astroboy
09-12-2003, 09:18 AM
Rapper Nelly’s ‘Pimp Juice’ causes outrage
Boycott called against rap star, beverage, stores that sell it
Sept. 10 — Several Black groups, outraged over rapper Nelly’s endorsement of an energy drink they say degrades women and glorifies a pimp lifestyle, are boycotting the artist, the beverage and the stores that sell it.
THE ENERGY DRINK, Pimp Juice - named after one of the rapper’s hit songs — sends the wrong message to young Blacks, says a number of organizations, including Project Islamic H.O.P.E., the National Alliance For Positive Action, the National Black Anti-Defamation League and the Messianic Afrikan Nation.
Naji Ali, the director of Project Islamic H.O.P.E., who has led boycotts against the now-defunct rap show “Platinum,” rapper Snoop Dogg, One World Magazine and even the “Matrix Reloaded” movie, is leading the charge against Nelly’s Pimp Juice.
Minister Paul Scott of the Messianic Afrikan Nation in Durham, N.C. agrees.
“With Pimp Juice Energy Drink, Nelly crossed the line,” Scott said. “Unlike some who claim the ‘starving-artist-doin’-what-I-gotta-do’ excuse, Nelly did not have to put out Pimp Juice. He is a pop icon with millions of kids watching him daily on video programs. So, he has a great influence on young folks.”
• BET.com front
However, Demetrius Denham, president of Team Lunatics, Nelly’s management firm, said that detractors fail to realize that the term “pimp” has changed meaning over the years and doesn’t have the same connotation to youth.
“I think it’s a word that has changed significance over the last 10 to 15 years,” Denham, one of the first to speak out publicly against the campaign, told BET.com. “Nelly intended [the term to describe] your edge. It’s your way of turning a negative into a positive.”
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When Nelly announced he would endorse the product earlier this month, he said, “Basically... Pimp Juice is anything [that] attract[s] the opposite sex; it could be money, fame, or straight intellect; it don’t matter! Pimp Juice is color blind; you find it works on all colors, creeds and kinds; from ages 50 right down to nine.” He noted that a portion of the proceeds from the drink will go to his philanthropic organization, 4Sho4Kids.
But Scott called the endorsement a “tremendous step backward.”
“...The title of Nelly’s new energy drink, Pimp Juice, rubbed me the wrong way and made me jump up and shout, ‘We are not pimps and ho’s; we are the fathers and mothers of civilization being pimped by the system and treated like ho’s,’” Scott said
Boycott called against rap star, beverage, stores that sell it
Sept. 10 — Several Black groups, outraged over rapper Nelly’s endorsement of an energy drink they say degrades women and glorifies a pimp lifestyle, are boycotting the artist, the beverage and the stores that sell it.
THE ENERGY DRINK, Pimp Juice - named after one of the rapper’s hit songs — sends the wrong message to young Blacks, says a number of organizations, including Project Islamic H.O.P.E., the National Alliance For Positive Action, the National Black Anti-Defamation League and the Messianic Afrikan Nation.
Naji Ali, the director of Project Islamic H.O.P.E., who has led boycotts against the now-defunct rap show “Platinum,” rapper Snoop Dogg, One World Magazine and even the “Matrix Reloaded” movie, is leading the charge against Nelly’s Pimp Juice.
Minister Paul Scott of the Messianic Afrikan Nation in Durham, N.C. agrees.
“With Pimp Juice Energy Drink, Nelly crossed the line,” Scott said. “Unlike some who claim the ‘starving-artist-doin’-what-I-gotta-do’ excuse, Nelly did not have to put out Pimp Juice. He is a pop icon with millions of kids watching him daily on video programs. So, he has a great influence on young folks.”
• BET.com front
However, Demetrius Denham, president of Team Lunatics, Nelly’s management firm, said that detractors fail to realize that the term “pimp” has changed meaning over the years and doesn’t have the same connotation to youth.
“I think it’s a word that has changed significance over the last 10 to 15 years,” Denham, one of the first to speak out publicly against the campaign, told BET.com. “Nelly intended [the term to describe] your edge. It’s your way of turning a negative into a positive.”
Advertisement
HAHAHAH
When Nelly announced he would endorse the product earlier this month, he said, “Basically... Pimp Juice is anything [that] attract[s] the opposite sex; it could be money, fame, or straight intellect; it don’t matter! Pimp Juice is color blind; you find it works on all colors, creeds and kinds; from ages 50 right down to nine.” He noted that a portion of the proceeds from the drink will go to his philanthropic organization, 4Sho4Kids.
But Scott called the endorsement a “tremendous step backward.”
“...The title of Nelly’s new energy drink, Pimp Juice, rubbed me the wrong way and made me jump up and shout, ‘We are not pimps and ho’s; we are the fathers and mothers of civilization being pimped by the system and treated like ho’s,’” Scott said