Robert (Iceberg Slim) Beck's first book is told without bitterness and with no pretense at moralizing. It is the smells, the sounds, the fears and ...
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Feb 07, 2011
Greg
rated it: 
I bought this as an impulse purchase because it was displayed right next to the cash register at Shakespeare & Co. I'd seen it in the AK Press catalog before, and that is probably what made me pick it up. Pimp is entertaining in a kind of trashy way. It's a biography about a part of life that many middle class suburban folks like me don't know anything about. I have no idea how truthful the book is, or if it is sensationalism, or maybe even utter bullshit like those 'confessional' books writ
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Jun 14, 2008
Chris
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“Pimp” is fantastic. For about a decade now this has been one of my favorite books, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. Granted, I should immediately admit that I probably like this book for all the wrong reasons; I’m sure that the ‘correct’ grounds for appreciating “Pimp” (if such standards have been established) are to ponder the struggles of the black man fighting to rise up in American society and to look at the infelicitous lot he’s been subjected to and to carefully inspect the
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Jul 28, 2010
Kristen
rated it: 
What does it mean to be a hero in an antagonistic universe?
This book is a thoughtful and brutal examination of the choices one is forced to make in a world turned against the individual. In prose reminiscent of a street-wise Dostoyevsky, the author recounts the story of his life through various moralistic phases. These tend to impress upon the reader a recurring theme, not of the universe's intense silence to human cries, but of openly ambivalent laughter and playfulness that voices itself More...
This book is a thoughtful and brutal examination of the choices one is forced to make in a world turned against the individual. In prose reminiscent of a street-wise Dostoyevsky, the author recounts the story of his life through various moralistic phases. These tend to impress upon the reader a recurring theme, not of the universe's intense silence to human cries, but of openly ambivalent laughter and playfulness that voices itself More...
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May 26, 2008
Lee
rated it: 
Entertaining to the core, but that doesn't mean Iceberg brushes over the nuance and complexity surrounding his situation. "The Skull Book on Pimping" concisely covers issues that sociologists have prattled about in dense and meaningless jargon for decades. Slim is among the few honest autobiographers in his embrace of his contradictions. The book is neither self-glorifying nor moralizing. Nor is it, and it does not pretend to be, simply the facts. Like the hip-hop music it would influe
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(3 people liked it)
Dec 13, 2008
Cwn_annwn_13
rated it:
Isn't it funny how pimps and pimping are totally mainstream pop culture terms and attitudes among young people these days? From multitudes of 18 year old white boy "pimps" on Myspace, to several HBO documentaries about pimps, to grown white men saying things like "keep your pimp hand strong" and dressing up as parody pimps trying to be funny (this has to be the most tired joke on the planet at this point) to Uncle Toms like Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent doing their modern day minstr
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 24, 2011
Emily T.
rated it:
Introduction by Ice T.
After growing up in a world where the 60s and 70s were idealized by the artists in our parents generation, nothing in "Pimp: The Story of My Life" is particularly shocking. What is shocking is when you put it into perspective; Slim was doing all these things in the 30s and 40s. He had turned more whores then I am old by the time my father was born. He's talking about his allies, his good friends being strung out on herion far before the free love er More...
After growing up in a world where the 60s and 70s were idealized by the artists in our parents generation, nothing in "Pimp: The Story of My Life" is particularly shocking. What is shocking is when you put it into perspective; Slim was doing all these things in the 30s and 40s. He had turned more whores then I am old by the time my father was born. He's talking about his allies, his good friends being strung out on herion far before the free love er More...
Mar 17, 2011
Jerky
rated it:
Equal parts autobiography, confessional, manifesto and training manual, PIMP provides the reader with a 3D, Technicolor expose of a much-maligned profession to which many have aspired, but few have had the brains and ruthless chill to pull off. PIMP is one of the most gripping, entertaining and - yes - important narratives of the Black Experience in 20th Century America.
Let me be clear about this - PIMP is one hell of a book. I recommend it to any and all admirers of good writing. Ic More...
Let me be clear about this - PIMP is one hell of a book. I recommend it to any and all admirers of good writing. Ic More...
Oct 23, 2010
Nicholas
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jan 23, 2010
Jafar
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You can try to sanitize this book, as Ervine Welsh has done in the introduction, and treat it as report on the social conditions of the racist America of the 1940’s and 50’s and one Black man’s attempt to break out of the cycle through the only way he found possible, blah blah blah. I couldn’t be bothered with any of this. I picked up this book to read some cool pimp talk. Pimp daddies and their bitches going about their binniz. Mindless degenerate entertainment. Like watching rap videos of the
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Jun 02, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
where to start with this book? some of the most gruesome scenes i've ever read, but i couldn't resist it. about three pages in, i had to put it down and take a deep breath.
anyway - gut-wrenching account of life as a pimp before it became gangster rap fodder. i know there's a big debate - at least at the academic level - about whether slim wrote this book or it was ghostwritten. i'm not sure that matters to me - the story still needs to be told.
it's interesting that desp More...
anyway - gut-wrenching account of life as a pimp before it became gangster rap fodder. i know there's a big debate - at least at the academic level - about whether slim wrote this book or it was ghostwritten. i'm not sure that matters to me - the story still needs to be told.
it's interesting that desp More...
