Iceberg Slim

 ( 1918 Births ) 

Slim had been connected with several other well-known pimps, one of them Albert "Baby" Bell, a man born in 1899 who had been pimping for decades and had a Duesenberg and a bejeweled pet ocelot. Another pimp, who had gotten Slim hooked on cocaine, went by the name of "Satin" and was a major drug figure in the eastern part of the country.

Throughout his pimping career, Slim, who was known as Cavanaugh Slim, was noted for being able to effectively conceal his emotions, something he said he learned from Baby Bell: "A pimp has gotta know his whores, but not let them know him; he's gotta be god all the way."

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, who he said tended to have difficult personalities. In his words: "I did not want to be teased, tormented, and brutalized by young whores."April 1973 interview with Hollie West in The Washington Post /ref>

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.Iceberg Slim (1969). Pimp: The Story of My Life. Chapter 3

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. He met Betty Shue, who became his common-law wife and the mother of his three daughters, while he was working as an insecticide salesman. Betty encouraged Beck to write the story of his life as a novel, and they began sporadically writing some draft chapters. According to her, a white writer, whom Beck would later only refer to as "the Professor", became interested in writing Beck's life story; Beck became convinced that the man was trying to steal their idea for himself, so they cut him out of the deal and finished it without him. 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.

Reviews of Pimp were mixed. Beck's vision was considerably bleaker than most other Black writers of the time: his work tended to be based on his personal experiences in the criminal underworld and revealed a world of seemingly bottomless brutality and viciousness. His was the first insider look into the world of Black pimps, to be followed by a half-dozen pimp memoirs by other writers.

In 1973, Hollie West questioned in The Washington Post whether societal changes and the women's movement would soon render the outlook expressed in Pimp obsolete: "The Iceberg Slim of yesteryear is considered an anachronism to the young dudes now out there on the block trying to hustle. They say he is crude and violent, overlooking his tremendous gift of the gab. Iceberg acknowledges that pimping has changed because 'women have changed.' The advent of feminism, changing sexual mores, general affluence in this society and widespread use of drugs by pimps to control prostitutes have made an impact."West, Hollie (1973), Washington Post.

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, making him one of the best-selling African-American writers.