I think this is a good answer to my earlier thread on this topic.
Enjoy!
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PIMP OR WIMP?
Why Black Rappers Glorify the Pimp Mentality
by du ewa m. frazier
"I don't know what you heard about me, but you can't get a dollar out of me. No cadillacs, no perms, you can't see... that I'm a muthaf----n' P-I-M-P." 50 Cent's word is gold these days, or should I say platinum, as his influence is seen and heard on radio, television and print media, and in my seventh grade students, as they walk through our school's halls chanting 50's lyrics incessantly. Pimp. The very word is simple, menacing sounding, with not much substance to it.
Pimp has become synonymous with the name rapper these days. Whether it's in a music video, on a television show appearance, or in their lyrics, rappers just can't get enough of likening themselves to being pimps. We know the word to mean a man who manages the daily work of a prostitute and takes a percentage (if not all) of her or several women's earnings. We've seen the original "Shaft", actress Pam Grier's movies featuring gritty street pimp characters or even read the racy, hard edged tales of street and pimp life in books by Donald Goines. We know who pimps are, or rather who they used to be: slick, greased down cats, wearing lavish, attention getting suits, shoes, hats and coats, to match their bigger than life egos. And of course we cannot forget about their unforgettable pimp mode of transportation: the Cadillac, or "Caddy" as some would call it. The men we've heard of as being pimps are notorious for woman beating, drug and alcohol abuse, run-ins with the law and hardened personalities who womanize and seem to be proud of their distasteful interactions with women. Pimpin ain't easy. Pimp life can't be easy, after all, it is illegal, a sort of non-career for hustlers who make a career out of street life dealing and womanizing. Pimping, however uneasy it is, has gotten very popular as in mainstream popular. So mainstream, that it's become entertainment, a stereotype of Black men, a joke. HBO did a documentary on the pimp lifestyle, profiling rapper Ice-T, with his friends who have been pimps for years and the seemingly happy women they pimp.
The documentary showed pimps receiving awards, recognition and respect for the type of work they do. Yeah pimping ain't easy. Why do rappers claim the pimp mentality? Isn't it enough that they are creative individuals who get paid in large amounts of money, to write and recite rhymes? And what does"pimping" have to do with the rap game anyway?
Modern day , self proclaimed pimps in the hip hop industry, Jay Z, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and others not only have street credibility, street appeal, they now have suburban appeal, Hollywood appeal, which makes them mainstream, highly marketable pawns in a society which worships the almighty dollar and tells us that the American dream is possible, "by any means necessary", even if it means selling your identity as being a pimp. And so the pimp persona, allows some of our brothers to rhyme, style and profile in the process to take part in the so-called American dream, without threatening the status quo, which is keeping people of color deaf, dumb and blind to the mess that's being marketed and sold to our most valuable, our youth. Our rappers receive their stamp of approval, while talking nonsense, pseudo pimp giberish. The more self destructing, mindless, disrespecting and volatile a rapper is, the more accolades, admiration, popularity and press he receives.
No one in mainstream media, in Hollywood, in the music industry is disapproving of the pimp mentality in rap music today. Why? Because record executives, movie producers, and others who control the art, yet don't create it, are the ones who make money off of our rap artists ignorance and lack of integrity. It's that simple. So if calling yourself a pimp, translates into good old American dream dollars, then that is what is most appealing to a young, Black, up and coming rap artist today. It is the self degradation and the mindless "big pimpin" lyrics which translate into the new homes (seen MTV Cribs lately?), the bling-bling, the women, the music awards and the luxurious clothing and notoriety that rappers in this millenium, have grown accustomed to. Back in the day, more self respecting rappers such as KRS-1, Queen Latifah, Public Enemy, Rakim and others didn't have all the flash and cash which rappers do today, but they held true to who they were as artists, as artists of African descent, and they still receive a great amount of love and support from hip hop heads today.
And I might add that each of the artists above, are still successful, in their own way even if they're not churning out a new album every couple of months. The women today who pimped out rappers choose to give a few minutes of fame to, are talked about (in song lyrics) and even in print media, as though they are expendable, mere property that can be tossed away whenever it (she) is finished being used.
The pimp game in rap music has degraded Black women, women in color in general, treating them as mere puppets in videos and other performances, as the women are expected to wear little to no clothing (even if the camera blurs out their body parts), dance and pose in sexually provocative ways. No creativity, no imagination for our rappers' videos who claim "pimpdom" as their territory. The stand they've set for their female counterparts are low, as low as their consciousness. Video hoes, the female models or dancers, aren't seen as beautiful beings with a mind and spirit to match. They are seen as a pair of large breasts for fondling, long legs that caress stripper poles and warm insides used for the temporary enjoyment of a Black male pimp rap artist.
But why would Black male rappers who've achieved such mainstream status, celebrity and whom many of our Black youth look up to, prescribe to a mentality that has put many of our men behind bars, in a casket, caught in a labyrinth of unsafe sex, (leaving them open for HIV/AIDS and other diseases) and vulnerable to other random acts of violence? The answer is simple: Black male rappers, just like many Black people in general, are still searching for an identity which tells them they are valuable, good enough and powerful enough, beyond stereotypes and white fear, in order for them to get a substantial piece of the American dream pie. Through their diamond watches, platinum bracelets, Hummers and Bentleys, boats, bottles of Cristal and Courvosier and hundreds of pairs of sneakers and other expensive gear, Black rappers find identity, they find a reason to feel good about who they are as human beings. Rappers are now experiencing that they're hustle as artists can get them paid regardless as to whether their art uplifts, educates, provokes communal or social change from the many ills which plague the African American and outer communities. The more the Black rapper promotes a pimp mentality, through word and deed, the more of his manhood the loses, than he realizes.
So it seems rappers sell their souls to the highest bidder, forgetting that their own ancestors were once pimped, as their language, culture, spirit, land, pride, dignity and families were stolen from them. Slave masters oppressed and divided the Black family in many ways, one devastating way, was by using the Black man as a male buck, forcing him to mate , over and over with other females slaves, including his own female relatives. Slave masters would in turn have several female women pregnant at once and their children, born into slavery, would be used to work fields and any other labor , in order to bring in a higher monetary gain for the slave masters and their families. The white slave master was the first American pimp. Black rappers don't see their own creativity, access and cultural heritage, as power, as value enough, to turn a negative path and circumstance around. All they see is cash money and what they believe that their only power is, over the very material things that they own, which doesn't translate into true wealth when compared to the wealth that white Americans, descendants of slave owners who used hundreds of years of free Black labor to build economic growth and stability for their future heirs for generations to come.
The foreparents of today's Black male, platinum rap recording artists, would roll over in their graves if they viewed the irresponsible glamorization of sexual manipulation and misrepresentation of Black women, Black on Black violence, substance abuse and overall worship of money and material gain, in the name of pimping, which these rappers perpetuate today.
If Black rappers ever want to reclaim their true identity as modern day Kings, heirs to greatness beyond pimping, the first thing which needs to be done, is for them to shed the weak notion that the pimp mentality gives value to Black manhood.
DuEwa M. Frazier is a poet, author, performance artist and arts entrepreneur.
EMAIL: duewa_frazier@litnoirepublishing.com
