Books by Marvin X

Love and War: Poems  / In the Crazy House Called America / Woman: Man's Best Friend /  Beyond Religion Toward Spirituality

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Gospel of the Game

a film based on the book by James Robinson

written and directed by Rosebud Bitterdose

After the films American Pimp and Pimps Up, Ho's Down, what else do we need to know about pimping? Did you know pimps can recover from their addiction? If whores can recover, why not pimps? In San Francisco there is an organization called SAGE that helps women recover from their debasing life as sex workers. And now Recovery Theatre was recently informed, actually during the private screening of this film that the author, James Robinson/aka Jimmy Starr, of the novel on which the film is based realized pimping was an addiction after attending a mental health group session at Recovery Theatre. 

"As I sat in Recovery Theatre in Dr. Nathan Hare's group session called Black Reconstruction, I said what the hell am I doing in Recovery Theatre. Then it hit me that my life of pimping had been an addiction and that I was in recovery, had been in recovery for over ten years. And I realized my whores had been addicted too. What a revelation for me!"

Well, the film would have been a monster, perhaps, if it had told the story of pimps in recovery rather than spend a majority of time showing scenes glorifying the ancient art. Only at or near the end do we hear the pimps recant their lifestyle, but thankfully, we actually believe them, although more confessional statements would leave no doubt about their sincerity.

But let's get to the point: this film was about the life and times of Fillmore Slim, San Francisco's legendary mild mannered, gentle, soft spoken, master pimp, the West Coast godfather of the game, in short, the pope of pimping. Although known nationwide in the game, the life and times of Fillmore Slim became even more well known in American Pimp, but obviously that wasn't enough for the pope, so an entire movie had to be devoted to him, as is only proper—Fillmore is definitely not a minor character in the game, trust me, he was a major player. 

American Pimp gave us a very good slice of his good pimping life, but one of my friend's told me this story, "Back in the day, Fillmore was the man. Now Charlie Walker held down Hunters Point with his good hustling, player, sometimes pimping game. But Charlie was a brute, Fillmore was smooth as silk. Me and my buddy used to ride through the Fillmore counting Fillmore's ho's, always between ten and fifteen deep. He was true to the game and the game was true to him."

The film consists of numerous interviews with pimps, female sex workers (if you like this politically correct term, absolutely unpoetic to this writer), all praising and acknowledging Fillmore as the master of the game.

There are numerous cuts to Fillmore giving up the game, even blessing a young pimp into the game, charging him, of course. A student of black studies at the screening said this rite of passage could be emulated by the Black Arts Movement, or the liberation movement because it was a necessary ritual for membership into a family, and why should not revolution be a family affair? Contrary to the view of writer Ewuare Osayande, a rite of passage ritual would be helpful to initiate the next generation of poets and artists who believe in the ideology of the Black Arts Movement.

The BAM is no game, no scam, it is the real deal holyfield revolution, yes, the same one David Walker wrote about, that Nat Turner got hung for, that Marcus Garvey and Elijah trained us for, that Malcolm and Martin were murdered for by the USA to prevent the rise of a black messiah. The Black Studies student also noticed that the film showed a young brother who wanted to be in the game, but was known to have a mental disability, yet the pimps acknowledged him and said he was part of the family. The student said the Black Arts Movement must show similar love to those brothers and sisters in the BAM. After all, do any of us have a clean bill of mental health?

The young student was saying that accepting all members of the family is what the black revolution needs to practice, although one must admit the black revolution did have a certain degree of unconditional love, so much love that snitches, agents, and all points in between were acceptable, although at times love was in short order and even the righteous, the innocent were cut down because of psychopathic thoughts, including paranoia, working in the revolution, not to mention often at the instigation of Cointelpro, the US government's counter intelligence program to disrupt the black revolution.

For those still in the game, Gospel of the Game might be a lesson on what to forget and forgive, all the pimps forgotten, all the hoes forgotten and forgiven, and yes, forgive the pimps too since they are victims in the terrorist war against black America. If you ain't pimpin like Colin and Condoleza the Skeeza, you ain't pimpin at all—go get a day job. That's what Fillmore did—he plays and sings the blues throughout the world.

Just before he left on a recent European tour, I talked with him about the game: 

Consider this sad reality: film writer, director Rosebud said it was the book Pimp by Iceberg Slim that not only turned him onto pimping, but also to writing—he is now the author of four books, so who knows, if he had been turned onto writing and righteousness  at a young age, he would be a great writer by now, instead of just getting into the game of words. And James Robinson said the same, so there is a message here for all writers, teachers, intellectuals, preachers, politicians and judges, that if we get to our youth soon enough, we can guide them on the right path to freedom, justice, and equality. Let us be true to the game, so the game will be true to us! 12/21/03

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update 1 July 2008