(hip hop music) - [Interviewer] Bishop Don Magic Juan, my old friend from our
old days in Chicago. Bishop, where'd you grow up? - Born and raised in Chicago, you know, West side of Chicago as a
matter of fact, you know. Come up in a family, you know, was eight of us and father died early, so it was the mother with
no father and, you know, we had to decide what we
wanted to do and, you know, coming up in the inner city, it ain't that many
opportunities, you know. You either want to be
a drug dealer, burglar, or car thief, you know,
or a murderer, you know, I didn't want none of that. And, you know, I chose
to be a ladies' man. - [Interviewer] And how would
you describe your childhood? - I would describe my childhood
as coming up the inner city. You know, that makes it look cute, I would say the ghetto. But in my early childhood, you know, I was really blessed. My father, you know, he took me from my mother at a early age because they had split up. And my father had a restaurant, three buildings, ice cream parlor, so, you know, I was spoiled
at a very early age, you know. So I used to come and spend the weekends with my other sisters and brothers, and bring them potato chips, and candy, and ice cream from my father's store. But when he passed, and then I had to come
live with my mother, and here there is seven
of us in the house, you know, ain't no money, had to figure that out for ourselves. That was my early childhood. - [Interviewer] Did you have role models that kind of showed
you this game, pimping? - Role model? No, it wasn't no role model. It's like, you know, the kid in the suburbs would see doctors and lawyers coming out the house. Me sitting on the porch, I was seein' dope dealers
and pimps come out the house with three, four girls, sharp, dressed in suits with diamond and getting in a big flashy car. I said, "That's how I
wanna be when I grow up." - [Interviewer] And you
started pimping at what age? - I started in the game at,
you know, something like 16, you know. I had what we call, when you turn out to
the game, like boosters. I used to take girls shopping and they used to go a neat
different stores at the mall, steal different merchandise, and at the end of the
day we would, you know, chop it up, you know, give me a third of the merchandise for me driving them out there, and different things like that, until my game elevated into
the pimp game, you know. But the early part of the game, coming into it, 16, 17, you know, I'm out here in the streets, I'm trying to find a way. Like I said, I didn't want to do them things like share dope and drugs
because that wasn't my makeup. So I was blessed to be able
to become a ladies' man. Because what happened is
early in my childhood, me and my sister, Amber, used to go to school together. And she used to tell me,
"Boy, the girls like you," and I just took to that and I ran with it. I was young at 16 and
15, things like that, when girls used to come ask my mother can they take me shopping
with their check, the early stage of my game, man. - [Interviewer] What's the arrangement with a girl in a pimp? So you make... She makes the money and
brings you how much of it? - The arrangement is how
I make the arrangement, and goes like this, "You make the money and
you bring me all of it and I decide on how we chop it up and how we make it happen." My responsibility is to be her everything, her mother, her father,
her sister, her brother, her lover, her daddy, all of these things. So in my time of playing the pimp game, my women never did have
to really go shopping. I did all of their shopping. They make the money and
I supply everything. We used to go to the medical
center every three months. They know when I come in, the check the girls and make sure they didn't
have any kind of disease and that they was all right. I played it on a top chip, how it was supposed to go. Once my game became official like a referee with a whistle,
I was off and running. Once I became number one in the game, I was number one for 13 years in a row. And that's being voted by your peers, the players in different states and different countries
that understand the game, is the criteria about who's doing the best and that who it might
be with the best car, the clothes, the jewelry,
the diamond, your women, the respect you get in the street, that's the criteria that
the player has to acquire in order to become pimp
or a player of the year. - [Interviewer] How
many girls have you had or how many girls would
you have at one time? - Oh, I had a stable, and a stable used to
consist of seven females. And my stable was so powerful because I didn't just have flatbacks. And what I mean by flatbacks is females that go out to prostitute and all they do is sell that
split between their legs. I had thieves, professional thieves, that know how to go and bring 10,000, Rolex, Cartiers, you know what I mean? Furs, homes, you dig? And that's what made my game top shelf because I had the best of the best of the street life females. I was considered number one on being able to work them black girls. It was a struggle man, but I played it. - [Interviewer] You've had
girls of all races, right? - Well, yeah, I have girls of all races, but my official thing was black girls, and black girls wasn't easy to handle. And I wanna tell you a
story about a black girl, her name was Michelle. She was like, you know, my bottom chick. I mean, she would bring home other chicks that made my game solid. And you know, I had my girl working on the West Side, on this street called Lake Street, Lake and Halsted, and I didn't like my girls to date blacks. And so a black guy pulled
up to date her, a trick, and she refused to date him, and he shot her five times, couple of bullets in
her head and her body, and she was rushed to the
County Hospital in Chicago. I got the call that this had taken place and me and my sister, Anne, we went to the hospital, which was the County Hospital at the time. And when I got there, her mother was there and her
sister was there with her, and I walked in with my sister. And soon as she seen me, she laying there with
tubes in her, you know, IVs everywhere, and the first thing she
said when she saw me, said, "Daddy, I can't wait
to get out of this bed to go get you your money." Her mother looked at me and said, "What have you done to my child?" I said, "Nothing. That just dedication,
ma'am, pure dedication." That's the same female that would get shot in their leg on a stroll, run home, tie up her leg, change the wig, and go right back to work. It was a dedicated process. It was by choice, not by force. - [Interviewer] Will you
have sex with the girls that are in your stable? - Yeah, I had sex with the
girls that was in my stable. I had some very beautiful young ladies. I mean, they was young,
tender, and wow-wee. And it was just amazing
to have such a stable of quality, beautiful black women. And it was amazing. You know, I used to lay
in the bed, you know, the thought that, with seven chicks, and you know what I mean? Having a chick on every
arm and every limb, and being able to be satisfied
and enjoy that thrill is every man's, you know, imagination. - [Interviewer] And the
girls would work where, on the street?
