DVD Review: MTV’s Pimp My Ride, the Complete First Season

 by Ben-Peter Terpstra  

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Pimp My Ride proves that when it comes to wheels, capitalism rules.

Thanks to MTV’s Pimp My Ride: The Complete First Season, Neil’s 1974 Chevy “Luv” Truck is a real hit with the ladies, Brian’s 1987 Honda CRX looks awesome, and, even Dannelle’s new look 1981 Pontiac Trans Am proves that no car is “unpimpable.”

Nearly everyone’s heard of the show, but what makes it unique?

Well, for one thing, Pimp My Ride — featuring, Xzibit, the rapper turned host and his friends at West Coast Customs, a black-majority car shop — proves that when it comes to wheels, capitalism rules.  I’ll admit this show is a little strange.

In a typical episode, Xzibit visits a house and takes the owner’s beat-up wheels. Then, the guys at West Coast Customs have a roundtable meeting to discuss how to “pimp” the car up. As one crazy idea builds on the next, the viewer is left on the edge of his or her seat.

The show, to be sure, ends with an unrecognizably cool car, and one very excitable owner. This is great viewing — but it isn’t going to impress “global warming” doomsayers. 

In episode one, for instance, the men at West Coast Customs fix up Wyatt’s tatty white 1988 Daihatsu Hi-Jet. Notably, the owner’s friend describes it as “a toaster rolling on donuts,” but no car is “unpimpable.” Capitalism works her magic. Within days, the “toaster mobile” rises like a phoenix into a blue fighting machine.

The wheels are bigger. The stereo system is bigger. “I’ve always had a love affair with cars: big ones, fast ones, especially expensive ones,” says Xzibit. And, he’s dead serious.

Meanwhile, Al Gore, the former Vice President, is writing about the benefits of so-called hybrid cars in Newsweek’s special “green issue,” December, 2006. “A 500-mile-per-gallon car is within reach in the near future with the right fuels, the right cars and the right leadership,” he points out. Seriously.

By 2008, more earth mothers will be able to drive their “green cars” to the airport before burning jet fuel on their way to Paris, first class. Come to think of it, that’s exactly what Gore did when he was promoting his Hollywood-funded documentary.  Seriously.

Pimp My Ride fans, by way of contrast, don’t take themselves too seriously. Moreover, they don’t appear to be too concerned about “global warming,” and the show is better for it. Forget the “right fuels,” or the “green rules.”

MTV’s audience, after all, love loud music and that means more noise pollution, and less time to worry about “global warming” predictions. Forget the “right leadership” too.  

As if the eye candy-making tips and the undeniable fact that it feels good to scare self-praising green politicians aren’t enough reasons to watch a car show, now Pimp My Ride gives you one more! I call it “freedom,” with a touch of rebellion.

Following in the footsteps of countless young adults, every television project captures the car owner driving down the open highway with the wind in his or her face, of course.  That’s freedom in a nutshell, now isn’t? Youth. Wheels. Smoke. 

It wasn’t always so free and easy, however. Indeed, once upon a time, but not very long ago, the first cars were described as “devil wagons” by irate horse and buggy liberals. Today, we are told, bigger vehicles are “rainforest rapists.” The “devil wagons” are back. 

To watch Pimp My Ride is to rediscover the cooler wheels of capitalism – from Krissy’s 1969 Volkswagen Baja Bug to Antwon’s 1990 Mitsubishi Mirage, this show, in truth, reminds us of what’s so great about suburban American dreams, and “mature” cars. 

Encouragingly, this show also proves that MTV producers can make good quality shows without having to pay suspiciously young looking women to strut their stuff on poles. If capitalism is self-correcting, then car pimping, in my view, is positively progressive.

Culture: Hollywood, Entertainment

Read more articles by Ben-Peter Terpstra