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Pimpology: The 48 Laws of the Game
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- GenresNonfictionPhilosophyLove
184 pages, Hardcover
First published July 24, 2007
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1515 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
May 5, 2020
I'm wondering: can I unsee this one?
Q:
This ho was in it to win it. Not only did she motivate the next worthy ho who wanted a rise in the game, but she set the standard for my pimpin'. I called her Ivy, because she made me a much better pimp. She helped me elevate my pimpin'. (c) I'm not kidding. This is a direct quote and it somehow is very much alike the corporate BS. And there is a lot more!
There is a lot about 'true leaders'.
About making 'the shit happen'.
About how 'You set the standards and the trends people follow'...
And so on and on and on... Whoa?
What the hell? I don't know who was trolling whom while writing this 'pimpology' stuff but it's either pimps that decided to go corporate on the readers' asses or it's management consultants who decided to take some generics on prostitution and make it relevant to corporate woes.
However entertaining this might be (heavy emphasis on might!), it's a DNF.
Q:
This ho was in it to win it. Not only did she motivate the next worthy ho who wanted a rise in the game, but she set the standard for my pimpin'. I called her Ivy, because she made me a much better pimp. She helped me elevate my pimpin'. (c) I'm not kidding. This is a direct quote and it somehow is very much alike the corporate BS. And there is a lot more!
There is a lot about 'true leaders'.
About making 'the shit happen'.
About how 'You set the standards and the trends people follow'...
And so on and on and on... Whoa?
What the hell? I don't know who was trolling whom while writing this 'pimpology' stuff but it's either pimps that decided to go corporate on the readers' asses or it's management consultants who decided to take some generics on prostitution and make it relevant to corporate woes.
However entertaining this might be (heavy emphasis on might!), it's a DNF.
August 27, 2012
Pimpin' Ken tries to pass off his book saying in life there are pimps and hos - people who do the controlling and those who are controlled. He attempts to sell the notion that his experience being a pimp in the sex trade can be used to teach others about how to succeed in life in general. Every chapter (or "law") begins with an example from "The Life" (i.e. his experience as a pimp in the sex trade) and ends with an "Ism" or his lesson for others in life.
While I think Pimpin' Ken is disgusting and his lessons for life/sex trade (depending on the perspective of the reader) are misogynistic, the book does provide some interesting insight into pimp culture (Pimpin' Ken mentions many popular recording artists) and pimp-controlled prostitution.
While I think Pimpin' Ken is disgusting and his lessons for life/sex trade (depending on the perspective of the reader) are misogynistic, the book does provide some interesting insight into pimp culture (Pimpin' Ken mentions many popular recording artists) and pimp-controlled prostitution.
April 25, 2011
This book actually has some very crucial information that would benefit a lot of people in the business world. some of the nuggets of wisdom I gleaned from this treasure-trove of a book include:
1). The best gifts aren't handed to people, but are shown to people, so they can work for themselves.
2). To be valued, the key is not to give, but to receive - the more, the better.
3). A bitch's weakness is a pimp's sweetness. (this is my favorite line)
4). People tend to act the way they look, so make sure you look like a winner.
And tons more. Pimpin' Ken is actually legit. He has produced a movie and is out there in mainstream media. Look him up. Enjoy.
1). The best gifts aren't handed to people, but are shown to people, so they can work for themselves.
2). To be valued, the key is not to give, but to receive - the more, the better.
3). A bitch's weakness is a pimp's sweetness. (this is my favorite line)
4). People tend to act the way they look, so make sure you look like a winner.
And tons more. Pimpin' Ken is actually legit. He has produced a movie and is out there in mainstream media. Look him up. Enjoy.
January 6, 2026
This is Think and Grow Rich on a street level. To sum it up: "If you have a product, people won't buy it unless the total package looks good. So much attention is paid to presentation for one purpose—if you can appeal to a customer's fantasies, he will buy what you're selling. - Pimpin' Ken
*If you're a feminist, sensitive to vulgar language, or are prone to be judgemental towards street life and people you don't understand, DO NOT read this, because you will fail to receive the wisdom.
