413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Competition Between Pimps
Pimping isn’t a team sport. I’m in competition with any other guy. I want your woman.
(G7)
Multiple respondents noted the independent nature of pimping; while 21 respondents worked alongside
partners, the majority of respondents reportedly worked alone. From the perspective of one pimp, “The
pimp business—you the most lonely man in the world. You don’t have too many male friends” (G3).
Respondents who reported working independently observed that pimping was a “solo” sport and avoided
partnerships. One respondent noted, “It is safer to work alone so if you are caught by police, you don’t
bring others down. I worked alone for ten years” (G5).
More often than concerns over safety and incrimination, respondents were deterred from developing
business relationships with other pimps by concerns that they would steal their employees. From one
pimp’s perspective, “Pimps are like eagles; they soar by themselves. They don’t hang around in groups. It
is a territory type of atmosphere … Other eagles are going to take birds out of your nest. It is a non-contact
sport” (G9).
Stealing employees was a common form of competition between pimps. One respondent explained it was
better not to maintain friendships with other pimps, because “You could be my friend, but if your ho
slippin’ up and choosing, it’s over man” (D13). Another respondent reported less amiable relationships
between pimps when employees departed one business for another. A woman who worked as a bottom
reported on how many of her pimp’s relationships with other pimps fell apart over employees: “Once he
was on the Internet, Myspace was big, maybe 20–30 guys [other pimps] he was talking to. They knew
each other, [and would] call each other up. But, he burned a lot of bridges. He’d make someone think
they’re friends, then he’d try and get their girls. [He was a] mass manipulator” (D21).
Pimps also explained that they frequently knew when their employees left to work for another pimp,
because the pimp might move in the same social circles. One pimp believed that employees who left him
would go to someone else “9 times out of 10” (A7). He went on to explain, “The social ring of it, you know
who is who, and you know all the people involved. [There is] no fighting over a girl. If she chose another
guy over me, then that’s fine. If another girl wants to go, then she pays 61 and goes to work for them” (A7).
Respondents did explain that relationships between pimps, while competitive, were generally not violent
or antagonistic: “It was always a healthy competition, always talk trash, talk game, like two guys betting
on basketball game. We’d clown on each other” (A1). At times, pimps maintained close friendships or even
partnerships, while simultaneously remaining competitive with one another.
Yet, competition could turn violent at times. One pimp explained how a competitive relationship with
another pimp escalated, to his own surprise:
It’s all in good fun, good competition. We weren’t trying to hurt each other. One incident,
this guy and I were competing hard. I had five hos. We was both getting money. He had
five or six hos, also. Me and him, we got in a heated competition … It was competition. I
met his hos. Pimps don’t argue with each other. It was competition like I am trying to win
his female, he’s trying to win mine.
When I’m on the X-pill [ecstasy], my conversation and swagger is just through the roof. I
am shopping at Neiman Marcus, first class everything, when I’m on X, smoking ‘dro
[marijuana], drinking Hennessy, my swag is through the roof. So I am out there like that,
and I see one of his chicks. You learn certain things ‘cause your hos kick it with his hos.
One point I was smashing so hard, by me trying to cop his bitches, he not liking what I am
saying. He had a little protégé, dude with him, enforcer. Once he found out something I
said … So he got mad about some things I was saying about him, like, “Y’all living in a
hotel, motel, my hos stay in a house.” I was renting a house. So [it] end up that he had his
61 Choosing fees are discussed in the above section regarding employee recruitment.
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