.14.217.112/thoughts/doc2593.html


Rappers' Glorification of Pimps Deserves Disdain
By DeWayne Wickham,  August 5, 2003

This fall, not too long after kids go back to school, a new animated movie will appear in theaters across the country. It is the latest in a genre of films that use the voices of well-known actors to bring life to a series of drawings. Labeled a comedy, this movie is nothing to laugh about.

It is the story of a 9-year-old pimp. That's right, I said pimp--as in one of those degenerates who peddle female flesh for a living. Lil' Pimp, as this film is called, is the cinematic manifestation of a pop-cultural attempt to glamorize this repugnant lifestyle.

In the twisted world of this movie's story line, the young pimp is a good guy, and the mayor of its imaginary city is sleazy. Not surprisingly, the voices of several of the characters belong to some of rap music's raunchiest acts.

Rap music has a love affair with pimps. And it is the broad appeal of rap artists who glorify pimping that has likely convinced Hollywood that there's a profit to be made in a movie about a pre-pubescence boy "who hustles his ho's around the neighborhood."

For years, rap artists have spiked their salacious lyrics with talk of these bottom feeders.

But recently some have gone from talking about pimps to acting like them. In their latest video titled P.I.M.P. rappers 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg prance before the camera in the flashy, gaudy attire of a pimp.

Video Just The Latest

Their video is just the latest in what has become a steady stream of rap songs that celebrate pimps as hot-dressing, slick-talking, women-running men and ignore both the cruelty and criminality of the profession.

"I think it (rap artists' infatuation with pimps) has sort of dumbed down rap music and its constituency," said DeVone Holt, whose book Hip-Hop Slop: The Impact of a Dysfunctional Culture, will be published next month. "They've surrendered their authentic artistic traits and settled for the less-demanding challenge of selling sex. That probably takes the least amount of talent when you're selling sex because you're just appealing to folks' natural desires."

Holt, 30, who grew up on a steady diet of rap music, said that it's not what it used to be. "The traits that drew me to hip-hop are the same ones that are drawing kids today," Holt said. "Hip-hop and rap music are a rebellious music, a rebellious culture. But in the days when I grew up listening to it, hip-hop and rap rebelled against oppressive institutions. Today, they just rebel against traditional values."

Redefining Culture

More to the point, a growing number of rap performers are trying to redefine the culture by turning one of society's dregs the pimp into an acceptable lifestyle. In his recent music video titled Pimp Juice, rapper Nelly gave cameo roles to Max Julien, an aging actor who played a pimp in the 1973 movie, The Mack, and a one-time, real-life pimp named Bishop Don "Magic" Juan.

Snoop Dogg not only sings about pimping, he said he wants to be a pimp. A former Los Angeles-area gang member, Snoop says he has given up his gang-bangin' days for pimping because pimps live longer.

Now that's dysfunctional. Like too many rappers, Snoop has a big bankroll and low self-esteem. Rather than aspire to be something more than his great musical skills helped him to escape, Snoop wants to emulate the high-living style of a lowlife.

While Snoop's immense talent has lifted him out of the ghetto, it hasn't taken the ghetto out of him.

"If it's wrong to call a woman a b with $2 in your pocket," Holt said of the language pimps regularly use to describe women, "it's wrong to call a woman a b with $2 million in your pocket."

He's right. Rap stars who glamorize the pimp lifestyle deserve our disdain. And movie producers who try to profit, hopefully, will lose their shirts.

[CRAFTY]

Good article...I agree with it one hundred percent.

[PLANT]

Good article...I agree with it one hundred percent.

[ExZit]

Good article...I agree with it one hundred percent.

me too..

if ur pimpin on the mic, do it 100% like suga free....

dont go from "big pimpin" to "me and my girl friend", like jay-z  

the commercialism of pimpin is as bad as the commercialism of c-walkin IMO..

[D.R.E.-Dogg]

Good article...I agree with it one hundred percent.

me too..

if ur pimpin on the mic, do it 100% like suga free....

dont go from "big pimpin" to "me and my girl friend", like jay-z  

the commercialism of pimpin is as bad as the commercialism of c-walkin IMO..

LoL I don't think that's what the article is tryin to say though.. I doubt they prefer a real pimp like Suga Free over a acting pimp like Snoop.. the reason they took Snoop as an example is that he's famous and got more influence cuz of a large audience

[ExZit]

Good article...I agree with it one hundred percent.

me too..

if ur pimpin on the mic, do it 100% like suga free....

dont go from "big pimpin" to "me and my girl friend", like jay-z  

the commercialism of pimpin is as bad as the commercialism of c-walkin IMO..

LoL I don't think that's what the article is tryin to say though.. I doubt they prefer a real pimp like Suga Free over a acting pimp like Snoop.. the reason they took Snoop as an example is that he's famous and got more influence cuz of a large audience

lol, i know.. i just added my own opinion... lol, suge free been a pimp since day 1 (as far as i know), but many rappers like nelly, snoop, 50 cent rides on "pimp thing" just becuase its popular and cool.. that kinda upsets me, because its gettin played out IMO  

i also agree with the article, but thought it would be cool if i expressed my own feelings about pimps   lol

[Black_Smoke]

Good article...I agree with it one hundred percent.

[Lincoln]

i think this article is about those who didn't become "Pimps" until they got rich & famous

[HiTmaNn47]

just like the fact that somebody calls Hip Hop a "dysfunctional culture", cause for me it is , at least here in germany