Big Pimpin'

Though he doesn't mention them by name, Exhibit A in the knockoff category are glasses made by a San Fernando Valley company called Iced Out Gear, which has been mass-producing chalices for more than 10 years. Co-founder David Levich says his business sells more than 20,000 cups annually, which go for as little as $5 and often are quite kitschy. Monochromatic and typified by gaudy colors and simple designs, the top sellers have messages like "Queen Bitch" and "420." Iced Out Gear specializes in personalized wedding sets for bridal parties and bachelor parties; mall retailer Spencer Gifts places a lot of orders as well.

Like Serious Pimp, Levich's establishment operates out of an unglamorous facility: Its Chatsworth warehouse, surrounded by a chain-link fence, sits behind a trailer park. But its philosophy diverges sharply. Iced Out Gear's best-selling merchandise includes sunglasses with attached, ironic, fake mustaches, and its pimp cups are designed with a similarly tongue-in-cheek attitude.

PHOTO BY JENNIE WARREN

Debbie the Glass Lady

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More About

• Debbie Harrison
• Damian Kutzner
• Deborah Harrison
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Southern Rap

"It is more of a gag gift than anything else," says the genial and portly Levich. He adds that the "hipster movement" has helped the cups take hold in the mainstream.

It's clear that for the young — and, one expects, largely white — people buying them, the cups have become just another black cultural symbol ripe for appropriation. (For the record, it's not always clear if these customers are mocking pimpdom or simply hoping for some swagger by proxy.) Still, one thing's for certain: The literal act of pimping couldn't be further removed from Levich's product. "I don't think it is any longer affiliated," Levich says. "It might have been at one point, but now it's more for 16-year-old girls."

Back at Bishop's apartment, he opens a sliding glass door to let the swirling smoke and heat escape. A hungry squirrel jumps onto his balcony, and Bishop quickly produces a bowl of almonds to feed him by hand. Turns out the two of them are well acquainted; Bishop has even named him Chuuch, an acronym he coined, which can be heard frequently in rap songs. It stands for "Can't Hate, U Can't Hate" and, he says, roughly means "God bless you."

Snoop finds their friendship particularly touching. "Who say that playas can't raise animals?" he asks. "He done raise a squirrel straight out the wilderness."

The scene presents yet another side to Bishop's character; it's a tender moment from a man who has committed great violence in his life. In his effort to bridge the street corner and the pulpit, Bishop has worn a lot of hats (literally), and one can't help but wonder what's next for him. The spoils of his pimpdom seem well in the rearview, his Hollywood career doesn't seem to be gathering much steam, and even his collaboration with Serious Pimp seems unlikely to prove artistically fulfilling. "I don't have input on anything that he doing," he says of Kutzner.

But Bishop's certainly not worried. "You always want to move into bigger and better things," he says. "God don't judge us where we start but where we finish."

Just as his beloved cups have been blessed, he believes, so has he.