Iceberg Slim: biography, bibliography, filmography and links

Biographical Notes For Iceberg Slim AKA Robert Beck

  Iceberg Slim, also known as Robert Beck, was born as Robert Lee Maupin in Chicago, Illinois on August 4th, 1918. He spent much of his childhood in Milwaukee and Rockford, Illinois before returning to Chicago as a teenager.

  His father having abandoned them, Slim's mother supported the family by working as a domestic and operating a beauty shop. He credits his mother for having prepared him for the pimp lifestyle by pampering him during his childhood.

  Iceberg attended Tuskegee Institute briefly in the mid 1930's, at the same time Ralph Ellison was there, however they did not know one another.

  At 18, Robert began his initiation into "the life", adopting his nom de guerre, "Iceberg Slim" and remained a pimp until age 42, predominantly in the Chicago area. He was incarcerated several times in conjunction with his crimes, including a stretch in Leavenworth and spent a 10 month prison sentence in solitary confinement at Cook County House of Corrections in 1960. It was this last stretch that finally motivated Iceberg to "square up", and take to writing about his life experiences rather than pursuing a life of crime.

  Slim moved to California in the 1960's to pursue the a normal life, and changed his name to Robert Beck, using the last name of the man his mother was married to at the time.

  He published his first autobiographical novel, Pimp: The Story of My Life in 1969 published by Holloway House. He found his book being shelved next to other black authors of the angry 60's like Eldridge Cleaver's Soul On Ice and Malcolm X's The Autobiography of Malcolm X. As the climate shifted to the more militant black political movements in the 1970's, Slim had an opportunity to meet Huey Newton and other members of the Black Panther Party, whom he admired greatly. He considered his success as a pimp as a blow against white oppression. The Black Panthers, however, had little mutual regard for Slim, considered his former profession as little more than the exploitation of his people for personal gain.

  Slim's books were met with great success and immediately garnered widespread attention. The film rights to Pimp were purchased by Universal Pictures following the success of The Godfather, however the project was considered "too hot" and put on hold indefinitely. However, in 1973 Trick Baby was made into a film directed by Larry Yust. The cast included Kiel Martin as "White Folks"; Mel Stewart as "Blue Howard"; and Ted Lange as "Melvin the Pimp". [NEWSFLASH: I just found out that this was recently released on video - check your local (cool) independently owned video store, or buy it. ].

  There have been rumors that a film based on Pimp is now in production, with both Ice-T and Ice Cube vying for the leading role. By the way, both "Ices" cite Iceberg Slim as an early inspiration, and paid homage to him by adopting his name. UPDATE: It looks like Ice Cube has gotten the part for the upcoming film, check out this article from MTV.com, though since this is dated May 2000, the production may have been postponed. Here's another (undated) blurb from Rolling Stone.

  Iceberg Slim passed away April 28, 1992 at age 73.

One of the more entertaining aspects of Slim's books are the glossaries in the back which define key terms of " the life ". These glossaries have become important sources for dictionaries of slang and studies on black English, in which he is cited repeatedly as a source. These definitions come from Pimp: The Story of My Life.

• bottom woman: pimp's main woman, his foundation

• breaking luck: a whore's first trick of a working day

• chili pimp: small-time, one whore pimp

• jasper: lesbian

• macking: pimping

• square up: to get out of the life

• to pull someone's coat: to inform and teach

Internal Links

• The Biography Project's Black Power author list cites dozens of great books written by angry black men.

  Archived Articles on Iceberg Slim

• A 1972 interview of Iceberg Slim from the Los Angeles Free Press.
   

• A 1973 interview of Iceberg Slim from the Washington Post.
   

• An October 1992 article about Iceberg Slim from Esquire Magazine.
   

• A 1992 article from The Guardian (UK) on Slim's death.
   

• An undated (probably 1992) article about Slim's life from Cash Box. (A coin-op music trade magazine.) (Has several factual errors)
   

• Draft of First Chapter of Dr. Peter Muckley's Iceberg Slim Biography from Iceberg Slim, The Life as Art (Forthcoming 2002), to be published by Dorrance.

• Cast and credits information on Trick Baby from the Internet Movie Database.
   

• Possibly the best, most complete analysis of Iceberg Slim. Unfortunately, it's in German.
  www.cairoblue.de/Moderne_Welt/Babylon_Falling/Iceberg_Slim.html
   

• Essay written by "Tosh" on Iceberg Slim and posted in the Miskatonic.org RARA-AVIS archives, which are devoted to the discussion of hard-boiled and noir fiction.
   

• Article on pimping from Africana.com. Excellent read.
   

• http://www.icebergslim.com/: Holloway House, Iceberg Slim's publisher, steps into the 21st century with this website, currently under construction (7-17-99), but I have high hopes... In the mean time, check out http://www.hollowayhousebooks.com/.
   

• Another foreign site on Iceberg Slim, http://www.liberation.fr/livres/98juil/980709slim.html, this one is in French. The funny thing is, I think the author cribbed from this page, but maybe not, my French is pretty rusty.
   

• http://www.pimpsup.com/: The official site for "Pimps Up, Ho's Down" a 1998 documentary featuring profiles of several pimps. I haven't seen this yet.
   

