Iceberg Slim

Robert Beck (born Robert Lee Maupin or Robert Moppins Jr.; August 4, 1918 – April 28, 1992), better known as Iceberg Slim, was an American pimp who later became a writer. Beck's 1967 memoir, Pimp: The Story of My Life, sold very well, mainly among black audiences. By 1973, it had been reprinted 19 times and had sold nearly 2 million copies. He also wrote novels such as Trick Baby.

Early life

Maupin was born in Chicago, Illinois. He spent his childhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Rockford, Illinois, until he returned to Chicago. When his mother was abandoned by his father, she established a beauty shop and worked as a domestic hairstylist to support both of them in Milwaukee. In his autobiography, Maupin expressed gratitude to his mother for not also abandoning him. She earned enough money working in her salon to give her son the privileges of a middle-class life such as a college education, which at that time was difficult for the average person.

Iceberg Slim retired from pimping at the age of 42 because he could no longer handle the physical and mental stress of the job, particularly when it came to managing his prostitutes, whom he said tended to have difficult personalities. In his words: "I did not want to be teased, tormented, and brutalized by young whores."

Prison stints

At age 17, Slim convinced a girlfriend named in his memoir as "June" to work as a prostitute for him. His second customer recognized the girl and informed her father, and the father in turn contacted the police. Slim was sentenced to 12 to 18 months in prison for "carnal knowledge and abuse". June's father used his influence to prevent Slim from being charged with "pandering" because he did not want his daughter to be labelled a prostitute. Slim served his sentence in Wisconsin Green Bay Reformatory.

Slim returned to Milwaukee after being released. Four and a half months after he was paroled, a man named "Weeping" paid Slim $500 to have sex with a woman named "Pepper" at her house with the intent to secretly take photographs of the couple in bed and blackmail Pepper. But after Slim did the deed and was paid, he was arrested by police and accused of stealing the money from Pepper's house. Pepper testified against Slim at his trial, and Slim was convicted of burglary and sentenced to two years in prison, which he served in Waupun State Prison. He was released three months early for good behavior. Slim stated he never found out why Weeping and Pepper framed him.

Writing

In 1961, after serving 10 months of solitary confinement in a Cook County jail, Maupin decided he was too old for a life of pimping at the age of 42 and was unable to compete with younger, more ruthless pimps.

In 1961, Maupin moved to Los Angeles and changed his name to Robert Beck, taking the last name of the man his mother was married to at the time. Bentley Morris of Holloway House recognized the merit of Pimp, and it was published in 1967.

The hip-hop writer Mark Skillz wrote that when Beck began work on Pimp, "he made two promises to himself: no glamorizing his former life and no snitching." Hip hop artist Fab 5 Freddy, a friend of Beck's, claimed that "Many of Bob's friends were still alive when he wrote that book. So he changed all of their names and descriptions. 'Baby' Bell became 'Sweet' Jones, his best friend 'Satin' became 'Glass Top', and he created composite characters of some of his former 'employees.

Pimp sold very well, mainly among Black audiences. By 1973, it had been reprinted 19 times and had sold nearly 2 million copies. Pimp was eventually translated into German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, and Greek.

Following Pimp, Beck wrote several more novels, an autobiography, and a story collection. He sold over six million books before his death in 1992, The album, produced by David Drozen, was initially released on ALA records. It was reissued by Infinite Zero in 1994, then by Uproar Entertainment in 2008. Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Victor W. Valdivia wrote "For those who aren't easily offended, this album will be spellbinding. Slim's skills as a storyteller cannot be overstated; even at his crudest, he still spins riveting yarns." Valdivia praised the record for "the mixture of street smarts and the intellectual and emotional depth shown here", which, he said, was often lacking in Iceberg Slim's followers. and produced independently for $600,000, with a cast of unknowns. Universal Pictures acquired the film for $1,000,000 and released it in 1973 to a considerable amount of Iceberg Slim fanfare; the movie grossed $11,000,000 at the US box office. The New York Times praised the film for its depiction of race relations and the friendship between two con men, set "in the grimier reaches of Philadelphia".

In 2006, independent film producers Dave Mortell and David Harb acquired the film rights to produce a film adaptation of Mama Black Widow. In 2008 Mos Def was contacted to play the character of Papa Tilson alongside Rihanna (in what would have been her acting debut in a feature film at the time), Kerry Washington and Macy Gray.

Personal life

After his release from prison in 1961, Beck met Betty Shue, who became his common-law wife and the mother of his three daughters and one son while he was working as an insecticide salesman. Shue encouraged Beck to write his life story and helped him write drafts.

Academia

Welsh adds that a course at Harvard University featured Pimp as a "transgressive novel".

Eddie Murphy's character Velvet Jones, from Saturday Night Live, has been described as a spoof of Iceberg Slim.

Films

In 1970, incarcerated Bay Area pimp Robert Poole was influenced by Beck's Pimp while writing a screenplay about his life, The Mack and His Pack. The film was released under the title The Mack (1973), starring Max Julien and Richard Pryor. including Chris Rock, Snoop Dogg, Ice-T, Henry Rollins, Quincy Jones, and others. The film was directed by Jorge Hinojosa and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2012.
The character of Alamo in Season 3 of Euphoria was inspired by Iceberg Slim.

Literature

Author Donald Goines acknowledged the strong influence of Beck's Pimp when he created his urban fiction set in a black milieu. Goines was also published by Bentley Morris of Holloway House.

Music

Slim is an important influence on hip-hop artists. For example:

Many of the current musical references to pimp culture, for example in the work of Snoop Dogg and Too Short, can be traced back to Iceberg Slim.
Iceberg Slim's last book, Doom Fox (written in 1978 but not published until 1998), contains an introduction written by Ice-T.
Spiceberg Slim is a moniker and the eighth studio album (released in 2002) by American rapper Spice 1.
On Xiu Xiu's album Fabulous Muscles, the title track is subtitled "(Mama Black Widow Version)".
Australian rock band Doomfoxx adopted their name from the novel Doom Fox.
Southern hip hop artist Killer Mike mentions having read Robert Beck on a 2024 track Bussin Bricks Intro.

Bibliography

Iceberg Slim's writings include both fiction and nonfiction:

Pimp: The Story of My Life (1967, Holloway House), memoir
Trick Baby: The Biography of a Con Man (1967, Holloway House), novel
Mama Black Widow: A Story of the South's Black Underworld (1969, Holloway House), novel
The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim: Robert Beck's Real Story (1971, Holloway House), autobiography
Long White Con: The Biggest Score of His Life (1977, Holloway House), novel
Death Wish: A Story of the Mafia (1977, Holloway House), novel
Airtight Willie & Me (1985, Holloway House), story collection
Doom Fox (written 1978, published posthumously 1998), novel
Shetani's Sister (published posthumously 2015), novel
Night Train to Sugar Hill (Contra Mundum Press, 2019), Slim's final novel

Early life

Prison stints

Writing

Personal life

Academia

Films

Literature

Music

Bibliography

See also

References

Further reading

External links