Pimpology: The 48 Laws of the Game (A Relationship Guide)

Star of the HBO documentaries Pimps Up, Ho’s Down and American Pimp, Annual Players’ Ball “Mack of the Year” winner Ken Ivy reveals the unwritten rules that took him from the ghetto streets to the executive suites.

The names change, but the game remains the same. In Pimpology, Ken Ivy pulls a square's coat on the unwritten rules that took him from the ghetto streets to the executive suites. Ken's lessons will serve any person in any interaction: Whether at work, in relationships, or among friends, somebody's got to be on top. To be the one with the upper hand, you've got to have good game, and good game starts with knowing the rules.

If you want the money, power, and respect you dream of, you can't just "pimp your ride," you need to pimp your whole life. And unless you've seen Ray Charles leading Stevie Wonder somewhere, you need Ken's guidelines to do it. They'll reach out and touch you like AT&T and bring good things to life like GE. Then you can be the boss with the hot sauce who gets it all like Monty Hall.

Born in Chicago in 1964, Ken Ivy was 16 years old when he had the life: money, women, cars, clothes, and notoriety in the streets of Milwaukee and Chicago. He was awarded the coveted "Mack of the Year" title at the annual Player's Ball. Before long, Ivy was approached by HBO to be a consultant on an upcoming project, the now infamous Pimps Up, Ho's Down. Since then, Ken has become a celebrity in his own right—you can hear him on Jermaine Dupri's "Instructions," 2Short's "Chase the Cat," Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz's "Kings of Crunk," Lil Flip's "Still Ballin," Mack 10's "Da Hood," and he stars in the video for 50 Cent's "P.I.M.P." He has been written about in The Source, Vibe, F.E.D.S., and on Salon.com.

Karen Hunter is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, a celebrated radio talk-show host, and coauthor of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Confessions of a Video Vixen, On the Down Low, and Wendy’s Got the Heat. She is also an assistant professor in the Film & Media Department at Hunter College.