*If you're a feminist, sensitive to vulgar language, or are prone to be judgemental towards street life and people you don't understand, DO NOT read this, because you will fail to receive the wisdom.
December 11, 2011
First off, there is very little on this Earth I hate more than a pimp. They are opportunistic slave owners. I picked up this book because I had great interest in understanding how a pimp gains power over another person to the point that they make them do anything they ask. This book certainly didn't deliver that. Instead it offered a set of lessons that this individual learned through this lifestyle. These lessons have their value. I am always interested in the empirical knowledge of people in all walks of life.
February 4, 2024
It's an open secret that the original pickup stuff drew inspiration from American pimps of the 1970s, and it's no surprise, if you intend to learn merely how to get laid for free, why not go to the folks who managed not only to seduce women into their bedrooms but also make them dedicate their entire livelihood and dignity for the sake of his approval?
I've been peripherally aware of the concept of pimps and hoes, but to sit down and read about it exposed this mind-boggling world so vividly to me, that it's almost incomprehensible.
To illustrate how absurdly different this world is from “normality”, Pimping Ken writes about a lady called “Blowjob Kathy,” who told a pimp that she’d be his hoe if he let her give him a thousand dollars and blow job, yes, she had to pay him, but despite this generous offer, he refused it because his he only accept her as her slave if she paid him $2.500, and to put salt on the wound, she was not be allowed to give him a blowjob, and had to earn that privilege by an entire year of "hoing" for him.
It's fascinating that the women are willing to go out to do physically and mentally exhausting work, not to mention the fact it undermines their dignity, to earn a substantial amount of money which they happily give away to a man they call "Daddy," a man dressed in colorful suits, and strange looking hats.
The premise of the book is that it's supposed a general self-help book, showing how the pimp-hoe dynamic is not exclusive to their very peculiar subculture, where on one hand, there are extraordinarily co-dependent females and extremely charismatic, narcissistic, and manipulative exploiters on the other, but rather, varying degrees of this dynamic exists elsewhere, in normal-everyday life. To a degree, people are insecure, afraid of the unknown, and are averse to ambiguity, and would like to trade a significant part of their freedom to have someone else take care of those concerns.
An example of this is the hourly wage worker. While prostitution seems to be a uniquely undignifying work, if we decide to take the progressive, liberal attitude that a woman’s worth is not merely in her sexuality, but more essentially in her phenomenology -- her conscious being-in-time -- it goes to reason that selling one’s time for money is the primary issue of dignity - regardless of what sort of service you’re providing during that time, whether it be cognitive work, physical labor or sexual services.
Now, let’s talk about morals…Pimpin Ken said something interesting:
“Whatever you tell somebody you better think about it before it comes out of your mouth. Because if you say it you have to deliver. They say honesty is the best policy. That doesn’t mean you have to say the whole truth - but you have to keep it real, with yourself if no one else.”
He continues…
“Lying shows a lack of character and an inability to face reality. There are better ways of manipulating a person than to lie.”
Pimping Ken says “Lying shows a lack of character” yet, he contradicts himself when he recommends lying, for example when he bragged about how he lied to his hoes about the fact he had other hoes in many different cities, to make them feel special about how much time he spends with them.
Another instance is when he made a deal with a fur coat dealer, having him set the price tag for 10.000 dollars instead of 1.000 for a fur coat. So, he would enter the shop the next with the hoe, and she would fall in love with the coat, and the hoe would work for it, feeling super motivated, she would “hoe like crazy” for it, and the pimp would earn $9.000 because of his sheer intelligence.
People who go to great lengths to not lie by avoiding stating things that are not true, but instead, deceive people by twisting words and confabulating creative misunderstandings deliberately and omitting things to control the person's reality --- all in a desperate effort to have a clear conscience of not “lying.” This is, obviously, a very shallow and archaic understanding of what honesty entails.
Because this book is in many ways Pimpin Ken’s legacy, and I had no doubt it had been read perhaps by a hundred people before its publication, it's embarrassing how his contradiction is painfully obvious.
