AP-101 · DOCUMENTED SUBJECTS

Scorpio

A pimp Salon reported as the Players Ball's 1998 Pimp of the Year, shown in clips attributed to HBO's Pimps Up, Ho's Down.

Edited still: converted to black and white.

Scorpio is known publicly through two kinds of record. The first is journalism: reporting from the Players Ball for Salon in January 2000, Denise Dowling identified him as the ball's 1998 Pimp of the Year, a title awarded at the gathering founded by Bishop Don Magic Juan. The second is film: a clip circulated on YouTube as "Scorpio, Pimp Up Hoes Down! documentary scene" presents him in Pimps Up, Ho's Down, Brent Owens's 1998 HBO documentary. The credit lists the archive could open for the film do not name him, and IMDb's full credits could not be read, so that appearance rests on the footage.

Salon's portrait is brief. Dowling describes him as soft-spoken and loudly dressed, and reports that he was regarded as a "gentleman pimp" for a hands-off approach. She counted six women working for him, and he told her he wanted them to be happy. The article records nothing in the women's own words.

That label is the trade's own description of itself. The same article records other pimps describing beatings and punishments inflicted on women, and Scorpio's account should be read against it: it describes six women working under his control as a pimp. No court record, arrest report or later interview in which he describes his own history was found. The archive's Pimp Snooky record cites a competing claim to the same 1998 title.

ALSO KNOWN AS
Not published; appears as Scorpio

STATUS
Unknown

ERA
Late 1990s (public record)

ASSOCIATED WITH
Players Ball (Chicago); Bishop Don Magic Juan; Pimps Up, Ho's Down (HBO, 1998)

STANDING
Partly documented

DOCUMENTED RECORD

29 January 2000 — Salon (Denise Dowling, "Pimpin' is hard work") names Scorpio as the Players Ball's 1998 Pimp of the Year, calls him a "gentleman pimp" and reports six women working for him.
Undated — "Scorpio, Pimp Up Hoes Down! documentary scene" circulated on YouTube as an excerpt of Pimps Up, Ho's Down (HBO, 1998; dir. Brent Owens).
2020 — "Scorpio The Pimp Tribute" slide video from the 2020 International Players Ball circulated on YouTube, one of a series that also salutes men who are still living.

NOT ESTABLISHED

His credit in Pimps Up, Ho's Down: the cast lists on Letterboxd and Plex name only four participants, IMDb's full credits could not be read, and the attribution rests on an uploaded clip.
The 1998 Pimp of the Year title: Salon gives it to Scorpio, while a report cited in the archive's Pimp Snooky record gives it to Derrick Avery. Which year's ball the documentary filmed is also unconfirmed.
His legal name, city, age and current status: none has been published. The 2020 "tribute" does not establish that he has died, and no obituary or news report was found. D.C. Scorpio, the Washington go-go artist, is a different person.