He accrued a stable of 11 women, whom he wouldn't hesitate to violently assault if they violated his command. Once, he brutally pummeled a prostitute named Angel because she refused to put a snake he owned into his car. "Blood was all over my wall," writes Bishop's sister Ann Bromfield in their co-written memoir on Bishop's life, From Pimp Stick to Pulpit. "I have never in my life seen a man beat a woman like that."
Somewhere along the way he also fathered 27 children.
Managing to stay mostly on the right side of the law, Bishop became known for his lavish parties; his harem, called the Juanettes; and his growing circle of high-profile friends, including Mr. T and R&B singer Tyrone Davis.
But in 1985, a PCP-induced vision — which he believes came from God — convinced him to give up pimping. He immediately ordered his women to cease streetwalking and enrolled in a Chicago Bible school. Some eight years later Bishop was ordained as a nondenominational minister, whereupon he founded the Magic World Christian Kingdom Church. He ministered there, until the early '90s, to a congregation of a couple hundred, he says.
Later that decade he moved West to try his hand in Hollywood, taking bit roles in such movies as Starsky & Hutch and Friday After Next, often playing characters fashioned after his image. Bishop also was featured in the Hughes brothers' documentary American Pimp.
Indeed, despite giving up hustling more than a quarter-century ago, Bishop continues to project the air of a pimp, from his smooth-talking, self-confident charm to his outfit. One could say he adheres to each and every sartorial pimp stereotype, had he not helped create the stereotype himself. When he hits the town he outpeacocks them all, with capes, suits decorated in gold or dollar bills, bow ties and matching hats. Then there's his gold teeth and the rings that stretch across three fingers: "Magic" on one hand and "Juan" on the other.
Bishop is somewhat repentant when it comes to his former profession; he doesn't believe it was God's plan for him, and he presumably has ceased abusing women. But at the same time he's done more than just about anyone to glamorize the lifestyle. He's as devoted to looking like a pimp now as he was to pimping back then. In fact, after a blood clot in his leg nearly took his life last year, Bishop even brought his act to the infirmary. "I was blinging all the way through the operation room," he notes, adding that he gave the doctor a bedazzled stethoscope for his troubles.
Though Debbie Harrison's construction technique remains proprietary, each of her chalices is custom-made, using everything from black onyx to Swarovski crystal to topaz. They sell for about $200 each. Of course, if you want your glass plated in 24-karat gold or platinum, that's going to run you well over $1,000. She takes her orders over the phone; her advertising consists mainly of her Facebook page.
Her artistry was inspired, in part, after viewing one too many tacky rap videos. Appalled by the gauche receptacles formerly favored by hip-hop stars, she sought to upgrade them. "They had this expensive jewelry and their expensive wine and Champagne, and they were drinking it out of those nasty little red cups," Harrison says. "So I got the idea to start blinging the glasses out with precious stones."
Despite her strong religious devotion, Harrison saw nothing contradictory about selling cups to foulmouthed entertainers. In fact, that was the whole point, in a way. Blessing each chalice with an individualized prayer, she sought to bring a bit of grace to society's sinners, anybody from "the president to the mayor to teachers and preachers and pimps, prostitutes and hos." She adds: "If they drink from my cup, they're getting a prayer that I give to them."
Of course, they also were helping her do a brisk business, particularly after Bishop gave a cup to Snoop in the late '90s. The Long Beach MC was so inspired that he felt compelled to meet Harrison, and made a special stop in the midst of his tour. Harrison vividly recalls his pot smoke–spewing caravan pulling up in front of Harrison's house. It was quickly surrounded by neighborhood kids.
"You've got a million-dollar business on your hands," she recalls Snoop telling her. Soon after, he coined the term pimp cups to describe them.
"I felt like every pimp that was really pimpin' had to have a cup, to symbolize that's what he stood for and that's what he was about," he explains now.
Snoop spread the word to his influential friends, and soon Harrison began receiving calls from luminaries like Atlanta-based producer and hype man Lil Jon, whose cultural influence would swell as he popularized the aggressive rap strain known as crunk. In his breakout 2003 video with the East Side Boyz, "Get Low," he brandishes a different cup with each outfit.
Soon, along with his platinum grills and long dreadlocks, the chalice became an indelible part of Lil Jon's image; Harrison says he now owns more than 700 of them.
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Pimp cups haven't been relevant to hip hop culture in years. Most white folks know that and the ones that don't could care less. You'd have been better off doing another Odd Future cover story.
Wow, Bishop is even more of a character than I thought. One might even go as far as to say a visionary...?
And the Glass Lady -- she's got street cred to the point that I'm suddenly in the market for a cup. (The demographic is growing as I type...)
Who knew there were so many layers to the pimp cup? Very interesting!