- Hmm? - [Interviewer] The girls
work on the street corner? - Girls would work on the street corner, they would set dates
and work in the hotel, wherever the money called. You know what I mean? Yeah, you know, you used the
street corner for instant cash. You know what I mean? If, you know, some trick set
up a date for future action, you know what I mean? All is well on that too. But, you know, majority, you know, you pimping, you know, you on that concrete, you know what I mean? You got them chicks 10 out
there, you know what I mean? Seven, eight, 17 hours a day, depending on the paper and how they're getting their money, you know what I mean? You reward honesty and, you know, a chick that blessing the table, you know what I mean, putting it on the dresser. You know, she might get a little day off, she might get a chance to
go out and have a ball, enjoy herself or pick her
favorite pizza, jewelry, or materialistic thing, whatever it is, you know what I mean? And that's why I was
considered such a good pimp because I gave back, you know. My chicks looked like I looked, you know. It wasn't that I had on
diamonds and they didn't. They wore diamonds too, they wore mink coats too. They had custom made threads on. You know what I mean? I mean, hey, we was matching, you dig?
- [Interviewer] Yeah. You did prison time at some time?
- Huh? - [Interviewer] Have you done
prison time at some point? - Prison? No, I never did time in the prison. And I don't think that's
no place for a player. My game was official like a referee because I played it as a player, not as a thief, not as a robber, not as a burglar, or none of them things. I sent a chick in my place
to do all of them things so I wouldn't have to have to do that. That was the thought
of having a prostitute, that she would do your bidding so that you don't have to do that. No, I'd never been to the penitentiary. As a matter of fact, I never did drugs. I don't even curse, do
you know what I mean? And when my girls was into that, you know, getting drugs from the tricks and different things like that, I didn't want it, I would give it away. You know what I mean? Because I know that if you
put that drug in the veins, you was going to lose your game. - [Interviewer] So your girls
would be mostly drug-free? - Huh? - [Interviewer] Your
girls would be drug-free or some of them would use? - We smoked weed, and we even, at a time, smoke the PCP, which is known to be a
hallucinating drug, very powerful. But you know what I mean, cocaine, heroin, and
all that kind of stuff, acid, pills, see, and all that was out, you know what I mean? It was not a part of my game. Because I know one thing, I wasn't going to be able to
play my game on that level if that was involved. I've seen a lot of players
that was top flight get crossed out because they
mixed drugs and their game. - [Interviewer] So you're
from Chicago, as am I, which is where we know each other from, but how is the pimp game different in different parts of the country? - You talking about 2020 or a period? - [Interviewer] Either one? - Well, one thing about it,
like everything in life, it's a time for it. And the pimp thing and it's glory days was best in the 70s, early 80s, and then it drift off into the drug game. A lot of pimps got hooked, their females got hooked and it changed the course of the game because it was no honor,
no respect in the game. A lot of top flight players that thought they could play the drug game and pimp crossed their selves out because they got hooked on it, their females got hooked on it. She left him going to the drug dealer to continue to get her habit satisfied. So it completely put a
black eye on the game. A lot of the guys that
were dedicated to the game, like myself, they continued to strive because they was striving on
the success of their knowledge, not on a drug, not on manipulation, but purely just telling
the truth to a female. You know, what I told my girls is that, "Hey, I go to Hollywood, you going to Hollywood with me," and I did that. "If I go to the White
House, you going with me." I took them Washington, we went to the gates of the White House. I mean, a woman can appreciate a man that say what he mean
and mean what he say. I'm not saying I didn't have
struggles and difficulty, other pimps trying to pull guns on me. I done knocked pimps and they didn't want to
