Iceberg Slim: The Lost Interviews with the Pimp
Black players: The Secret World of Black pimps
Iceberg Slim is probably the best known and also the least known Superpimp of all time.
“Best known” because his autobiography “Pimp: The Story of My Life” was a surprise underground best-seller in the 1960s, when it sold in the millions, especially to a vast audience of black street hustlers. “Least known” because the talented, reclusive writer and self-confessed psychopath found redemption in later life as a doting father — who zealously protected his daughters from the kind of abuse he had routinely dished out to his own whores (ho’s). Repeated jail sentences, the last time in a “steel casket,” cured him of any further hunger for “The Life.”
Iceberg’s self-examination and incisive observations of the underdog ghetto culture that spawned him constitute a saga of American society’s underbelly, particularly during the 1930s and 1940s. His stories, told in accurate street language, influenced rap and hip-hop culture down to our own day. One lame rapper audaciously appropriated his name, and mainstream entertainers like Ice-T and Snoop Dog acknowledge him as the idol of their youthful “gangsta” years.
Now British author and editor Ian Whitaker has taken meticulous pains to track down the “lost” interviews with Iceberg from almost impossible-to-find magazines and newspapers, along with new interviews with those who knew him, including his daughter Misty. Richard Milner, co-author of the anthropological study “Black Players; The Secret World of Black Pimps,” contributes a new reminiscence of his contentious encounter with the King of Tricksters. Whitaker also reprints Milner’s original classic 1969 interview with Iceberg in full.
“The Lost Interviews” is an entertaining, fast-moving, and enlightening read. If you ever wondered about what goes on in the mind and the life of a warped genius who was “totally dedicated to pimping women,” here’s your opportunity to find out.
Iceberg Slim: The Lost Interviews with the Pimp
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Having read all of Iceberg’s books several times over the years and always wanting to read more, plus know more about the man himself, The Lost Interviews was a good investment as it delivers on both. There are some assorted short snappy and long, in depth interviews with Iceberg in which he shows his intelligence, wit, dark side, and story telling skills. He talks about pimping and the psycological aspects as well as the odd anecdote. The final part of the book suprisingly answers a lot of the questions a typical Iceberg fan such as myself will have such as was his life story fiction or real, what was Iceberg really like, and so on. Also there’s some cool photos of the man himself as a young pimp in suits, one pic also with Mike Tyson. Plenty of interesting information on one of the most overlooked talented and influential writers of all time. Recommened.
Rating: 5 / 5
i’ve just read this book cover to cover ive been waitin for it to arrive and i dont want to spoil it for you but its got a lotta info on iceberg thats interesting and its true the sayin fact beats fiction in this case. was a good read. far as the interviews some were quite explicit as youd expect from the man who wrote pimp going into runnin a stable and how things used to be ran in the so called golden age of pimpin.
Rating: 5 / 5
Black players: The Secret World of Black pimps
Iceberg Slim is probably the best known and also the least known Superpimp of all time.
“Best known” because his autobiography “Pimp: The Story of My Life” was a surprise underground best-seller in the 1960s, when it sold in the millions, especially to a vast audience of black street hustlers. “Least known” because the talented, reclusive writer and self-confessed psychopath found redemption in later life as a doting father — who zealously protected his daughters from the kind of abuse he had routinely dished out to his own whores (ho’s). Repeated jail sentences, the last time in a “steel casket,” cured him of any further hunger for “The Life.”
Iceberg’s self-examination and incisive observations of the underdog ghetto culture that spawned him constitute a saga of American society’s underbelly, particularly during the 1930s and 1940s. His stories, told in accurate street language, influenced rap and hip-hop culture down to our own day. One lame rapper audaciously appropriated his name, and mainstream entertainers like Ice-T and Snoop Dog acknowledge him as the idol of their youthful “gangsta” years.
Now British author and editor Ian Whitaker has taken meticulous pains to track down the “lost” interviews with Iceberg from almost impossible-to-find magazines and newspapers, along with new interviews with those who knew him, including his daughter Misty. Richard Milner, co-author of the anthropological study “Black Players; The Secret World of Black Pimps,” contributes a new reminiscence of his contentious encounter with the King of Tricksters. Whitaker also reprints Milner’s original classic 1969 interview with Iceberg in full.
“The Lost Interviews” is an entertaining, fast-moving, and enlightening read. If you ever wondered about what goes on in the mind and the life of a warped genius who was “totally dedicated to pimping women,” here’s your opportunity to find out.
Rating: 5 / 5
Art of Mackin, Pimping Ken and Pimps Up Hoes Down seem like comic books compared to this. This is serious stuff. Veteran of the GAME, and prison, Iceberg tells it raw like he did in his book Pimp. The interviews are hotter than Tabasco. Iceberg Slim / Robert Beck rest in peace.