Like A Pimp..........

Pimp culture is rather popular in today’s hip hop. Being a pimp is seen as the ultimate expression of black masculinity. Rappers like Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent deliver the age-old lesson that a good pimp never gives his bitches a dime. A pimp’s ability to make money from sale of their bodies, while giving them as little as possible determines the extent of his power. Not providing for women is thereby promoted as a marker of authentic manhood. While many argue that such rules are meant to be applied only to women labeled bitches and hoes, I do not frequently hear women referred to as much else in mainstream hip hop. Which ever way you look at it, the theme is a dangerous one to advance in a world in which many African-American households are headed by single-mothers.