receive or accept the bumping. I had my ups and downs but
I was dedicated to the game, to be able to play the game fair, play the game the right way. I didn't want no shortcut or no easy way to becoming number one. I wanted to grind from the
concrete to the executive suite, so I be then earned what I receive, and it wouldn't be no doubts about it, just like it is today that I am considered the
chairman of the board or famous players everywhere, all over the world. And recently, I've known
it in the last two years, Pimp God of all players over the world, which is an accomplishment. I didn't know that I would achieved that. Not being Pimp God is
sure enough a fascination, but to be able to become number one in the game for all of them many years. And when I got into the game, I just wanted a bad chick, I wanted a diamond ring, a diamond watch, a fur coat, a slick car. I didn't know that I was
going to be a game changer in the game, that I was going to become number one, that I was going to be able to lay out game to the other players , and be able to go cross country and crown and make kings
in different cities. I didn't know that. I didn't know it would escalate to that. But becoming dedicated to the
game made me realize that. And then the thing that made me know that I was really ready for the game, it was back in the 70s. I was on the road with a female thief and she had one out,
and then she got busted. But what she did is, they had her handcuff to
one of them lil rails, she got the handcuff from around the rail and jumped out the window
of the police station. And we on the road now, we out of town, she come to the hotel. I'm fresh, now, in the game, now. You know, I'm on the road with her, she already seasoned this. This is amazement to me. I'm on the road getting my first dollar, and here she come back to the
hotel room with handcuffs. Now I'm a young buck, I'm barely 20 or 21. I mean, I'm freaked out and I'm amazed but I didn't panic. And what I did is, believe this and this is the truth that I always thought
about what they did on TV where they would take a bobby pin and pop the handcuff. And this the honest to God truth, I took a big bobby pin and stuck it in there and wiggled it, pop goes handcuffs. That was most amazing thing to me. It proved to the chick that I
was qualified to be her man, and even to this day from the 70s, she still has my back and calls, and that's over 40 something years. And I proved to myself that
I was ready for the game when that happened. I'd had never thought that would work but I wouldn't panic, and I did it, and it proved to the female that I was qualified to be her man. We left that town and drove
500 miles to the next city and continued the marathon. - [Interviewer] What are
the qualities a pimp needs to be a successful pimp? - The thing I just
explained it to you earlier, it's a certain criteria. You start with the females, then you go to the materialistic
things like the car, your clothes, your
jewelry, where you stay, the characteristics about you. I'm internationally known
and locally accepted. I'm known all the world. I done made Don Juan a feature. It used to be people said Don Juan, they'd think about some character in 1816s You know what I mean? There was a level, which
that's what I've become, a level. You know what I mean? And made that name official. I cash checks in that name. You have to have that criteria. A lot of guys do a lot
of talking and, you know, you've seen that a lot
of them different videos, "Pimps Up, Ho's Down," "American Pimp," and they say a lot of things but I'm the one that can clarify all of that stuff they say, to whether it's official or
it's authentic, you know? I mean, guys say a lot of things and it impressed a lot of people, that's said, they really
don't know about the game, and it make it seem like it's wow. But, you know what I mean? When the truth is told you get better action out of it because a lot of that
fake stuff they be saying, it just don't give you longevity. - [Interviewer] And what are the qualities a pimp will look for in a woman? - Huh?
- What are the qualities a pimp will look for in a female? - The qualities that a pimp
need to look for in a female is whether she would give you her money. See, a chick could do
a lot of things, man. She would do a bunch of things. Don't worry about it, I go back on your player.
- That's all right. - You know what I mean?
