In the alternative world created in black ghetto culture, the biggest hero is the pimp. Exploiting the fact that many black women cannot find a better job than prostitution, and the fact that many white men regard the black female as the utmost fantasy, the ghetto pimps form financial empires, and live like kings. For many ghetto kids, the pimp is the best lifestyle you can aspire to. According to the myth, the pimp in the man, so virile that he can make any woman do his will and work for him, thus yanking loads of dough from the Man and living the American dream without bowing to the system. The pimps are also known for their sense of style, for their colorful homes, clothes and cars, and are considered icons of cool. Iceberg Slim, a pimp who talked about his conquests in books and albums from the seventies onwards, became such a street-hero that several rappers named themselves after him. The fact that all of this entailed the exploitation of their black sisters didn't really bothers these guys – the entire African-American culture was plagued with extreme male chauvinism.
We've mentioned the positive changes that happened over the years, and the big change caused by the sexual revolution of the turn of the millennium. This change could be seen in the image of the pimp as well. While nineties gangsta-rap drew mainly from violent gang life, in the naughties it became more sexy, and the pimp played a more central role. And again, the hip-hop artists affected a more elaborate view on this particular lifestyle. In this record there is no double-meaning, and Jay-Z is just pimping it, repeating all the clichés, but the clip shows something else. There are many hot chicks here, to show that Jay-Z is a big pimp, but there is no hint of exploitation: they are just dancing and having fun. The pimp is beginning to be transformed here into someone who uses his legendary virility not to enslave women, but to make them feel good. This was the first time I felt a change in the image of the pimp, and in the following years, some more elements connected to it got sublimated and became more positive. Thus, the TV show Pimp My Ride reshaped cars in the pimp style, and the term "pimping" started to mean: tinker in a colorful way. This process strips the pimp image of its unique traits, and deflates the myth.
It had a negative side as well. As always, most people were unable to discern the moral from the immoral, and the pimp's bigger acceptability caused the immoral sides of his profession to find their way to the screen as well. In the pimped vids of 50 Cent and the likes, there is abuse and exploitation of women. But pop's history shows that there's something good about that as well: when you bring something up from the underground to the light of the Sun, the public's bigger awareness of it makes it discuss it more, and the process eventually cleans it up. The larger public awareness to the pimp will compel street culture to deal with its attitude to women, and I expect to see that in the coming decade.
Anyway, the man who pimped this record is Timbaland, in a brilliant production that samples Arab belly-dance music. And Jay-Z, as always, is right on the money.
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