Really Really Pimpin' in Da South

[Wilson Gray]

On Aug 4, 2004, at 11:22 PM, Baker, John wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Really Really Pimpin' in Da South
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
>         A recent opinion from a federal court of appeals has an
> extensive discussion of the Atlanta pimp community in the period from
> 1997 to 2001.  United States v. Pipkins, No. 02-14306 (11th Cir. Aug.
> 2, 2004).  Below is a portion of the opinion, including explanation of
> a number of the terms used by the pimps.  The portrayal of the pimps,
> and the lives they force upon their prostitutes, is profoundly
> unattractive, even more so in the remainder of the opinion than in
> this relatively short excerpt.  The two videos referred to seem to
> have been commercially available on VHS at one point.  The full
> opinion is available at
>
> http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/11th/0214306p.pdf
>
> John Baker
>
>
>
> <<To persuade underage females to prostitute for them, the Defendants
> (and other
> pimps charged in the indictment) presented a vision of ostentatious
> living, promising
> fame and fortune. Pimps perpetrated this myth with their own
> flamboyant dress,
> flashy jewelry, and exotic, expensive cars. To support this apparently
> extravagant
> lifestyle, each pimp kept a stable of prostitutes with a well-defined
> pecking order. At
> the top of each pimp's organization was his "bottom girl,"

"bottom woman" in L.A. in the "60's

>  a trusted and experienced prostitute or female associate. Next in the
> pimp's chain of command was a "wife-in-law,"

"wives-in-law" was the name of the set of women constituting a pimp's
stable in L.A. in the '60's, with no distinction in  rank.

> a prostitute with supervisory duties similar to those of the bottom
> girl. A
> pimp's bottom girl or wife-in-law often worked the track in his stead,
> running
> interference for and collecting money from the pimp's other
> prostitutes. The bottom
> girl also looked after the pimp's affairs if the pimp was out of town,
> incarcerated, or
> otherwise unavailable.

I've never known a pimp to be incarcerated or to leave town without his
'ho's. But, of course, I'm talking about the '60's in L.A.

>
> The pimps also recognized a hierarchy among their own. "Popcorn pimps,"
> "wanna-bes,"

not used in my day

>  and "hustlers"

just another word for 'ho's

>  were the least respected, newer pimps. A "guerilla
> pimp"

"gorilla pimp" in '60's L.A.

>  (as other pimps and prostitutes considered Moore) primarily used
> violence and
> intimidation to control his prostitutes. Others were regarded as
> "finesse pimps," who
> excelled in the psychological trickery needed to deceive juvenile
> females and to retain
> their services.

no use of juveniles

>  Finally, "players"

"What's happenin, player?": standard greeting from one pimp to another.
Also randomly used by any black guy to another.

>  (apparently, in this case, Pipkins) were successful,
> established pimps who were well-respected within the pimp brotherhood.
>
> Both pimps and prostitutes generally referred to their activities as
> "the game."

traditional term, "the (sporting) life still in use

> To the pimps, an important component of the game was domination of
> their females
> through endless promises and mentally sapping wordplay, physical
> violence, and
> financial control. The pimps created a system in which their
> prostitutes were
> incapable of supporting themselves or escaping their reliance on the
> pimp. A
> prostitute lived either in her pimp's home or in a room at a motel or
> boarding house

only the bottom-woman lived with the pimp; the others lived in ordinary
apartments like "square" chicks

> paid for by the pimp. The pimp provided clothes for his prostitute, as
> well as money
> for the prostitute to fix her hair and nails. The pimp also provided
> condoms to the
> prostitute, or money to buy condoms.

pimps paid for *nothing* for any of their 'ho's. It was up to the 'ho'
to find a way to get the money by "stealing" it - lying about how much
money she had made while on the stroll - from the pimp (hard to do,
since the bottom-woman watched out for that) or by whoring on her own
time during the day or by conning a "square" into supporting her