- You can go forward too. - Chicks will do a lot of things, you know what I mean? She'll suck you, she will F you. She'll do a lot of things but if she don't like you she ain't going to give you her money. So when she do that, that means she thinks a little bit above the normal about you. And it ain't so much about you being the number one lover because, you know, when you pimping, you send your check out, she getting big sized, left
sized, fat sized, all sized, but that don't matter to her. What mattered to her is to get home to the person that said that they care and love her, that matters more than all of that. So it ain't competition for a pimp to out-nail a chick than a trick. A trick job is to do just what he do and a real female understand that. It ain't bout love it, you dig? Do know what I mean? Like we'd say, "It ain't matrimony with us, it's macamony?" - [Interviewer] Now, you're
a very flashy individual. Driving the streets of Chicago, you're driving in a custom Bentley, or Rolls Royce, or Cadillac, green and gold, everything
is custom, the wheels, the... Everything. And the way you dress
is very flashy as well, did the police ever give you- - Well, one thing about it is... I told you, you know, it's in the pudding. And what I mean is what
you see is what you get. You know what I mean? I can't say I'm one thing and then look another way. It's a certain way that
you have to look as pimp. Do you know what I mean? A lot of guys out here, you know, they do the gym shoes and the blue jeans, and things like that. But what I say is you
duck in your cleanest bill when you do that, you dig? Because, you know, as a pimp, I have changed up to four times a day. Do you know what I mean? You couldn't go without
a high cleaners bill. I used to pull up to the cleaners and didn't have to even go in. - [Interviewer] I've seen you 20 times, I've never seen you dressed anything less flashy than
what you're wearing today. - Well, what I'm saying is when I used to come up to the cleaners, I used to have three bags,
me and the prostitute, I didn't even have to go in. The people would come
outside, the cleaners, get the bag and go back in. You know what I mean? You got the dress, it's part of the game. Ain't no getting away around it. They talk slick about
them blue jeans suits and them jogging suits, I don't care if they cost 10,000, they ain't gon' to never beat a tuxedo and a white shirt out, never, you dig? And one thing about it is what a real pimp player know that, that blue jean is a work man material. You don't want that on your skin, man. You don't even want the thought about you in a working jean, overalls, because you don't do that. I mean, y'all get away with it because y'all plying it y'all way and not the way of the game. I'm telling you, man, you had to be official in the 70s to be even to be in the
presence of real pimps. You couldn't get away with that fake game that they're playing today, and come all up in the middle and start talking, and things. Real players gon' tell you how it is and how I supposed to go. - [Interviewer] What do you do when one of your girls gets out of line or does something you- - Okay, let me tell you something about when my girls get out of the line, they gotta be checked. Cause see, one thing about
it is in that pimp game, in order to be successful you have to create some
fear in that female. You have to tell her that
if she do something wrong that you gonna kill her. And you had to instill this in her too. When she do something wrong and you whippin' her and checking her, that she said to you, Daddy, please don't kill
me like you said you was." You can't play the game without creating some fear because female, you know, gon' check. It's a personality thing, and everybody got their own personality. And the thing about it is
in order to be a good pimp, you got to put yours inside of her. It can't be her personality
because she don't know. See, the thing about a female is from birth she's being told what to do, and that's all she knows, is what she's told. When she a little baby, her mother and father tell
her what she have to do. When shed gets... Her big brother tell
her what she got to do. When she starts school, they
tell her what she got to do. When she gets to college, they tell her what she got to do. When she get a husband. She's always used to
being told what to do. So when you don't tell her what to do, she run into destruction because she didn't listen to instructions. You got to find a chick that
got the same understanding and want thing that you want. It don't have to be on your level but the same dedication, the
same drive, the same sacrifice, the same will to want to,
you know, neglect everything, your mother, your father,
your sister, your brother, in order to make the dream come true. That's what you have
to do in the pimp game in order to become successful. They have to neglect all of them things. But while they neglect
them, you takin' up on that. You make sure the mama
cool, the kids cool. I done had chicks that had babies, that each holiday we have to make sure they're taken care of. School, back to school supplies. Had to make sure their
mama is taken care of. These things, that's your responsibility
as being a good pimp. You can't just go out and
brag that you got a prostitute just to impress your peers, or friends, or folks in the neighborhood, and don't know how to
take care of that female. You doing injustice to the game. You breaking her down,
you making her sour, she ain't gonna wanna play the game based on the experience that you gave her. She needs the real pimp that know how to take what
she give up and triple it, and show her life that she wants to live. That's what make a good pimp, and that's the kind of
woman that a pimp want, that's his dream. Young is definitely the icing on the cake. At least 18 to over, you know. For a pimp to get a young chick that's dedicated to the game and want to be all she can be, that's a dream come true. It automatically elevate his game. - [Interviewer] Do you
