But most folks, those on the street anyhow, just call me Smooth. Probably don't even know my official payroll name—'n the truth is I ain't made any payrolls for a long time, you unnerstand. Let's see, I guess it goes all the way back to when I first come to the Coast and started hustling. 'Bout all I had back then was a gift for bullshit and my looks—wasn't quite so scuffed-up then, you know. Anyhow, started steering johns for a couple of hookers in the Tenderloin. [washed] Nah, man, a steerer and a pimp is different. Steerer, he just works for a kinda finder's fee, you might say—small change and freebies. Don't run no mommas. Anyhow, the black pimps kinda liked my style—in their line, style is everything. They used to laugh and say: Tha' white boy be runnin' his own line a mommas soon cuz he one slick-talkin' muthah-fuckah, he smoover 'n silk and tha's a fac'. Well, Smooth stuck, but I never did move up to pimping. Uh-uh. Too hectic, you know, with the ass-kickings, drugs, busts, and all.