>  Also, the pimp frequently used threats of
> violence to control his prostitutes, or rewarded his prostitutes with
> drugs for meeting
> monetary goals. Other times, a pimp dispensed drugs to a prostitute to
> ensure that she
> was able to function through the night and into the early morning
> hours.

violence was not a "threat" but a certainty; no use of narcotics
permitted; alcohol and grass okay, if the 'ho' could find a square to
provide them

>
> The pimping subculture in Atlanta operated under a set of rules,
> presented in
> the video called Really Really Pimpin' in Da South. This videotape was
> made in
> Atlanta by Pipkins and Carlos Glover, a business associate. Really
> Really Pimpin'
> in Da South featured prominent Atlanta pimps, including Pipkins,
> explaining the rules
> of the game. This video, along with its companion piece, Pimps Up Hoes
> Down,
> outlined the pimp code of conduct, and was repeatedly shown to new
> pimps and
> prostitutes alike to concisely explain what was expected of a
> prostitute. The origin
> of Pimps Up Hoes Down is unknown. In essence, these videos taught that
> prostitutes
> were required to perform sexual acts, known as "tricks" or "dates,"
> for money.
> Prostitutes turned tricks in adult clubs, in parking lots, on
> mattresses behind local
> businesses, in cars, in motel rooms, or in rooming houses.

hot-pillow motels or rooming houses
>  A prostitute charged $30
> to $80 for each trick

$8 to $16 per trick, $50 for all night, prix fixe; higher for
non-blacks who had no way of knowing the standard fees

> , and was required to turn over all of this money to her pimp.

Duh!

>
> Some pimps gave their prostitutes a "quota" to earn over $1,000 a
> night.
> Despite the pimps best efforts to subjugate their prostitutes, the
> rules allowed
> a prostitute to move from one pimp to another by "choosing." This was
> accomplished
> by the prostitute making her intentions known to the new pimp, and
> then presenting
> the new pimp with money, a practice known as "breaking bread." The new
> pimp
> would then "serve" the former pimp by notifying him that the
> prostitute had entered
> his fold. The former pimp was bound to honor the prostitute's decision
> to choose her
> new pimp. A prostitute who frequently moved from pimp to pimp was
> known as a
> "Choosey Susie." And, a prostitute might "bounce" from pimp to pimp by
> moving
> among different pimps without paying for the privilege of choosing.

never heard of this; women were able to switch only if the new pimp
could physically dominate the old one

>
> Choosing another pimp was not without risk for the prostitute. A
> prostitute
> could be punished for merely looking at another pimp; this was
> considered "reckless
> eyeballing."

referred only to black men ogling white women, a lynching offense
behind the Cotton Curtain

>  Owner pimps apparently were afraid that if their prostitutes were
> sufficiently impressed with another pimp's vehicle, clothes, and
> manner, she might
> choose a new pimp.

Not a problem in L.A. back in the day

>
> Other rules governed a prostitute's conduct. She was required to
> surrender all
> of the money from her dates; if she did not, she would be guilty of
> "cuffing." She
> was also required to unquestioningly obey her pimp and treat him with
> respect; if she
> did not, she was "out of pocket." At the whim of her pimp, a
> prostitute was obligated
> to have sexual intercourse with him, another pimp, or even another
> prostitute.
>
> The pimps sometimes brutally enforced these rules.

*always* brutally enforced the rules; a pimp might break a bone, but
the 'ho' would be back on the stroll as soon as she got out of the
hospital, on crutches, if necessary

>  Prostitutes endured
> beatings with belts, baseball bats, or "pimp sticks" (two coat hangers
> wrapped
> together)

a wire coathanger wrapped in a handtowel

> . The pimps also punished their prostitutes by kicking them, punching
> them,
> forcing them to lay naked on the floor and then have sex with another
> prostitute while
> others watched, or "trunking" them by locking them in the trunk of a
> car to teach
> them a lesson.

if the pimp was in a good mood that day or was a "sweet" pimp, he might
stop with that

-Wilson Gray

>