But, let's see if we can unpack this so we can avoid unnecessarily cringing ourselves to death. Perhaps there is some sort of implicit “meta-message,” namely that you should try to appear as if your word means something by explicitly saying so, buuuut... in reality abusing the trust you set others out to believe. Or ... you could interpret this contradiction in his book as you need to always put yourself in a good light, so by example, you should say that you appear honest, so people can trust you and do business with you, but you can give an example of dishonesty if it shows how smart you are, because people also want to do business with smart people.
You could interpret books like this one, which Donald Trump’s “Art of the Deal” would fall into the same category as, is more about showing, not telling. Meaning, it's not the meaning of words you need to listen to, but how it is delivered that is the message.
So, perhaps Pimpin Ken is sending a subliminal message to the reader that “You need to tell people” like in the book “that you value honesty, but in reality, you must deceive them.”
So, while you could try to read this as if you’re trying to decipher the Kantian ethical framework and spot inconsistency, like a socially awkward left-hemisphered logistician, I would say you could also interpret this as 4D chess, done somewhat unconsciously, automatically, the internal genius of the extremely dark triad types.
Sam Harris had a nice point about guys like Trump and Andrew Tate. They are charismatic due to the strange ethical consistency due to their deception, manipulation, and purely egoistic character being so obvious and ruthless that they become in a weird roundabout way, more trustworthy than the people who hide these aspects of themselves.
There is some undeniable truth in this, as I believe every human being has egoistic drives, at some "level of consciousness," "layer of being" like the onion layer of paradigms of the self Ken Wilber talks about.
Of course, Trump is somehow transcending the paradigm of lies or truth and instead operates on bullshit. He calls his social media “Truth social” while in his autobiography he triumphantly recommends deception.
So while there is a virtue and strength and authenticity to owning up to one’s egoism, this isn’t to say that Trump, Tate, and Pimpin Ken are ideal, but it’s important to recognize why they are attractive, as a contrast the typical “virtue signaling” fake kindness and altruism and inauthenticity... "The trick's in her ear sayin' they think about her."
I suppose we can learn from these figures by learning that it’s better to be honest about your dark side, be honest about your dishonesty, honest about your egoism, rather than pretending otherwise.
Another way to put it is that people are so starved of authenticity that they fly like moths into a flame when they see someone exhibiting it, although this authenticity is limited and far from ideal. It is as if we are attracted to bullshit because at some level we recognize that everyone is bullshitting. Still, at least they are doing it so blatantly obvious, that it becomes charismatic.
Anyways.
While it is impressive that Ken made all his hoes work on Christmas so he could get a new Benz, it makes me wonder, who’s Pimpin Ken’s pimp? He talks about giving his hoes an artificial goal to strive against, for example, the fur coat, but it seems to me someone has done the same to Ken. It seems like when you’re in this paradigm of pimp-hoe, there is an infinitely recursive relationship, where one’s pimp is another’s hoe.
Ken is busting his ass handling all these women, and then he goes to the casino and gambles it away, spending it on luxurious cars and clothes. It seems like shallow ideals from consumer culture are pimping the pimps. Seems like Pimpin Ken’s is actually a hoe, and Satan is his pimp. Or at the very least, the people’s approval that he’s so desperate to gain by flashing his Mercedes Benz.
I found it an eye-opening peak into a strange world, and while it's written as a self-help book, it's just Pimpin' Ken's personal tribute.
As for any influence on me personally, I didn't get much value out of the book, but reading this has made me ever so slightly more hesitant to feel shame about my reluctance to pay for the woman at dinner dates. #pimpstarlife #alphamale #hiphop
You know what I’m saying? …
I've been peripherally aware of the concept of pimps and hoes, but to sit down and read about it exposed this mind-boggling world so vividly to me, that it's almost incomprehensible.
To illustrate how absurdly different this world is from “normality”, Pimping Ken writes about a lady called “Blowjob Kathy,” who told a pimp that she’d be his hoe if he let her give him a thousand dollars and blow job, yes, she had to pay him, but despite this generous offer, he refused it because his he only accept her as her slave if she paid him $2.500, and to put salt on the wound, she was not be allowed to give him a blowjob, and had to earn that privilege by an entire year of "hoing" for him.