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Apr 25, 2009
Joe
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This book tells the autobiographical story of Iceberg Slim, a street pimp. It pulls no punches, and goes into explicit detail of lots of abuses -- mental, physical, sexual -- delivered to, and originating from, the author. It's not a pretty story. The language is rough as well: not just in what it contains and the way it's told. Yet, the language matches the book perfectly: finely polished or self-censored storytelling would be clearly insincere.
Most of the details in this story More...
Most of the details in this story More...
Jun 14, 2011
Cheryl
rated it:
E-library download to my Sansa Clip. First of all.... I will say I liked this as a man's life story. And I very much enjoyed the narrative version read by Cary Hite! His tone and inflection are perfect!
Our first glimpse is from 1921 when Bobby Beck was just 3 years old. We hear how he changed from young Bobby to Iceberg Slim. A brutal and crude pimp. A prison shrink told Ice how his hatred of his mother is what caused him to turn into a pimp. She made a choice that changed th More...
Our first glimpse is from 1921 when Bobby Beck was just 3 years old. We hear how he changed from young Bobby to Iceberg Slim. A brutal and crude pimp. A prison shrink told Ice how his hatred of his mother is what caused him to turn into a pimp. She made a choice that changed th More...
May 22, 2011
Dylan
rated it: 
He's got this brilliant staccato rhythm to the prose that makes practically every sentence a gem, albeit with the occasional awkward ostentatious touch of the autodidact. That's what the book is really about, this bravura discourse. It's the ultimate pimp rundown, in the parlance of the book. Which really saves it, because the life of a pimp is such great ugliness, little more than abuse and exploitation, and the weak and insincere disclaimer that it's a cautionary tale doesn't make glamorizing
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Dec 16, 2007
Danny
rated it:
When I first bought this book I just assumed that it took place in the '60s and '70s but it actually takes place in the '20s,'30s, and 40's and yeah, it's amazing. Told in a very straight forward matter of fact style, cold and hard and filled with old school street slang. Just like you'd expect from a guy named Iceberg Slim.
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Jan 29, 2012
Robb
rated it:
Why did it take me so long to find this book? Great read. It's amazing how much hip-hop culture was born from its pages, but even if you are not into hip-hop, this book is a valuable history lesson that goes way beyond wanna-be pimp rappers.
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Feb 13, 2010
Samsquatch
rated it:
I learned everything i know from this book. I was practically raised by it, as well as sports highlights commentary reels. I currently am a pastor at the Skokie Baptist revival church in Skokieville, NY, and I make all my flock read this book. I've actually taped the pages into my bible (after Deuteronomy), so I can quote easily from it. Sure, some of the older members don't like the dirty language and risque situations (the scene where all the ho's air their battered pussies out of the side
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Jul 06, 2010
Stef
rated it:
I read this book as a personal recommendation from Dave Chappelle. Personal meaning that I went to his show after his return from the motherland and he discusses how this book changed some of his perceptions on his fame and fans and I was in the audience so it was directed at me (and everyone else there). "Don't ever leave me."
It's memorable starting from the first page of describing how he was "Georgia'd" by his babysitter at the young age of 3. Slim describes th More...
It's memorable starting from the first page of describing how he was "Georgia'd" by his babysitter at the young age of 3. Slim describes th More...
Nov 23, 2007
Tosh
rated it:
I wrote an essay on Iceberg Slim that was published in a porn (!) magazine some years ago:
But you can read it here on my blog:
http://tamtambooks-tosh.blogspot.com/sea...
But you can read it here on my blog:
http://tamtambooks-tosh.blogspot.com/sea...
Dec 05, 2011
Billy
rated it:
This was a decent autobiography of the pimp, Iceberg Slim. He was a cruel guy and did horrible things to various women who he took as whores and other people involved in the under world of prostitution and drugs during the 40s. Some of the descriptions are really brutal--whipping women with clothes hangers and such--but it seemed to be honest and as a pimp and drug addict, Iceberg was fairly introspective. If you want to be a pimp, this would be a good place to start. I don't think I want to be
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Aug 30, 2011
Cheryl
rated it:
I listened to this book during a project at work and let me tell you, several times through out I found myself going back to re-listen to a section or my mouth would fall open from surprise. If you have never heard slang from this time period, that might be the only hangup that you come across. After a while, you can tell what he is talking about based upon how the word is used.
