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Hip-hop's showy grail
When your pimp cup has to be the very best, you don't have to go far; a Casselberry couple are the major players who put the bling in the thing.
By TAMARA LUSH
Published December 30, 2005
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[Photo: Custom Cups]
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If you're not a rap enthusiast or an avid BET watcher, you may have missed one of the biggest style trends of the past year: pimp cups. These colorful, goblet-sized glasses, decorated with sparkly paint and shiny objects (read: bling) are some rappers' favorite accoutrements, something to wave to the beat of crunk music.
It's unclear where or why the trend started; some say a woman named Debbie in Chicago made the prototype several years ago. There are only a few manufacturers, and one is right in our back yard. A Casselberry company called Custom Cups creates handmade pimp cups and other decorated glassware.
Company owner Mark Layton spoke with the St. Petersburg Times about his famous customers, his most popular model and why inner-city kids don't buy pimp cups.
Tell me about your business. How did you start making pimp cups?
It was a few years ago. We started to see a lot of the rappers on TV carrying them. At the time, my wife was painting on glass. A friend of mine wanted to purchase these cups and we went online - at the time there was only one other company that did it. We looked at what they were selling and it wasn't any kind of decent quality for the price they were (charging). I brought the idea to my wife, and she said okay.
What did your first cup look like?
Oh goodness. 2003. It wasn't that nice. It started out with the acrylic gems. The quality just wasn't there. I guess that was because that's what we kind of saw. Over a few months we started and put our first one on eBay.
Now it's more Internet orders. EBay was basically just our start, just to get it on the Internet. We knew we wanted our own Web site.
Explain to the readers - some of whom may not be familiar with hip-hop or rap culture - what, exactly, pimp cups are.
They kind of started out with these flashy guys, pimps, per se, and these guys would carry these cups for show, for flash. They would dress in the big suits, big jewelry and the cup was another sign of flashiness. The rap industry got ahold of it. Lil Jon, he's the rapper out of Atlanta, brought it to the forefront.
We thought it would be mostly young people buying them, but it's a lot of middle-aged people. People (who) buy them, believe it or not, are in their 30s and 40s. The young kids buy the cheaper ones.
Some people buy these cups for aunts, uncles and grandfathers. When we started it, "pimp cup" was a derogatory term. That's why we started our site as Custom Cups. We didn't want to be known for selling pimp cups. But what we found is it's not just these flashy hip-hop guys that like them. Attorneys, business people, we sell to some very influential people. It's just really a beautiful cup. And they do use them to drink out of."
Who buys your cups? A lot of teenage boys?
No. No, but you would think it would be. A lot of inner-city kids, they don't even have access to the Internet. A majority of people buying these cups are older, at their job ordering cups or ordering from home. Mainstream people.
Believe it or not, most of our customers are outside of the state of Florida. We hardly do any business here.
Who is the most famous person who has used your cups?
Oh, goodness, let me see. We just did an awards show for Radio One, called the Dirty Awards for 2005. It was to honor the Dirty South Rappers. These people like Ludacris, all of these hot rappers, Radio One gave these guys awards. We did the cups for the show. The cups were the actual awards. One side said Dirty Awards 2005 with the category on other side.
Is it true that Snoop Dogg used one of your cups?
That was like a year ago. Saturday Night Live called us because Snoop was to appear on their show. They ordered three cups. They wanted us to put Snoop's name on it so he could have his pick.
What's your most popular pimp cup?
The Showtime. It's a curvy cup. It almost looks like a trophy of sorts. It's very unique.
How do you make the cups?
The cups are glass, of course. We hand paint every glass; there's no automation of any sort. We use adhesives for the jewels. Other people would have jewels that would fall off their glasses; I think that was a major concern. But I don't want to go into the secrets of how we do it.
Do you have employees who make the cups?
It's just us two, my wife and I. It's a full-time job.
How old are you?
I'm 40.
Do you have a pimp cup?
Yeah, I have one. Mine is blue and it's basically just like the Showtime. I put beverages in my cup, sometimes alcoholic beverages.
How much is the Showtime?
$95.
What are your most expensive and least expensive cups?
It's $250. It has a lot more jewels on it. Our least expensive is $60.
What is your business background?
I used to do office equipment, sell and service copiers. I had my own business. I started doing this and this is really a full-time job. It's not as stressful as the other job.
- Tamara Lush can be reached at 727 893-8612 or lush@sptimes.com
For more information, go to www.customcups.net
[Last modified December 29, 2005, 08:40:09]
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