• Hookers, Hustlers, Pimps and Their Johns: Internet Movie Database link for this 1993 documentary (not much there...) Weirdly enough this is credited to the same director as To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar
   

• www.cs.oberlin.edu/students/pjaques/etext/prison-guide.html: The Black People's Prison Survival Guide. Enough said.
   

• http://www.canongate.co.uk/: The site for Payback Press, the UK publisher of Slim's work, as well as a number of other great titles.
   

• www.wwnorton.com/osb/: Norton's Old School Books site. This imprint is an excellent source on other black authors, including Robert Deane Pharr, author of Giveadamn Brown as well as numerous other black authors such as Donald Goines, Charles Perry, Clarence Cooper, Jr., and Chester Himes.
   

• Read Josh Alan Friedman's tribute to Iceberg Slim at the WMFU site. www.wfmu.org/LCD/21/ice.html
  

• Findagrave.com's Pictures of Iceberg Slim's burial place. Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale (Los Angeles County), California.

  

• www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/8392/: Homepage for "Iceberg Slim 1998" an Arizona band formerly known as "Jedi Mind Trick". Uh oh guys, watch out for those copyrighted names.... newsflash: They have gone back to using Jedi Mind Trick.
   

• http://www.icebergslim450.cjb.net/ : official homepage for "Iceberg Slim", a white wrestler. I hope someone kicks this fat fuck's ass. Apparently part of his gimmick is to bleed a lot. It's obviously fake. The very existence of this person using Iceberg Slim as a stage name just pisses me off.
  

  
  'Iceberg Slim': a "pro" wrestler

Complete Bibliography of Iceberg Slim

  don't forget to check out the amazon.co.uk Iceberg Slim bibliography

• Pimp: The Story of My Life
   

• Trick Baby: The Story of a White Negro (also on video!)
   

• Long White Con: The Biggest Score of His Life!
   

• Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim: Robert Beck's Real Story
   

• Mama Black Widow: A Story of the South's Black Underworld
   

• Airtight Willie and Me: The Story of Six Incredible Players
   

• Death Wish: A Story of the Mafia
   

• The Game For Squares (Unpublished. This incomplete manuscript was Slim's final project before he passed away.)
   

• Doom Fox was written in 1978 but not published until October of 1998. Glad to see this finally in print. This may or may not be a version of The Game For Squares. I have no information on this either way.

• Pimp: Memorias de un Chulo: 1998, published by Anagrama, Barcelona, Spain. (Trans. Eduardo Fuentes; Intro. Dr. Peter A. Muckley) [review]
   

• Trick Baby: 2000, published by Anagrama, Barcelona, Spain. (Trans. Eduardo Fuentes; Intro. Dr. Peter A. Muckley)

Related Secondary Texts

• American Pimp: Hughes Brothers' documentary, supposed to be excellent, though I haven't seen it. (by the Hughes Brothers directors of Menace II Society, Dead Presidents, and From Hell) Available on DVD. 
   

• Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Originally, part of an HBO documentary. Available on DVD. Also check out Pimpology Uncut: The Movie.
   
  

• Prison Writing In the 20th Century by H. Bruce Franklin. This contains an excerpt by Slim from The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim, as well as dozens of other incarcerated authors.
   

• That's Blaxploitation!: by Darius James: A fantastic source book on the entire blaxploitation film genre, including one of the last interviews with Iceberg Slim (1990) and information on Trick Baby AKA Double Con, a 1973 film release, which was recently release on video.
   

  • Also check out our page on blaxploitation for more books, films and information.
     

• The Life : The Lore and Folk Poetry of the Black Hustler : by Dennis Wepman. An ethnographic analysis of the 'toast' (now called 'rap') of incarcerated black hustlers, including Iceberg Slim, kept in print by Holloway House, of course.
   

• The Pimp's Bible: Sweet Science of Sin
   

• Turning Pro: A Guide to Sex Work for the Ambitious and the Intrigued Written by an ex-hooker.
   

• Brothel: Mustang Ranch and Its Women Interesting look at the life of the whores in Nevada's legal brothels.
   

• Hookers, Tricks and Cops Inside look at the relationship between law enforcement and prostitution, written by an ex-vice squad cop.
   

• Prostitution: On Whores, Hustlers and Johns Published by Prometheus books, known for their upfront, no holds approach, no subject too racy. In other words, buy this book.
   

• The Brothel Bible: A small press "tell-it-like-is" book about the industry.
   

• Red Light: Inside the Sex Industry: A fancier book, aesthetically pleasing, lots o' glossy photos. Almost too slick for the subject matter.
  
  

• The Art of Mackin': Tariq "K-Flex" Nasheed. Apparently a bit more humorous than biographical.
  
  

• The Pimp's Rap: A True Story: by The Master Pimp. Well, the cover looks enticing.
   

• Trickshot: The Story of a Black Pimp: A tell-it-all book by Randolph Harris, originally published in the early 80's.
   

• Black Players: The Secret World of Black Pimps : by Christina Millner. Black Players is an out of print book which I believe has a section devoted to Iceberg Slim in it, at any rate it is of corollary interest. I've never been able to find it.
   

• Too Short: Shorty the Pimp at the Player's Ball (1992)  : Rap star Too $hort, live at the Player's Ball.

 Author: Patrick Deese