It's fascinating that the women are willing to go out to do physically and mentally exhausting work, not to mention the fact it undermines their dignity, to earn a substantial amount of money which they happily give away to a man they call "Daddy," a man dressed in colorful suits, and strange looking hats.
The premise of the book is that it's supposed a general self-help book, showing how the pimp-hoe dynamic is not exclusive to their very peculiar subculture, where on one hand, there are extraordinarily co-dependent females and extremely charismatic, narcissistic, and manipulative exploiters on the other, but rather, varying degrees of this dynamic exists elsewhere, in normal-everyday life. To a degree, people are insecure, afraid of the unknown, and are averse to ambiguity, and would like to trade a significant part of their freedom to have someone else take care of those concerns.
An example of this is the hourly wage worker. While prostitution seems to be a uniquely undignifying work, if we decide to take the progressive, liberal attitude that a woman’s worth is not merely in her sexuality, but more essentially in her phenomenology -- her conscious being-in-time -- it goes to reason that selling one’s time for money is the primary issue of dignity - regardless of what sort of service you’re providing during that time, whether it be cognitive work, physical labor or sexual services.
Now, let’s talk about morals…Pimpin Ken said something interesting:
“Whatever you tell somebody you better think about it before it comes out of your mouth. Because if you say it you have to deliver. They say honesty is the best policy. That doesn’t mean you have to say the whole truth - but you have to keep it real, with yourself if no one else.”
He continues…
“Lying shows a lack of character and an inability to face reality. There are better ways of manipulating a person than to lie.”
Pimping Ken says “Lying shows a lack of character” yet, he contradicts himself when he recommends lying, for example when he bragged about how he lied to his hoes about the fact he had other hoes in many different cities, to make them feel special about how much time he spends with them.
Another instance is when he made a deal with a fur coat dealer, having him set the price tag for 10.000 dollars instead of 1.000 for a fur coat. So, he would enter the shop the next with the hoe, and she would fall in love with the coat, and the hoe would work for it, feeling super motivated, she would “hoe like crazy” for it, and the pimp would earn $9.000 because of his sheer intelligence.
People who go to great lengths to not lie by avoiding stating things that are not true, but instead, deceive people by twisting words and confabulating creative misunderstandings deliberately and omitting things to control the person's reality --- all in a desperate effort to have a clear conscience of not “lying.” This is, obviously, a very shallow and archaic understanding of what honesty entails.
Because this book is in many ways Pimpin Ken’s legacy, and I had no doubt it had been read perhaps by a hundred people before its publication, it's embarrassing how his contradiction is painfully obvious.
But, let's see if we can unpack this so we can avoid unnecessarily cringing ourselves to death. Perhaps there is some sort of implicit “meta-message,” namely that you should try to appear as if your word means something by explicitly saying so, buuuut... in reality abusing the trust you set others out to believe. Or ... you could interpret this contradiction in his book as you need to always put yourself in a good light, so by example, you should say that you appear honest, so people can trust you and do business with you, but you can give an example of dishonesty if it shows how smart you are, because people also want to do business with smart people.
You could interpret books like this one, which Donald Trump’s “Art of the Deal” would fall into the same category as, is more about showing, not telling. Meaning, it's not the meaning of words you need to listen to, but how it is delivered that is the message.
So, perhaps Pimpin Ken is sending a subliminal message to the reader that “You need to tell people” like in the book “that you value honesty, but in reality, you must deceive them.”
So, while you could try to read this as if you’re trying to decipher the Kantian ethical framework and spot inconsistency, like a socially awkward left-hemisphered logistician, I would say you could also interpret this as 4D chess, done somewhat unconsciously, automatically, the internal genius of the extremely dark triad types.
Sam Harris had a nice point about guys like Trump and Andrew Tate. They are charismatic due to the strange ethical consistency due to their deception, manipulation, and purely egoistic character being so obvious and ruthless that they become in a weird roundabout way, more trustworthy than the people who hide these aspects of themselves.
There is some undeniable truth in this, as I believe every human being has egoistic drives, at some "level of consciousness," "layer of being" like the onion layer of paradigms of the self Ken Wilber talks about.
