Whitefolkz with his pimp cup. (Photo courtesy of the artist/Credit: Guitta Feghali)

On Dec. 4, D.C.-based rapper Whitefolkz received a unique honor — he was presented with a custom pimp cup.

It was given to him at the world-famous Player's Ball, which was held in Los Angeles this year for the first time in its history. Hip-hop's favorite former pimp, Bishop Don "Magic" Juan, presented it to him. 

“I received it when I was inaugurated into the church last year in Cali —the cup is crazy," he says.

Folkz is featured in a Hustler photo spread of the event, along with Snoop, Too $hort, and all manner of pimps, macks, and players. His entry into that world comes courtesy of his manager, Black Ice, whom he says “has been in the pimp game about 10 years.” The application process is streamlined, Whitefolkz says: Once a member vouches for you, if no one else raises objections, you're in.

Whitefolkz wants to make it clear he’s not a pimp. “Yes, I was at the Player’s Ball, yes, I’m in the church, but I’m not a pimp," he says. "I'm a mack — women pay me just to pay me. I don’t sell women and I don’t wanna be labeled as someone who sells women. And I also don’t want any pimps to think I’m fakin’.”

The cup that signaled his welcome into official mackdom was designed by pimp-cup-maker-to-the-stars, Ms. Debbie the Glass Lady. "She’s done the cups for the cast of Jersey Shore, for Snoop Dogg—if you don’t have a cup from her, it’s not official. It’s like rocking Tommy Hilfiger without the ‘H’ on it."

Folkz's cup is lavender and gold, with both his name and an iPod rendered in Swarovski crystals. He says he had ideas for the design, but that Ms. Debbie asked him questions about his background and interests, and then just ran with it.

Folkz says the cup has proven to be “like a key to the city — every city.”

“When I have my cup, everyone comes up to me, from young kids to females to older white women," he says.  "I had like a grandma, like an old white grandma, come up to me, and say, ‘Oh, it’s so beautiful, it’s so ornate, where did you get that?’ It does something to people.”

But, it's a different sort of attention. "Before, females would holler at me, they'd wanna touch my hair; when I have the cup, they wanna talk to me, but they don't wanna talk to me. They assume I'm a pimp. Some get offended, some get timid, some treat it like a novelty."

Folkz, who says there are no more than four people in D.C. with official pimp cups, including him and his manager, says they're like tattoos--after the first one, you’re addicted. He’s in the process of working on another project with Ms. Debbie. “Fifty percent of a pimp’s time is trying to figure out what can be blinged out that hasn’t been blinged out before," he says. "Right now we’re talking about doing a custom guitar. She’s never done a guitar before—I’ll be the first. She said it would be a couple of Gs, so I gotta save up for that. Everybody’s got bills, you know."

The cup isn't just a prop but part of a completely new image for Whitefolkz, encompassing everything from his music to his style of dress.

"This is pretty much all carefully calculated," he says. "It happened about six, seven months ago. My manager was like, ‘We need to change your image. I’m like, 'What the fuck you mean?’ He said I didn't look like I should. I said, 'These are brand new Jordans, sweatshirt, this is like a $400 outfit, it’s fly as shit.' He was like, 'I don’t care if you’re from the hood or not, you’re a white boy — embrace that.'"

Whitefolkz says Black Ice gave him two options: start dressing like a player or start dressing like illusionist Criss Angel. "And I couldn’t get down with the Criss Angel look with the tight jeans and the leather.

“He wanted me to stand out because my music stands out," Folkz continues. "It was time to stop blending in. This is the next phase of the metamorphosis."

His music is slightly different, too: Folkz estimates that, previously, 60 percent of his rhymes were about women, 20 percent about drugs, and the other 20 percent conscious topics. Those percentages are now slightly skewed. He says he's suited up, pimp cup in hand, no matter where he goes, be it the club or the recent Cap City Cypher. "I can't come out here all gangsta like, I'll shoot ya momma, when I'm on my slick look.

"I love my cup," he continues. "It comes out everywhere, all the shows I've done for the past few weeks, all my recent pictures and videos have me with it. I goes with me everywhere except for grocery shopping."