Pimpin' the Clothes Sex sells. Pimps sell sex. See an equation trying to form?

On hearing "That guy's a pimp," would you assumehe sells the "services" of women? Well, stop thinkinglike a new recruit at the precinct. Slang has once againtransformed a formerly dirty word (like "dope") into apositive thing. And because kids of all ages are scrambling to wearwhat they have to say across their chests, one word can mean dollarsigns.

This year, "pimp" will mean $2 million-plus for33-year-old Rocky Batty's Boston, Massachusetts, clothingcompany, Original Pimpgear. The DJ and longtime devotee tohip-hop culture admits it wasn't until about three years afterlaunching his line of hats and T-shirts for guys, along with hisPimpgirl line for girls, that he realized a few logos and someattitude could be a viable business. Demand from chain boutiques,music stores like Sam Goody and skate shops confirmed hisnotion.

Batty had been hearing about "pimpin' the mic"since the late '80s, both in rap music and around the hip-hopscene. And by the time he called his mom to tell her that her sonowned the word "pimp" (he registered it in 1993), hecould explain how its positive nature fits everyone from a12-year-old boy to a 20-year-old woman. He insists it's nothingto do with race, gender, leopard-skin furniture or fedoras, butrather doing your own thing and not prostituting yourself toanyone. Clothing e-tailers SeriousPimp.com and PimpIt.com havealready followed suit.