No need to thank us, Euros. Pimp Juice, an energy drink made by Fillmore Street Brewery with some level of involvement by rapper Nelly, is coming to your shores. The drink was rolled out in 2003, in the face of considerable opposition from some in the black community, and it’s done well enough that it’s being marketed in Africa as well as the United States. Now it’s gone on sale in France and Sweden as well. FSB’s president William Wooten expects the nasty stuff to be a big hit:

“We expect much success in France due to its lively Hip-Hop scene and love of basketball,” Wooten told AllHipHop.com.

This is probably true, since the France where people sat around sipping wine and coffee and discussing Camus is as dead as the Britain of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves. Although even by hip-hop standards, “Pimp Juice” is a pretty revolting name. Leaders in the original campaign against the stuff took exception to the whole notion that pimps were cool, not to mention the implied misogyny. Minister Paul Scott also objected to the initial advertising campaign, which emphasized how well the stuff mixed with vodka. This inspired the following nifty quote:

“The black community is in danger right now,” he said in a statement. “As black men we should be building a nation of strong black leaders, not a nation of superenergized, drunk pimps.”

Quite true, although the idea of a nation of superenergized, drunken pimps is damn near irresistible… Anyway, my problems with Pimp Juice go well beyond the social issues. The name sounds gross. I might drink the occasional can of Red Bull, but if they called the stuff Bull Semen I could easily pass it up.