think the relationship that a prostitute with her pimp is somehow the pimp is like a substitute for the relationship she had with her dad when she was young? They call you daddy, things like that. - Well, as I stated earlier, as a pimp, you have to become her everything, her mother, her father,
her sister, her brother. All the things that she left from, he have to become them things in order to satisfy the
emptiness into her life. Yes, he'd take on a daddy figure because he's trying to motivate her, he's trying to grow her, he's trying to make her be something that she never thought she can be, and never thought that she
would be able to experience it in such a way that would
acquire excitement, joy, recognition. I mean, just being somebody when you thought you was a nobody, just by dedicating yourself to the game and certain individuals, because everybody can't make that happen. Everybody an't got the plug. - [Interviewer] And the
pimps that you see today... What do you think of
the pimping game today? - The pimp of today, like I was telling another pimp earlier when I was speaking on the phone, ain't no young pimps carrying the game. Old Gs like myself are
still carrying the game. We are still dedicated to the game. We're still carrying the flag. If I let the flag down, it wouldn't be even talked about anymore. The young players today
not dedicated to the game, they're dedicated to
their own way of life. It has become a lot of homosexual and all kind of on the
lesbian, and everything. You know, females going a
different way at a early age, guys going a different way. I mean, it's just mixed up. It ain't the same honor and understanding about
the male and female as it has been before. The young players today don't even care nothing
about the females today, they'd rather be with
some other transgender or anything. They don't care about
females, really, today. And they don't care about getting money. You know what I mean? I done seen that players today
are satisfied being broke, that was a no, no in my day. We was gonna find a hustle, we wasn't going to let
it happen like that. But it's a changing time and the bubble go around. And I don't know if I live
to see if it get that thick, but I uphold it in my own life, so I see it every day still, you dig? My dedication, my
devotion, my understanding, to say what I mean and to
mean what I say at all costs, by any means necessary. - [Interviewer] Do you
have children of your own? - Huh?
- Do you have children? - Yes, I do. And one thing about it, I got children. - [Interviewer] How many kids you got? - Plenty of them. I can't give you the number. I got plenty of kids, a lot of kids. You know what they say, the saying about "papa was
a rolling stone," that's me. "Wherever he laid his head
were his home," that's me. But that was where the money was or where the action was. I ain't never been no sucker,
just laid up the layer. Once I got the knowledge to what the game was all about, it all the way has been, you know what I mean, success and nothing less, you dig? That's the way I always took it from then at early age,
probably from 10, you dig? And like I said, I was spoiled early by
my father having money and everything. But with the understanding
in my mind from then on, I had to understand, you know what I mean, that I had to get it. And I didn't know how I was gonna get until I discovered that
I was a ladies' man and I was going to make
it happen like that. But, you know, my game
was teaching the lady. I wasn't disrespecting her,
I was showing her where... I would check her if she got out of line. I never beat my girls
for not getting money because they loved getting money. They didn't have no problem getting money. As a matter of fact, I could tell you a story about how much they loved
getting money for me. My girls was locked up in the county jail and they knocked another
chick, which was a white girl, took 500 from her, brought it home. I don't know nothing about it. Another pimp come to me and says, "Hey, man, your girl took, you know, money from my chick in
jail and everything." What I did is confronted my chicks and gave them a lil chastising because I said that ain't
the way the game go, and I gave the man his
trap back to him, you know, as a respectable gentleman to the game, you know what I mean? But I let the chicks know, "I appreciate what you were trying to do but you know that ain't the way to do it. Other chicks coming up into the game, you can't discourage them by robing or takin' their
money in the bull pen, you know what I mean, while y'all locked up." So, you know what I mean? You got to play this game fair and the game will be fair to you. That's why I got almost
over 50 years in the game, and it don't look like a
slowing down, ain't it? My age is escalating but my game is too. The knowledge, the understand, you dig? Where I can play it and continue
to receive the royalties of the game because I gave to the game and now the game gives back to me. And that's what it's about. Well, the thing about me is I
love for the truth to get out, and especially when it's about the game because it's my life
and it's what I'm about, do you know what I mean? I don't mean it about
it to keep playing it but about it because I'm
aware of the knowledge that the game exits still. You know what I mean? And it's going to continue to exist till somebody turn the lights
out on this small planet. And it looked like they
trying to pull the switch with this coronavirus, you dig? So, you know what I mean, we gotta continue to stay safe, stay aware and play the game fair. Ain't no fast, or slick, or
a different route to the top. You got to grind your way. You can't cheat the game. The game know how much you put in it, and it's going to give
you only what you put in, that's what you're going to get out of it. So if you ain't number one it's because you ain't
playing number one quality. You gotta become number one material to become number one. Now that's church. - [Interviewer] All right.
Thank you very much. - Mm-hmm. I was relaxed. I enjoyed that, Jack, you dig? I ain't even mad. - [Interviewer] (chuckles)
You're always interesting. - [Don Juan] Got to do it. - [Interviewer] When's the
last time you were in Chicago? - [Don Juan] In March, sometime-