Of course, Trump is somehow transcending the paradigm of lies or truth and instead operates on bullshit. He calls his social media “Truth social” while in his autobiography he triumphantly recommends deception.
So while there is a virtue and strength and authenticity to owning up to one’s egoism, this isn’t to say that Trump, Tate, and Pimpin Ken are ideal, but it’s important to recognize why they are attractive, as a contrast the typical “virtue signaling” fake kindness and altruism and inauthenticity... "The trick's in her ear sayin' they think about her."
I suppose we can learn from these figures by learning that it’s better to be honest about your dark side, be honest about your dishonesty, honest about your egoism, rather than pretending otherwise.
Another way to put it is that people are so starved of authenticity that they fly like moths into a flame when they see someone exhibiting it, although this authenticity is limited and far from ideal. It is as if we are attracted to bullshit because at some level we recognize that everyone is bullshitting. Still, at least they are doing it so blatantly obvious, that it becomes charismatic.
Anyways.
While it is impressive that Ken made all his hoes work on Christmas so he could get a new Benz, it makes me wonder, who’s Pimpin Ken’s pimp? He talks about giving his hoes an artificial goal to strive against, for example, the fur coat, but it seems to me someone has done the same to Ken. It seems like when you’re in this paradigm of pimp-hoe, there is an infinitely recursive relationship, where one’s pimp is another’s hoe.
Ken is busting his ass handling all these women, and then he goes to the casino and gambles it away, spending it on luxurious cars and clothes. It seems like shallow ideals from consumer culture are pimping the pimps. Seems like Pimpin Ken’s is actually a hoe, and Satan is his pimp. Or at the very least, the people’s approval that he’s so desperate to gain by flashing his Mercedes Benz.
I found it an eye-opening peak into a strange world, and while it's written as a self-help book, it's just Pimpin' Ken's personal tribute.
As for any influence on me personally, I didn't get much value out of the book, but reading this has made me ever so slightly more hesitant to feel shame about my reluctance to pay for the woman at dinner dates. #pimpstarlife #alphamale #hiphop
You know what I’m saying? …
June 22, 2020
A short and concise interpretation on Robert Greene’s 48 laws of power but in a pimps way. I found the book fascinating with mind boggling information and also the dynamic between real life and pimping.
It gave me a different view on things and Pimpin Ken dropped some real nuggets. He always proclaimed in the book that it’s not about becoming a pimp but possessing the mindset of a pimp. To own, control and not get used.
It gave me a different view on things and Pimpin Ken dropped some real nuggets. He always proclaimed in the book that it’s not about becoming a pimp but possessing the mindset of a pimp. To own, control and not get used.
August 22, 2015
Informative look at the mindset of a "successful" pimp. Heartbreaking. there is so much to think about concerning prostitution, black culture, slavery past and present, mysogeny, abused girls, and the politics of the American cultural kingdom.
September 29, 2007
Loved the pimping references tied to real life. Beleive it or not, I'll be using some of this when it's time to get a job! I enjoyed the break from my regular books.
February 8, 2012
Worthless, basically. Ken just restates witty sayings from much smarter people and applies it to his horrifying industry. Don't waste your time. Read a real self help book instead.
February 9, 2020
I hated this book, but it was useful in understanding sex trafficking from the pimp’s perspective, which is why I read it (and the only reason I can see to read it).
August 5, 2023
Well, it is what it is. A sociopath describing his crooked schemes.
October 17, 2023
I saw the documentary that the author was involved in a long time ago on tv and couldn't believe the decadence and the way these men were talking and the craziness that was the stroll back in the 80's. This got me curious about this book.
When he talks about how Pimpin is a game that all the Corporations and Governments, etc, use as a way to pocket all the cash, I can understand the concept but when it's used for women my walls go up.
The author is so callous, matter of fact and disregarding, and knows that to have women give him all their money he needs to expoit them and control them and that really pissed me off. He/they take advantage of the weak and take them for all they got. He blames the women because they chose this life, yet we know these are traumatized women and sometimes this life is all they know. He talks about this like it's a perfectly normal thing to do and I suppose in his world it is and it is for Governments and Corportations as well. It's what he knows from his family life.
