The quotations from Slim’s books, interviews, and other writings demonstrate his immense writing talent and verbal flair. Whether or not you buy Justin Gifford’s claims for his subject’s importance (“more than any other cultural figure of the past fifty years, Beck transformed American culture and black literature” his Pimp: The Story of My Life was “one of the most important pieces of American literature of the twentieth century”), his life makes a captivating story.
There’s no question that in his late years he did a great deal of good, sounding a cautionary note for black youth who might be tempted to follow his path. Beck, bad as he was, claimed not to be as evil as other pimps because he didn’t hate his mother quite as much-in fact, by the evidence of this book, he didn’t hate her at all. The events of his life are put in historical context, including an interesting tour of the prisons (good and bad) where he was incarcerated and the various inner-city neighborhoods where he practiced his misogynistic profession. Slim died at age 73 in 1992 one day before the Los Angeles riots.The author of the Edgar-nominated Pimping Fictions: African American Crime Literature and the Untold Story of Black Pulp Publishing (2013) surpasses that excellent work with a thorough, well-documented, and intensely readable account of the life of Robert Beck (1918-1992), the reformed pimp whose writings as Iceberg Slim jump-started the outpouring of African American street literature beginning in the late 1960s, most from the Los Angeles paperback publisher Holloway House. He published six more books based on his life and different aspects of the ghetto black, pimp community. Slim was catapulted into the public eye as a new American hero, known for speaking the truth whether that truth was ugly, sexy, rude or blunt. With a family to feed, Slim folded his life into the pages of Pimp, which emerged as a definitive chronicle of street life. After several stints in jail, culminating in a ten month stay in Cook County, he decided to give up the life and turned to writing. He briefly attended the Tuskegee Institute but dropped out to return to the streets of the South Side, where he remained, pimping until he was forty-two.
"THE BEST KNOWN PIMP OF OUR TIME"-Hollie West for The Washington PostĪbout the Author Iceberg Slim, aka Robert Beck, was born in Chicago in 1918 and was initiated into the life of the pimp at age eighteen. In the preface, Slim says it best, "In this book, I will take you, the reader, with me into the secret inner world of the pimp." With millions of copies sold, Pimp has become vital reading across generations of writers, entertainers and filmmakers alike, making it a timeless piece of American literature. Groundbreaking for its authentic and oft-brutal account of the sex trade, the book offers readers an unforgettable look at the mores of Chicago's street life during the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. He briefly attended the Tuskegee Institute but dropped out to return to the streets of the South Side, where he remained, pimping until he was 42.īook Synopsis ", Iceberg Slim breaks down some of the coldest, capitalist concepts I've ever heard in my life." -Dave Chappelle, from his Netflix special The Bird Revelation An immersive experience unlike anything before it, Pimp is the classic hustler's tale that never seems to go out of style.Iceberg Slim's autobiographical novel sent shockwaves throughout the literary world when it published in 1969. About the Book Iceberg Slim, aka Robert Beck, was born in Chicago in 1918 and was initiated into the life of the pimp at age 18.
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