Pimp Anthropology

This entire show is devoted to just one story. A former pimp tells how he and three childhood friends became pimps in the 1970s in Oakland, California. He explains all the elaborate "rules of the game" among pimps and prostitutes of that era. He didn't have the stomach for the violence of pimping, and failed as a pimp because of that. Tamar Brott reports. Prologue: Ira talks about the classic biography of an American pimp, Iceberg Slim's Pimp: The Story of My Life, and explains today's show. He warns listeners that although there's no sex in the show at all, there is a scene or two in which men hit women. (3 minutes) Rules Of The Game: How Kevin and his friends got into the game of pimping, and the rules of the game at the time. (30 minutes) The Price Of Ignoring The Rules: Kevin's story continues. We hear about his own rise and fall as a pimp, and how he failed in his attempt to be a different kind of pimp—a less cruel kind. (22 minutes)