In 1952’s Black Skin, White Masks Frantz Fanon wrote about the masks people oftentimes wear in order to survive and excel. Most days, the business world is just one big costume party. This chapter is about the 7 of the most common masks I saw (and wore).
The Pimp
Pimps done left the streets, climbed the ivory tower suites,
now they runnin’ hoes in corporate track meets.
now they runnin’ hoes in corporate track meets.
Chicago has three great industries: Politics, Hustling, and Pimping. In the political arena, Chitown’s main mottos are still “Vote early, vote often” and “Jobs—that’s what family’s for.” Chicago’s got the best government money can buy. We’ll discuss hustling and politics in a bit, but for now, let’s talk pimps.
First off: Chicago didn’t invent pimping. Black people didn’t even invent pimping. From ancient China’s concubine system to the Greek and Roman empires to Europe’s medieval feudal system to the transatlantic slave trade to sharecropping, pimping has a storied past. America was practically built on pimping. We pimped the Native Americans right out of their land; we pimped Chinese immigrants into building railroads. And of course we pimped Blacks into slavery and then some. Today, America pimps immigrants into cheap labor on the home front while our multinationals pimp workers abroad. So if you see ever a street pimp and think “Oh, how sad,” know that he’s just carrying on our founding fathers’ legacy.
Next: Pimping has little to do with sex or gender; and not as much to do with race as it used to. The business world has female as well as male pimps. Some pimps have MBAs; others barely finish high school. Some pimps got started with family connections while others came up the hard way. Some pimps are entrepreneurs; others are CEOs and execs. But all good pimps have one thing in common: pimpnosis.
Pimpnosis is the street art of mind-games. And make no mistake: The business world is the major leagues of pimping—a sprawling maze of mind-games for power, profit, and position.
Growing up, pimps were as common as potholes and corner liquor-stores. Chicago birthed legends like Pimpin’ Ken… Don Juan… Robert Maupin (Iceberg Slim)... If these names sound foreign, just imagine Larry Flint or Hugh Hefner on a smaller, more urban scale and you’ll get the idea. (In fact, Hef was actually born in Chicago and Playboy was of course, based in Chi for decades.) Ignore the movies, and hip-hop bravado—they’re mostly fables and frauds. The truth on pimps (and hustling for that matter) starts with this:
First off: Chicago didn’t invent pimping. Black people didn’t even invent pimping. From ancient China’s concubine system to the Greek and Roman empires to Europe’s medieval feudal system to the transatlantic slave trade to sharecropping, pimping has a storied past. America was practically built on pimping. We pimped the Native Americans right out of their land; we pimped Chinese immigrants into building railroads. And of course we pimped Blacks into slavery and then some. Today, America pimps immigrants into cheap labor on the home front while our multinationals pimp workers abroad. So if you see ever a street pimp and think “Oh, how sad,” know that he’s just carrying on our founding fathers’ legacy.
Next: Pimping has little to do with sex or gender; and not as much to do with race as it used to. The business world has female as well as male pimps. Some pimps have MBAs; others barely finish high school. Some pimps got started with family connections while others came up the hard way. Some pimps are entrepreneurs; others are CEOs and execs. But all good pimps have one thing in common: pimpnosis.
Pimpnosis is the street art of mind-games. And make no mistake: The business world is the major leagues of pimping—a sprawling maze of mind-games for power, profit, and position.
Growing up, pimps were as common as potholes and corner liquor-stores. Chicago birthed legends like Pimpin’ Ken… Don Juan… Robert Maupin (Iceberg Slim)... If these names sound foreign, just imagine Larry Flint or Hugh Hefner on a smaller, more urban scale and you’ll get the idea. (In fact, Hef was actually born in Chicago and Playboy was of course, based in Chi for decades.) Ignore the movies, and hip-hop bravado—they’re mostly fables and frauds. The truth on pimps (and hustling for that matter) starts with this:
More than money, more than sex even, what people really want is power over another person.
