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 I am now reading this autobiography of an African-American pimp nicknamed Iceberg Slim who pimped women in Chicago and New York during the 40s and 50s. It was recommended to me as an entertaining and honest look into the world of the pimp. I was also intrigued by the book's setting - the 1940s and 50s from a black perspective don't show up much in movies and TV. I'm having a hard time reading this book because it is thick with antiquated slang and metaphor. I've started this thread in the hopes that goons who have read the book might contribute their insights and clarify things for me. Baron Bifford fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Sep 25, 2014 |
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Sep 25, 2014 16:48
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 13:41 |
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In the third chapter, while working as a delivery man, Iceberg has an illicit affair with an ex-prostitute and married woman named Pepper. He discovers she sleeps around a lot and feels used. Iceberg has ambitions to become a pimp is considering turning her into his whore, though a more experienced pimp advises against trying as they had gotten off on the wrong start or something. Pepper is married to a wealthy and jealous man named Ibbetts. An acquaintance of Iceberg named Weeping wants to photograph Iceberg having sex with Pepper so that he can extort money out of her. Iceberg agrees, and he is paid $500 after the deed is done. Later, in a nightclub, a cop arrests Iceberg on suspicion of burglarizing the Ibbetts home. The cop searches Iceberg's person and finds $500 and the key to the Ibbetts home. The text suggests that the cop planted the key there. Pepper appears at Iceberg's trial and testifies against Iceberg. Iceberg is sentenced to two years for stealing $500 from the Ibbett's home. The book is very thin on details of the trial. Iceberg seems to say it was a setup - was it? How could the prosecution prove that the cash in Iceberg's pocket, or the key, were stolen from the Ibbetts?
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Sep 25, 2014 17:04
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Baron Bifford posted:I am now reading this autobiography of an African-American pimp nicknamed Iceberg Slim who pimped women in Chicago and New York during the 40s and 50s. It was recommended to me as an entertaining and honest look into the world of the pimp. I was also intrigued by the book's setting - the 1940s and 50s from a black perspective don't show up much in movies and TV. What I like is it puts pimp culture in perspective as just, the segregation-era black interpretation of BDSM. But since it's Iceberg Slim it has style, and weird original gangster wisdom... Unlike BDSM culture, which is full of really boring people with nothing better to define themselves with than their nerdy obsession with power fantasy, the pimp's life in the 1950's is interesting as it's partially a byproduct of soul crushing oppression. This is a good book. I own a copy. His writing style goes batshit insane after this book. The book Trick Daddy is one of the single funniest pieces of bad literature I've ever read. So, approach his other work with this warning, it's completely ridiculous and impossible to read without mockery.
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Sep 26, 2014 09:25
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You can't really say pimping was a way for Robert to cheat the oppressive system. He graduated from high school with flying colors and won a scholarship to a prestigious black college, but he hosed up. He was expelled for dealing drugs and promiscuity. He was set to become something respectable and prosperous, like a lawyer or a doctor. And pimping wasn't a last resort. He dreamed of becoming a pimp for years before he even got his start. He wanted the fast life and steered himself towards it. His first years on the street were rough but he persisted.
Baron Bifford fucked around with this message at 15:25 on Sep 26, 2014 |
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Sep 26, 2014 12:43
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Baron Bifford posted:You can't really say pimping was a way for Robert to cheat the oppressive system. I didn't. I said "the pimp's life in the 1950's is interesting as it's partially a byproduct of soul crushing oppression." Read the Detroit Red chapters in the Autobiography of Malcolm X. He talks about the lingering effects of slavery and segregation. Self hatred. Viewing one's own body to be bought and sold. The disposable nature of blacks as human beings in America. How that attracted certain types of white people. The feeling of being transplanted into a game you don't want to play, and can't win. Poverty. Being deceived into thinking one is an evil brute because society views one as an evil brute. Et cetera. One of the things that I like about this book is the personal accountability. Slim admits that he's hosed up and broken, and this is what he does, sure. But despite that there is still a bigger picture here.
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Sep 26, 2014 22:23
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 13:41 |
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Iceberg Slim has moments of glory in his life but like most criminals it was unstable. When he reached middle age he just had to walk away because his body couldn't take it anymore.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:40
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