SHOUT FACTORY Ken Redd being interviewed while sitting on a bench fronting the White House.

Pimps reveal themselves

The filmmakers let the pimps explain
themselves, without passing judgment

To fully appreciate this recently released companion piece to Allen and Albert Hughes' documentary on pimps on the go, you should take the time to first rent it on home video. Coming off their first two career-making features, "Menace II Society" and "Dead Presidents," "American Pimp," the brothers' first nonfiction project, was justifiably well received when it was originally released in 1999.

"American Pimp: Raw Outtakes and the Hard Truth" (Shout! Factory)

In an honest and nonjudgmental way, the Hughes twins get an insider's look into the lifestyles of such characters as Charm (shown either cruising down Kalakaua Avenue or hitting the links at the Kapalua on Maui), Payroll, Rosebudd, Ken Red, Bradley, Don Juan and Gorgeous Dre. The men wax eloquent in their own loquacious, street speechifyin' way about their success in quantifying in terms of cash the "protection" they give to their prostitutes.

Re-watching "American Pimp," I admit I ended up with a begrudging respect -- or, at least, tolerance -- for these colorful black men, although the documentary's final scene is a cautionary one, as an imprisoned Gorgeous Dre finally admits that "the pimp game is a lonely game."

Now with this sequel titled "Raw Outtakes and the Hard Truth," there's an additional 70 minutes of unreleased footage -- including a segment with a blunt-puffing Snoop Dogg that he asked to be omitted from the final cut in fear it would damage his career (yeah, right!) -- plus a bonus CD soundtrack filled with choice sound bites and blaxploitation-style music.

With the inclusion of longer interview segments, you really get to hear these guys talk up their game and how they try to think around and manipulate the women who work for them. There's Bradley, chillin' in a Las Vegas hotel room, talking about how there is no "love jones" between him and his prostitutes. "There's a difference between the fun part and the funds part," he says.

Ken Red from Washington, D.C., tries to sell his view that he'd rather his then-19-year-old daughter "be a ho rather than a tramp."

I found the most relaxed, and better-talking, Los Angeles-based pimps Payroll and Rosebudd to be the most entertaining (the latter is out of the game now, married to one of his former prostitutes and pursuing a career in, no surprise, telemarketing).

The most charged of the "Raw Outtakes" is a bull session shot in silhouette between Charm, C-Note and T-Mack. Just listening in on their common braggadocio about how charismatic they are was somewhat chilling.

And to top off this experience, the CD's got some great rarities used in the documentary, like Leon Haywood's "I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You"; Edwin Starr's "Easin' In," originally used in the movie "Hell Up in Harlem"; from "Truck Turner," Isaac Hayes' fine instrumental "Pursuit of the Pimpmobile"; and an extended album version of William DeVaughn's "Be Thankful for What You Got."

Overall, it's an intriguing look into the "playa" way of life.