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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Interview with Rosebudd from 25360 Blog

ROSEBUDD OF 'AMERICAN PIMP' FAME AND NEW 'KINGS' FEATURE DOCUMENTARY ANSWERS FIVE QUESTIONS WITH DAWHUD THOMAS



Rosebudd Bitterdose aka John Dickson is a living legend in the admired and simultaneously criticized and despised world of 'Pimpin'... Having gained additional fame for his scene-stealing charisma and story-telling in the cult classic documentary American Pimp (MGM, 1999), the already established street legend continues to shed light on the Game with his public speaking, his confidence course, a website (askrosebudd.com), and a weekly radio program. His latest projects are a new film, KINGS (summer 2015) along with a on-stage, one-man-show tour (Drop Of A Dime) scheduled for spring 2015 (both executive produced by fellow Bay Area legend, Andre Nickatina). Special correspondent, producer and cultural researcher, Dawhud Thomas sat down and posed 'Five Live' questions for Rosebudd to handle..

1) DT: With Pimping, we're obviously talking about what's considered vice, but many of the business principles used are those that white collar workers use day to day and... although considered unethical, they're somewhat socially acceptable and celebrated in films like 'Wolf of Wall Street' (on a side note, many of these white collar workers are customers.) What's your opinion of the hypocrisy of how your former profession is viewed?

RB: That really is a great question, but it's like everything else . . . I could care less about it. The things that are oxymorons in life, are everyday occurrences in my life. I have no illusions that what I do will be accepted by society, because society wants to believe everything but the truth. What PimP have you known to have women in a room, with no way to clean themselves, keeping them full of drugs and all of the other things that are associated with trafficking? It doesn't happen in PimP life, but that is what you will explain to everyone. But you want to know what does happen? Those people who tell their daughters that shit sends them to PimPs, because all a PimP has to do is show them that we are not like that and that fear you instilled in her becomes intrigue. We don't look like Huggy Bear, we are not interested in putting women on drugs. We are simply PimPs who have women who want to ho.


2) DT: We've seen many people that have started from the streets and used the knowledge they gained there in the boardroom (Jay-Z, for example). Have you found yourself using some of the lessons, experiences & knowledge from your former life in your current profession?

RB: There is not one thing I do in my life today that does not have a direct reflection on how I perceive life according to what I learned in the streets. I learned all about business, conflicts and dealing with a stacked deck in the streets and today, the only difference is the law is on most of the illegal activities side that I do now. When I was in the streets, I still had to use my head to see the benefits of any endeavor I tried, just as I had to suffer the consequences of something I didn't think all the way out.


3) DT: What's your opinion of the glorification of the game? Do you think Iceberg Slim, Blacksploitation films like Dolemite and rap artists like Too $hort are glorifying the Game or just slivers of the mirror reflecting the culture back at the world?

RB: I do not like the glorification that is present, because instead of glorifying the true Game, media is reinventing the Game in order to not offend people. They will still use the word PimP and ho, but they have made it meaningless so they can sell it. Then you have the youth entering the Game and are using these media driven definitions and they are diluting the Game until it is no longer recognizable. This is the intentions all along of the powers that be. PimPs are the only black men who defy and do not try to comply, regardless of how much money they have and white people hate that about us.


4) DT: In Holland we see the prostitutes have formed unions, have regular check ups, etc. This business model seems to give more power to the women working the red light district vs. what's considered the 'traditional' model. What's your opinion on regulation/legalization?

RB: I'm against it. Even in Nevada where it is legal, they have done everything they can to eliminate the PimP. Hos know the value of a PimP, but they suffer being blackballed if they have one. This is all racist. If it is a white man running a bunny ranch, he is ok, but if it is a black man with several hos, it's illegal. Do you know of any black man running a legal house of hos? Do you think there are no black people with enough money to afford whatever it is to operate one? It is all about the black PimP making people or showing them how not to conform.

5) DT: Like how heroin hit in the 70s. How did the crack era effect the environment... The Game, etc?

RB: Just as with any drug, crack came on the scene and devastated a lot of dudes, but in reality they were weak dudes anyway. I know vices comes in many forms and crack was just one. We all abused cocaine and had the choice of using crack to go to the next level of being high, but the real PimPs didn't really get into drugs for the sake of being high. We did that shit to be social and when you had to go to extremes to use it, it became about the drug and I wasn't having that; nor were the real PimPs having it either.

Dawhud Thomas is an acclaimed music producer, writer, Hip Hop aficionado and world traveler. He resides in the Pacific Northwest. Find him on Twitter: @dawhud.

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