Watch: ‘What’s Pimpin’?’ Takes on Misogynoir in Bay Area Hip-Hop

Editor’s note: This story is part of That’s My Word, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history, with new content dropping all throughout 2023.

Picture this: You’re on the dance floor at a Bay Area function, and “Feelin’ Myself” by Mac Dre pumps through the speakers. The whole room erupts with joy, and everyone chants the lyrics: “I’m sicker than SARS / higher than Mars.” Then the beat stops and the crowd screams: “And I treat my bitch like an ATM card!”

There’s power in this ritual, which has been a mainstay at local clubs and house parties since Mac Dre’s hyphy anthem came out in 2004. The music allows us to partake in a collective experience, and to feel a sense of Bay Area pride at a crucial time when so many have been pushed out of this unaffordable region.

But, scratching below the surface, “Feelin’ Myself” and many of our beloved, local ’90s and 2000s anthems — Dru Down’s “Pimp of the Year,” D-Lo’s “No Hoe” — contain casual references to violence against and the exploitation of women.

Pimp culture is in Bay Area hip-hop’s DNA as much as the liberation politics of the Black Panthers. Some of the region’s earliest rappers based their personas on blaxploitation films like 1973’s The Mack, which was shot in Oakland and featured real-life pimps and sex workers. Not to mention, some of these original MCs were actual pimps. As hip-hop became a commercial force in the late ’80s, albums like Too Short’s Born to Mack helped define the Bay Area’s style and identity for the rest of the nation.

But considering that the Bay Area is an international hub for sex trafficking, this art reflects a dangerous reality.

In our new vodcast, What’s Pimpin’?, women rappers and activists Maddy Clifford (aka MADlines), Coco Peila and RyanNicole take back the mic. Across three episodes, the three hosts facilitate candid discussions about the disproportionate rates of violence Black women face, and how systemic racism and wealth inequality breed desperate conditions where pimp culture thrives. They also get deep, drawing from their personal experiences of moving through an Oakland rap scene that at times espouses both misogynistic and revolutionary ideals.

As Clifford writes in her essay, “It’s Time to Unpack Pimp Culture in Bay Area Hip-Hop,” pimp culture has roots in the exploitative power dynamics that have been part of American culture since colonialism and slavery: “We can sugarcoat the truth, but at the root, pimp culture is about exploitation. Ignoring this reality risks harming some of the most marginalized people in the Bay Area. I’m talking about poor folks, and about Black, brown and Indigenous women, in addition to LGBTQ people. I promise you, they’re already paying the ultimate price.”

Stay tuned for What’s Pimpin’? episodes two and three dropping on July 5 and July 12. — Nastia Voynovskaya, lead producer

If you or anyone you know is experiencing sexual violence, you can get free, confidential help from the RAINN hotline at 800-656-4673 or via chat at online.rainn.org. The National Human Trafficking Hotline is available at 888-373-7888 or via text message at 233733.