Slim’s works are marked by their deep criticism of the American justice system, devotion to the politics of the Black Panthers, very frank language, and a combination of violence and sexuality. Of all his fiction, Mama Black Widow (1969), a sensitive portrayal of a tortured, cross-dressing, gay male, is considered his most masterful book.
#ICEBERG SLIM MOVIE#
This story was subsequently made into a movie and released by Universal Studios. One novel, Trick Baby (1967), chronicles the adventures of a light-skinned African American who chooses not to pass. Between 19, Slim authored seven books including his autobiography, Pimp: The Story of My Life (1967). The twenty-five years that followed were spent either pimping, taking drugs, or serving time in jail.Īfter his return to straight life, Iceberg Slim married, fathered four children, and began writing the books that assured his reputation as the most-read practitioner of the African American street novel. Back in Chicago by the time he was seventeen, he began his career by convincing his girlfriend to prostitute herself. After two years at college Slim was expelled for selling bootleg whiskey to other students.
Interestingly, he attended Tuskegee in the mid-1930s, the same time that Ralph Ellison studied there, although they were not acquainted. Image Credit: ‘Prison Cells: Alcatraz Prison’, Image by miss_millions, CC by 2.0, via flickr.Īlthough Slim’s adolescence was strongly influenced by his involvement with street hustlers, his superior intelligence allowed him to graduate from high school at fifteen and to win an alumni scholarship to Tuskegee Institute. In his book of essays and vignettes, The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim (1971), he asserts his belief that the drive to become a pimp derives from a disturbed mother-son relationship: “I am convinced that most pimps require the secretly buried fuel of Mother hatred to stoke their fiery vendetta of cruelty and merciless exploitation against whores primarily and ultimately all women.” The name Iceberg Slim reflects his ability to be emotionally frigid and physically brutal to the women who worked as prostitutes for him. Slim’s stepfather, a kind and loving man, lifted his new family to economic security until Slim’s mother left him for a violent gambler.įor the three and a half years that they lived together, Slim hated the new man in his mother’s life and resented her betrayal of his stepfather. Abandoned by her husband, Slim’s mother had supported her infant son in a variety of jobs, including door-to-door hairdressing. Iceberg Slim (1918–1992) novelist, autobiographer, essayist, and most prominent author of the street genre, which emerged in the 1960s.īorn in Chicago, Iceberg Slim (the street and later pen name of Robert Beck) spent the happiest years of his childhood in Rockford, Illinois, where he lived between 19 with his mother and stepfather. Today we’ll look at one of the literary forerunners of the hip hop revolution, Iceberg Slim – with his entry from The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Twice a week we’ll offer additional articles that expand on that topic.
In this series, we’re exploring the people and musical styles that influenced the development of hip hop. Each month, the editors of the Oxford African American Studies Center provide insights into black history and culture by offering specially commissioned featured essays, photo collections, and a selected list of articles to further guide the reader.
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