I felt disturbed by the attitude and how he writes about women but I'm not unhappy I read the book since I was curious to know what his 'rules' were.
When he talks about how Pimpin is a game that all the Corporations and Governments, etc, use as a way to pocket all the cash, I can understand the concept but when it's used for women my walls go up.
The author is so callous, matter of fact and disregarding, and knows that to have women give him all their money he needs to expoit them and control them and that really pissed me off. He/they take advantage of the weak and take them for all they got. He blames the women because they chose this life, yet we know these are traumatized women and sometimes this life is all they know. He talks about this like it's a perfectly normal thing to do and I suppose in his world it is and it is for Governments and Corportations as well. It's what he knows from his family life.
I felt disturbed by the attitude and how he writes about women but I'm not unhappy I read the book since I was curious to know what his 'rules' were.
August 18, 2020
Play ya hoes against each other. Get inside a hoe's mind and get comfortable pulling on the strings, make her dance like a used up puppet. Moral of the story: If you're a pimp, you've got to accept the fact that hoes are fundamentally tricky, and they WILL try to scam you out of green, if they can. So, it's your responsibility to break a hoe mentally (which shouldn't be too hard), and build her back up again to be the way you want her to be, and the way you want her to be is the way that results in the most money for you, the pimp. Never trust these hoes, always remember money is the bottom line, don't get mad at another pimp if he jacks your hoe- instead, look to yourself and think about where you went wrong etc. Make your hoe think you love her. Train your bottom bitch well, but talk to a hoe that's slacking in private and trick them into thinking you don't trust the bottom bitch, and that you want her to be the new top dog, if only she'd make more money for you. I'm not saying any of it's right, but it's the way it is.
July 17, 2024
I do find the 1 star reviews by middle aged snow bunnies hilarious. Hunny, you aren't the target market!
Pimpology gets 4 stars because Pimpin Ken and Karen Hunter seem to run out of laws after about law 30. The final third of the book was a snooze and felt like filler material. The first half though - some of the funniest material I've read in a long time!
Pimpology gets 4 stars because Pimpin Ken and Karen Hunter seem to run out of laws after about law 30. The final third of the book was a snooze and felt like filler material. The first half though - some of the funniest material I've read in a long time!
September 4, 2017
It is a street flavoured business book. Each chapter was pretty direct and gets straight to the point, with a few generic pointers which could be applied to a wide range of situations. Nonetheless still a fun read if you can look past the pimping part of it, especially if you do not like vices.
February 22, 2018
Weird, straight, and fun. You can apply most of it in real work environment..
May 1, 2019
To run a successful business of Marketing I made sure I understood the aspect of how people controlled in all visuals.
February 16, 2020
Good shit
September 7, 2020
4 the era it was written 4, the Game was essential.
June 20, 2021
Excellent book 📖 great information. Highly, recommended buy it and read it. Pay no mind to the bad reviews. The book is absolutely amazing.
September 11, 2021
Turns out I’ve acted like a hoe this whole time..
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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September 1, 2022Stay away from Gorillas and Godzillas! My favorite chapter and truer words could have never been spoken. These laws were relative and anyone who takes time to read it, can get the ism out of it all
October 23, 2022
Not so impressed. Name dropping & pictures were lovely and eye catching. Some life lessons were insightful, but too few. I wish there had been more substance.
December 16, 2022
One of my favorite books! Revisited multiple times throughout my journey.
July 14, 2024
Very interesting and gave me a new perspective on things
November 25, 2024
Been improving my campaign and be flexing on new turnouts. I must keep it up to mastert the acts of pimpin and get that pink cat
April 2, 2025
Very good book, informative and entertaining. A must read for everyone.
June 1, 2025
5 stars. Not because it was a masterpiece, but because for what it was, it was absolutely amazing. A real romp. Thank you, Pimpin Ken.
August 7, 2018
I'm almost certain that any women that reads this book will leave a negative comment.
The book is entertaining to read and definitely paints a picture of the pimp game in the 80's and 90's.
The book is entertaining to read and definitely paints a picture of the pimp game in the 80's and 90's.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews