AMERICAN PIMP
A NEW DVD OF EXTRA FOOTAGE FROM THE HUGHES BROTHERS PIMP DOCUMENTARY REINFORCES THAT PIMPS ARE SCUMMY ASSHOLES, BUT COMES WITH A DAMN GOOD CD SOUNDTRACK

In 1999, The Hughes Brothers released the documentary AMERICAN PIMP, and Shout! Factory has just issued a companion DVD full of extras that also comes with a CD soundtrack. 

Pimps have long been a staple in pop culture, particularly in numerous exploitation films of the 70s, but hip hop culture has embraced these unsavory characters as something more heroic.  Just like gunfighters, pirates, and serial killers tend to appeal to the masses over time, the media has glamorized these folks to the degree where they're cool.  It's hard to objectively review the whole American Pimp package, and ignore the fact that pimps are really fucked up evil assholes that don't deserve the heroic status they've achieved in works like this.  The Hughes Brothers are certainly presenting people that really exist, and claim they're just giving you a slice of life that we can't ignore, but there's very little of the down side shown here.

It's disappointing that the original DVD wasn't simply repackaged with this extra footage thrown on as special features.  I bet more than a few folks will buy this thinking they're getting the documentary with extras, and not just the extras.  These "Raw Outtakes" consist of poorly spoken pimps mumbling about how long they've been doing their thing, and their faux importance in the world. 

An interview with Snoop Dogg, which is purported to be "too incendiary" for the original release, is just 10 minutes of him talking about weed and how he idolized pimps growing up.  And the cinematography is something akin to what a drunk friend at a party with a camcorder would whip out.

Both the source documentary, and these extras, fail to show you the other side of the pimp world.  There's only so much posturing from these guys talking like Huggy Bear about "gettin' paid" and putting their ho's to work before it just turns in to a broken record.  A daring documentary would have had the women's side of the story, at least.

The soundtrack CD, however, which features a ton of vintage "hustling" music from the 70s, is almost worth the retail price by itself, and I recommend it highly.  With songs by The Ohio Players, Rick James, Curtis Mayfield, and Isaac Hayes, you'd be hard pressed to find a compilation CD out there with a better collection of groove artists.  Dialogue tracks from movies like "The Mack" and "Truck Turner" are fun, too.

With mainstream shows like "Pimp My Ride" and even Halloween costumes for 10 year olds (cleverly renamed "Cool Dude") available in catalogs, it's a shame that the youth of today looks as pimps as glamorous figures to emulate, instead of the predatory sleazy assholes that they are.

If you'd like to win a copy of this, email me at contests@retrocrush.com and I'll send it to a random winner on Friday.

COMIC CONSPIRACY
CARTOONISTS TEAM UP IN FANTAGRAPHICS' "THE BUSH JUNTA" TO EXPOSE THE HISTORY OF THE BUSH FAMILY

"The Bush Junta" is a great collection of stories told in comic book form about the darker skeletons in the Bush Family closet.  Far more incendiary that Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 documentary, Junta has the luxury of printed paper to make the facts and figures stick out with permanence.  And to lend credibility to the 24 stories within, there's an extensive bibliography to back it all up.  Granted, as is the case with many anti-conservative themed works, there's not likely many die-hard Bush supporters that would buy this book, but it makes for a spooky read for the Halloween season more chilling than a new Hannibal Lecter book could ever dream of.

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