Pensacola Independent News

A&E | Vol 6, No. 12, March 23, 2006
(Grim Cadaver Trade)
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Mo’ Money

COMEDIAN EMBRACES PIMP STEREOTYPE

What: Katt Williams
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, March 26
Where: Pensacola Saenger Theatre, 118 S. Palafox Pl.
Cost: $38
Details: 595-3880 or www.kattwilliams.com

It's not hard out there for a pimp—at least it's not for Los Angeles-based comedian Katt Williams' street hustler alter ego Money Mike.

"I'm a fly guy," jokes Williams, who catapulted his "Friday After Next" character into a full-time career when he first hustle and flowed his way on the big screen in 2002.

"They gave me the leeway to adlib my own personality into Money Mike and make him distinctly mine," he says, phoning from his studio in Sherman Oaks, Calif. "And we were able to do that part without me slapping a woman or calling her a bitch."

Williams, son of an ex Black Panther and a childhood NAACP oratory champion, says he's taken an archetype vilified in blaxploitation films and television shows in the '70s and has reclaimed it in a comedic way for the African American community.

"Part of my responsibility was to do a character that has often been stereotyped in the past," he says. "The pimp role is about as original as a drug dealer in black movies. My whole thing is to take something that was once a negative and make something special out of it."

Money Mike, a flamboyant pimp turned retail entrepreneur in the flick starring Ice Cube, has taken on a life of his own.

In fact, Williams has become the go-to guy for the hip-hop community looking to add comedy to their raps and has successfully launched a line of clothing under his own "Secret Pimp Society" label. He's also a featured performer, once again as a pimp named Slickback, on the animated TV show based on the Aaron McGruder comic, "The Boondocks" and is a regular on "The Nick Cannon Show."

Williams, in a candid interview with the Independent News, discusses the controversy surrounding "The Boondocks," philosophizes about the current portrayal of African Americans in pop culture and chats about the backlash associated with "Hustle & Flow."

IN: Was it important for you not to portray Money Mike in a negative way?
WILLIAMS: Yes, the pimp stereotype has already been done. My whole thing was to really make Money Mike funny and to create a character people wanted to see. Considering the fact that we did that movie five years ago and people are still talking about it today, we did something right.

IN: You also played a pimp on 'The Boondocks.' Are you happy with the way the show turned out?
WILLIAMS: 'The Boondocks' is a fantastic show. It had the biggest premiere of any cartoon in the world. Anything that's good has to have controversy and things have to sometimes be offensive for them to mean anything. Aaron McGruder is a genius at that. I mean, this wasn't his first foray into controversy. He's the first black man to have a cartoon in a major newspaper and he knows his history.

IN: Well, what about the controversy surrounding Al Sharpton slamming the series for portraying Dr. Martin Luther King using the n-word?
WILLIAMS: Al Sharpton's job is to uphold the moral standards of his constituents. But his constituents weren't the ones watching this show. We still live in a free society and your freedom is in your remote control. It's very simple. If you don't like it, don't watch it.

IN: C'mon, isn't having King saying the n-word too much?
WILLIAMS: A lot of people get the show and that's what makes it successful. You're allowed to voice your opinion, but we have to remember that the n-word didn't start on 'The Boondocks.' Aaron McGruder didn't create that word. The word is going to be out there whether we like it or not. If you don't like it, maybe you're problem is really with white people. They created the word and have given it a negative connotation. On one hand, we've moved on from the past. On the other hand, we hear that word and go right back into slavery. So we, as a community, have to decide.

IN: How do you feel about the current portrayal of African Americans on TV?
WILLIAMS: There's always room for improvement. One of our biggest issues is that we're never happy. We never acknowledge how good it is. Of course it's better. Black people are huge now. We have our faces in everything, from sports to music to acting. We're in all of those arenas. Is it equal? Of course it's not equal. But it's better than it has ever been and it's getting better.

IN: What was the whole thing with the hip-hop group, Young Gunz, calling you a 'fake ass pimp' in their rap?
WILLIAMS: I don't know how it started. All I know if they had a song called 'Set It Off' and when you have a song with that title people expect you to do just that. And to have that type of energy and to only mention my name in the song, it was a problem for me. I answered it with a serious tone, because I was upset. I was also a little tongue-in-cheek, because I'm a comic. And the response wasn't responded to.

IN: So, the Young Gunz haven't responded to your retaliatory rap on The Game's 'Ghost Unit' yet?
WILLIAMS: No.

IN: What do you think about the movie 'Hustle & Flow' and the song 'It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp' winning an Oscar?
WILLIAMS: I think it was a great movie and it was a great song. The controversy right now is that people are thinking that blacks are given negative roles because we're winning awards for that kind of subject matter. They have to understand that the whole pimp thing, as it stands today, is far more positive than it ever was. If someone says they're pimpin' now, that doesn't have the same connotation. It doesn't mean that a man takes a woman and puts her out on the street and makes money from a woman selling her body. It's much more elevated than it ever was. Now, when you're pimpin', it means that you have your mind on your money.

IN: So, it's all about taking something negative and turning it into a positive.
WILLIAMS: Exactly.

sam@inweekly.net

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