The Origin
The first time I heard this quote was almost 20 years ago. I was given an interview by a friend of mine that would forever change my life. The name of the lecture was, “Adam Where Are You?” The person being interviewed was a man made famous all over the country from the critically acclaimed film- American Pimp. His name was Andre Taylor. His street moniker was Gorgeous Dre. He retired from the life better known as the Pimp Game. And one thing for certain, he was very successful in the lifestyle before he retired.
Andre Taylor
What made him successful far above his peers in that life and later in the realm of social justice where his organization (Not This Time) was the first in the United States of America was able to pass Police accountability laws? It was the same thing. I’ll get to that later.
In the interview he explained that his father was also a pimp and his mother was a prostitute. So he grew up in the inner lining of that world. His father never wanted him to be a pimp. He wanted him to be a criminal attorney. He also personally never wanted to be in that lifestyle. He wanted to live a square life and raise a family. But destiny had other plans for him.
His father was known and respected as a great man in that world many years before Andre grew up. His name was the great Melvin Taylor. He was a brilliant and wise man. And many of the future greats would sit at his father’s feet to get knowledge, wisdom and guidance. And Andre was raised by his father for a long period of time, so he got to sit at this great man’s feet and drink from the well of wisdom.
Melvin Taylor and Andre Taylor
Andre’s father’s circle was also composed of great men. His father and these men were renaissance men. They were well manicured and well read. His father quoted Shakespeare and other literary greats. So what was seen on television of what pimps were, was not what Andre saw in his home. He saw the contrary to this. And his father and his inner circle looked at these other fellows as buffoons.
American Pimp
As I previously said, the world was introduced to the inner lining of the world Pimping with the release of the film American Pimp in 1999. The film went on to make one hundred million dollars in the box office.
The documentary revealed the different characters in the lifestyle from all over the country. You saw well known Pimps that told their stories. You also saw the women speak. You saw the realities of that life. You saw the life of a Pimp in all of its shades.
Enter Gorgeous Dre
But only one person in my opinion really stood out. Why did he stand out? Because while all of the other guys were talking about pimping this one guy went beyond the subject of pimping and spoke about manhood! That man was known in that world as Gorgoeus Dre.
This man, unknowingly sparked a new generation of people speaking on Manhood. Even retired Pimps who were in that documentary 20 years ago, are now not only speaking on how to deal with women (because that was their business-women) but on their philosophies on how to be a man. But he was the genesis of this. As a matter of fact, the secret to his success in that lifestyle was because he was a master in the arts and sciences of manhood. He was a master of it because he was mentored by his father who was a master in the arts and sciences of manhood. And his father taught him that the secret to becoming a giant in any field of endeavor was directly tied to manhood. He understood this while others in the game never even knew this.
In the film, concerning his father teaching him on manhood, he said:
“…I grew up, my father was a pimp and my mother was a hoe. It was fascinating as a ten year old boy seeing beautiful women coming in and out of your house. In the beginning it was really fascinating, I was really blown away. I was like, ‘Wow, my daddy is a ladies man..’. My father would sit me down and he would tell me, “Son, you see everything that’s going around here…and that’s ok.’ He never glamorized that to me. He never said that, ‘I want you to be a pimp.’ He would teach me that, ‘You have to be a man before you’re anything. You have to be a man of principles…of character and some integrity.’”
His father, even briefly appeared in the documentary to further expound on his son’s statements by saying:
“So if you present yourself a certain way, you have to be consistently that way. And that’s how you get judged. If you say, “I’m a Pimp and if I get busted and I won’t tell on anybody else .’ And when you get under pressure like I was facing 50 years and I didn’t tell on anybody. Then all the women and people that know me look at me with respect. “-Melvin Taylor
If you watched the documentary at the end of the movie, you saw that he was in jail at the time fighting a case that if found guilty, he’d go to prison for twenty plus years. He fought the case and all charges were dropped accept making money from pimping. He served only three years. And while in prison, the message he spoke about manhood in prison impacted the common man and even the men in Hollywood and the music business. After getting out of prison, when he’d be at award shows and A-list parties in Hollywood he would bump into men of power. They would personally tell him how his message on manhood impacted them. They’d call him and tell him the same thing. I may be wrong, but I believe that the PUA world was just being born. The manosphere/Red Pill world was not even born yet.
Before You’re Anything
So this is who we met at the time of this interview (Adam Where Are You?). He was just getting his life back together after serving three years. His message on manhood had spread throughout the world for at least 2 to 3 years and people wanted to hear him further expound on his father’s teachings.
In this interview, one of the interviewers asked him, “Your father said that, ‘You have to be a man before you’re anything.’ Can you explain that?” He answered:
“What my father meant by that is that there are going to be a lot of things in life that’s going to challenge you. But the man can never be compromised at any time. And being self-contained in being who you are. You have to be a man before you’re anything. That applies across the board. Before you’re an attorney, a politician, before you’re a pimp, a doctor that there are some rules of manship that should never be compromised. Don’t get caught up in the life of pimping to the point that you compromise being a man. Always have integrity. Always stand for something principled that’s bigger than you. He reiterated this all my life and said that these things make you a giant in whatever you do.”
I repeat:
“…and these things make you a giant in whatever you do…”
To be continued…
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