Michael Maroy

The Las Vegas one-man documentarian whose Too Real For TV DVDs put working pimps on camera for a decade and a half.

Michael Maroy was a Las Vegas-based documentary filmmaker and the owner of Too Real For TV, the direct-to-DVD label under which he released a run of films about American pimping and street life between roughly 2002 and his death in 2017. In an undated interview with the filmmaking site Desktop Documentaries he described himself as a working documentarian who had made about ten films, listing Certified, the four-part Cross Country Pimping series, Best of Both Worlds, Zero to Sixty, World Famous Players Ball and Down South Players, and summarised his method in one line: "Equipment is cool, but nothing replaces creativity." He shot on a single Canon DSLR and cut on a laptop; the films are, by design, one camera in the room with the subjects.

The earliest surviving title is World Famous Players Ball, a roughly ninety-minute record of Archbishop Don "Magic" Juan's annual Chicago Players Ball. The original DVD, held in the Hood Box Office archive, carries a 2002 copyright on the sleeve (the disc label reads 2003), the credit "A Film by M.B. Maroy," and the imprint of Maroy Visual Images, Inc., which manufactured and distributed it; the cover names Don Magic Juan, Snoop Dogg, Ice-T, Bad Azz, King Jo Jo, Good Game, Kenny Red, Pimpin Ken and Lee Mack. Cross Country Pimping, the film Hood Box Office now describes as "the cult classic that launched the Too Real for TV series," followed and was sold through mainstream retail: its Amazon listing credits Pimpin Ken, Don Magic Juan, Minister Seamore, Pimp Ju Ju and Pimpsy. Part 3 is dated 2008 in the Alibris catalogue, which credits Maroy as director and describes it as interviews in which "the most successful pimps" discuss "the ruthless nature of a pimp's life." Later titles included America$ Daughter$, released on his YouTube channel, and Down South Players, sold on Amazon as "A Film By MAROY."

Maroy's films belong to the DVD-era tradition that Pimps Up, Ho's Down (1998) and American Pimp (1999) opened: the pimp speaks for himself, at length, with little narration and no opposing voice. They never had a theatrical release and were not reviewed by major outlets, so the criticism that attaches to them is the criticism that attaches to the form. The women who appear are filmed as the men's companions and are rarely interviewed on their own terms; the archive notes this as a limitation of the source material rather than a finding about any individual.

His official YouTube channel, TooRealForTV, calls him an "Award Winning Filmmaker," though no award was located. In March 2012 a blog post asked whether he had "faked his death"; a commenter replied that he was "alive and well." On 29 June 2017 the Bay Area music site Siccness Network reported that Maroy had died in Las Vegas that day, cause unconfirmed; the pimp and YouTube commentator G Gov posted a video announcing the death the same day, and the TooRealForTV channel later posted "Remembering Michael Maroy" shorts.

Disclosure: this archive is maintained by Hood Box Office, which hosts and sells Maroy's films. Hood Box Office's Too Real For TV hub offers Cross Country Pimpin' 1–5, World Famous Players Ball, Down South Players, Certified, The Making of a Millionaire and America's Daughters through a monthly "Vault" pass and single-film rentals, and holds the original discs. Hood Box Office states that Too Real For TV now operates under its umbrella, with Young Dope Man as its president; the terms of that arrangement are not published, and this record does not characterise them. Hood Box Office also says that Truth & Power, the Up North Records rapper who appears in Cross Country Pimping 4, is a co-owner of Too Real For TV. Sinful The P, the YouTube-era commentator sometimes associated with this material, did not appear in or make any Too Real For TV film.

Films

• World Famous Players Ball (2002). His earliest surviving title: Don Magic Juan's Chicago Players Ball, on a disc credited "A Film by M.B. Maroy." Archive record.
• Cross Country Pimping (c. 2006, not confirmed). The interview film that started the Cross Country Pimping series; the DVD credits Pimpin Ken and Don Magic Juan among others. Archive record.
• Cross Country Pimping Pt. 2 (year not confirmed). Known chiefly through Too Real For TV's official preview; no separate Hood Box Office page. Archive record.
• Cross Country Pimping Pt. 3 (2008). Released on DVD in 2008 and sold through mainstream retail. Archive record.
• Cross Country Pimping 4: Big Business (2010). The official preview names thirteen people, among them Kenny Red, Don Magic Juan, Pimpin Ken, Too $hort, Waka Flocka Flame and Truth & Power. Archive record.
• Cross Country Pimping 5: Truth Be Told (2014). DVD street date 26 August 2014 (MVD); 140 minutes, with Silky Slim and Dae Skrilla. Archive record.
• Down South Players (year not confirmed). Sold on DVD as "A Film By MAROY"; its cast is unrecorded. Archive record.
• Certified (year not confirmed). Called his ninth film by Hood Box Office; an official preview is on the TooRealForTV channel. Archive record.
• The Making of a Millionaire (year not confirmed). Listed by Hood Box Office as Certified Vol. 2 and his first documentary-musical. Archive record.
• Zero to Sixty (year not confirmed). A car-show documentary on imports, lowriders and hydraulics, outside the pimping subject. Archive record.
• America's Daughters (year not confirmed). Styled America$ Daughter$; described by Hood Box Office as a film on American prostitution. Archive record.
• Guns: America's Fascination with Firearms (year not confirmed). Listed by Hood Box Office as Maroy's film on American gun culture; no archive record yet.

ALSO KNOWN AS
Michael Maroy (credited on discs as M.B. Maroy; films branded "A Film by MAROY")

STATUS
Died 29 June 2017, Las Vegas, Nevada (reported by Siccness Network and tributes; no major-outlet confirmation located), age not published

ERA
2002–2017

ASSOCIATED WITH
Las Vegas; Too Real For TV; Maroy Visual Images, Inc.; Cross Country Pimping; World Famous Players Ball; Truth & Power; Hood Box Office

STANDING
Partly documented