Pimp

A pimp is an informal term for a man who runs a brothel or otherwise oversees prostitution. The female counterpart to a pimp is a madam, though this term is used almost solely with regard to brothels, as opposed to street prostitution. Typically, a pimp will solicit clients for, protect, and in other ways manage a prostitute in exchange for a commission on her earnings.

Pimps in popular culture

In the United States, urban pimps and prostitutes constitute a colorful and often overly dramatized subculture. This sub-culture has been portrayed, with varying accuracy, in a number of blaxploitation films. Typically, American pimps are shown dressed in wild, flashy clothes. American pimps are also known as "Macks" and often refer to their business as "The Game".

Related Topics:
Subculture - Blaxploitation

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American pimps, as depicted in blaxploitation films, would be seen driving customized Cadillacs or Lincolns - particularly Cadillac Eldorados (usually seen as pimpmobiles). The films Superfly and Willie Dynamite are good examples.

Related Topics:
Blaxploitation - Cadillacs - Lincolns - Cadillac Eldorado - Pimpmobile - Superfly - Willie Dynamite

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Most of these blaxploitation films portray pimps as people from a lower-class urban setting without a higher education, although this is not always the case.

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There have also been depictions of pimps in American films that have depicted pimps as coming from within the elite of society, such as the character portrayed by Eddie Albert in Robert Aldrich's film Hustle (1975).

Related Topics:
Eddie Albert - Robert Aldrich - Hustle - 1975

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The imagery of the pimp lifestyle has been popularized by hip-hop culture in recent years. Artists such as Snoop Dogg and Too $hort have paid obvious tribute to "The Game" in their work. Many hip-hop artists however have embraced a modern version of the pimp image in their music videos by including entourages of scantily-clad women, flashy jewellery and luxury automobiles.

Related Topics:
Snoop Dogg - Too $hort - Flashy jewellery

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In professional wrestling, Charles Wright portrayed "The Godfather", a pimp character, in the WWF/WWE in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Related Topics:
Professional wrestling - Charles Wright - Character - WWF/WWE

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Pimping and prostitution have also been themes in the popular culture of other nations, such as

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China, France, and Russia.

Related Topics:
China - France - Russia

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In Shakespearean times, the word "fishmonger" (someone who sells "fish") was a euphemism for a pimp. This may have been derived from the Biblical word "whoremonger," also used to refer to pimps.

Related Topics:
Shakespearean - "fish" - Euphemism - Biblical

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The term "pimp" is sometimes used figuratively, as in poverty pimp.

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Pimp can also be used as a verb such as "You're pimped up!" or "Pimp my ride", synonymous with being unique, "cool", or socially desirable (American slang). (The latter example refers to customizing an automobile, made popular by the show Pimp My Ride on MTV). It can also be used as an adjective connoting the same, i.e. "Man, that car's pimp!"

Related Topics:
Pimp My Ride - MTV

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