I am amazed how a woman can give her life over completely to another person and do whatever he tells her a More...
I am amazed how a woman can give her life over completely to another person and do whatever he tells her a More...
May 27, 2011
Naomi
rated it:
This is not a book you can "like." It is a repulsive book you can learn something from and hope desperately that conditions have changed since its publication. You'll find cultural commentary and insights into the psyche, but you'll also find vile, unimaginable misogyny and disregard for humanity in general. I suppose I learned something, but the urge to vomit accompanied that awful education. Why the four stars, you say? Old Iceberg Slim's tale, in the most (for lack of any other
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(2 people liked it)
Feb 19, 2011
Uncle
rated it:
40 years ago I worked for welfare on West Madison Street. There was a black bookstore there where i came across Pimp. It is the most heartrending book I ever read (well almost). That first part about his mama in the rain is great. I love that writer, now long dead. I'm glad he came to L.A. like I did. Chicago is too bleak to spend a lifetime there. But it really is sick, of course. It appeals to young men who can't fulfill there sexual urges. That is a terrible thing. Why is everything so hard.
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Sep 05, 2011
Stephen
rated it:
This is some book. It was published in 1969 but it reads like it was written last year. I find it a little disheartening and unsettling how relevant and influential Pimp is to this day. Judging from this book, the game hasn't changed much in the last 80 or so years.
Iceberg Slim was one of the most famous pimps around in the 30s and 40s. He started from a conning thief and worked his way into becoming a pimp. After taking advice from a couple of established pimps, including the infamous More...
Iceberg Slim was one of the most famous pimps around in the 30s and 40s. He started from a conning thief and worked his way into becoming a pimp. After taking advice from a couple of established pimps, including the infamous More...
Mar 07, 2009
AJ
rated it:
"A pimp is happy when his whores giggle. He knows they are still asleep." Chilling.
This was a loan from Dan. The narrator is such a bastard. If it wasn't an autobiography, it would be decried as misogynistic, which it is. But that would be the point, right? I mean, he is a pimp. He beats his women, hooks them on drugs and sucks the life out of them until they run away. Hustle & Flow owes a great debt to Pimp and its sympathetic portrayal of that world.
Putting mora
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Jul 01, 2009
Zoe
rated it:
Slim writes with poetic ease of the streets, he was born with storytellers talent. He lived a hard life and was a real pimp sometimes he doesn't fully describe his pimp ways, but I'm sure he wasn't as soft as he sometimes portrays. I love all Slims books and suggest them to any one interested in the world of prostitution and big city's back in the good old days, when gangsters were truly gangsters and hustling was an exciting way of life. Similar style to my idol Herbert Huncke, pure, natural &
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Dec 03, 2009
Michelle
rated it:
I love every single one of Robert Beck's books. Although this wasn't my favorite it was still fascinating to read a first hand account of the gritty urban life of a pimp. I admit, the slang was a bit much but after a while I was used to it. He has a glossary in the back and you can pretty much put two in two together to understand what he's talking about. I like Beck's books way better than Donal Goines. With Beck you know what he's saying is 100% real. Goines I felt was a bit of fiction.
Oct 26, 2010
Elizabeth
rated it:
apparently i'm on a prostitution binge. interesting book from back in the day how one starts pimpin large. iceberg slim is very smart, so he was able to make it through the drugs, the bad advice, abuse and poverty that comes his way and we are able to read about. We should be thankful for that. an easy, summertime read for the dark and twisted. the use of quotes for a lot of the jargon is SUPER annoying.
Jan 27, 2011
Kay
rated it:
I appreciate the candor with which Slim has revealed his world. The only other book I've read with such a disturbing level of misogyny is the fiction of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, so that's saying a lot. I never understood how a person can think of another as less than and in such base terms, but perhaps that is a prerequisite for the pimp game.
His wit is prickly, sharp and hilarious. One pimp's 'ho, who is in the rain and complaining about being wet, is told "Walk be More...
His wit is prickly, sharp and hilarious. One pimp's 'ho, who is in the rain and complaining about being wet, is told "Walk be More...
Apr 27, 2011
Samir
rated it:
I bought this book because it was much talked about on Goodreads as well as on some other sites. Frankly speaking, the book neither gave me an insight into the world totally unknown andalien to me nor did it provide any insights into human behavior. It was just a story told told by a person. The most difficult part for me was to understand his language. The code words, the description, nothing made sense to me, until much later. While the book was slightly boring at times, my curiosity kept m
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Aug 25, 2011
Just finished reading Pimp The Story of My Life by Iceberg Slim. Great insider book on the hard lonely life of a pimp: The good, the bad and the ugly. Always having to watch you back, your scratch and your stable; pimpin' ain't easy, for the most part you got to be cold as Ice. His writing is similar to Donald Goines if you are down with the ghetto realism genre.