—Gore Vidal
—Gore Vidal
The street pimp convinces you that the best thing you can do is make them happy. They convince you—usually thru words, sometimes actions that their happiness is your happiness; and their success is your success. And before you know it, you’ll do anything for your pimp. The Jedi mindtricks get so deep that when you screw up (i.e., come up short on money) you feel bad believing that your failure has hurt your pimp. And once your pimp sees that level of control in your eyes they know they’ve got you.
Corporate pimps run the same game. Your job isn’t to achieve specific goals for the company. Your job isn’t to win clients or complete your workload for the good of the company; your job is to make your pimp’s life easier. Your job is to make them look good in front of their boss, their clients, etc. Your biggest reward is having your pimp “give you the ball” so you can “run with it.” You become the workhorse while the pimp sits tall in the saddle cracking the whip. They go home at 5 or 6; you work ‘til 10pm.
Why? Gotta keep your pimp happy.
Everything else is just window dressing and semantics.
The biggest mind game pimps play is “to do for me is to do for us.” Everything you do isn’t for me, but for us. The pimp also reminds you that everyone except them is out to get you. It’s “us against the world.” In the workplace, the pimp talks about “being on board,” “being a team player,” or “taking one for the team” in order to get you to do what’s in their best interest, not yours. Check this jewel from Dr. Carter G. Woodson—it’s a nice bookend to Vidal’s:
Corporate pimps run the same game. Your job isn’t to achieve specific goals for the company. Your job isn’t to win clients or complete your workload for the good of the company; your job is to make your pimp’s life easier. Your job is to make them look good in front of their boss, their clients, etc. Your biggest reward is having your pimp “give you the ball” so you can “run with it.” You become the workhorse while the pimp sits tall in the saddle cracking the whip. They go home at 5 or 6; you work ‘til 10pm.
Why? Gotta keep your pimp happy.
Everything else is just window dressing and semantics.
The biggest mind game pimps play is “to do for me is to do for us.” Everything you do isn’t for me, but for us. The pimp also reminds you that everyone except them is out to get you. It’s “us against the world.” In the workplace, the pimp talks about “being on board,” “being a team player,” or “taking one for the team” in order to get you to do what’s in their best interest, not yours. Check this jewel from Dr. Carter G. Woodson—it’s a nice bookend to Vidal’s:
When you control a man’s thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him to stand here or to go yonder, he will find his proper place and stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door; he will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit.
Here’s a fun example for all the marketing and fashion fans out there:
By the time she’s 4 years old the average black woman has had her hair straightened. It’s a long, often painful process that can involve lye, perms, relaxer kits, hotcombs, etc. Since the late 1800s, black women across the world have straightened their hair—and these days, gone blonde—for the same reason many black men got Jheri curls, waves or shaved heads: Black hair is ugly.
We’ve convinced people, women in particular that that Black hair in its natural state is ugly while straight hair, particularly straight blonde hair, is the pinnacle of beauty. In fact, words like “nappy” and “kinky” are often code for “ugly” or “unkempt” while Afros have become somewhat of a joke. As a result, Black women voluntarily spend millions of dollars every year mimicking the Anglo hairstyles they’ve been force-fed as the standard of beauty their entire lives. And when the time comes, they pass those standards onto their daughters who see it reinforced by marketers, media and the larger society. (Now how’s that for mind control and staying in your proper place?)
By the time she’s 4 years old the average black woman has had her hair straightened. It’s a long, often painful process that can involve lye, perms, relaxer kits, hotcombs, etc. Since the late 1800s, black women across the world have straightened their hair—and these days, gone blonde—for the same reason many black men got Jheri curls, waves or shaved heads: Black hair is ugly.
We’ve convinced people, women in particular that that Black hair in its natural state is ugly while straight hair, particularly straight blonde hair, is the pinnacle of beauty. In fact, words like “nappy” and “kinky” are often code for “ugly” or “unkempt” while Afros have become somewhat of a joke. As a result, Black women voluntarily spend millions of dollars every year mimicking the Anglo hairstyles they’ve been force-fed as the standard of beauty their entire lives. And when the time comes, they pass those standards onto their daughters who see it reinforced by marketers, media and the larger society. (Now how’s that for mind control and staying in your proper place?)
