![]() At the time, there wasn’t anyone else doing it.” Later, his books took us on a journey into that lifestyle the way nobody did. “He told me that his mother encouraged him to be a lawyer, but he instead choice the streets. ![]() Originally connecting through Iceberg’s publisher Holloway House, they spent many hours talking inside his crib on Crenshaw, where the New York native got to know very well the man instead of the myth. “Iceberg Slim’s books were a precursor to Blaxploitation films like The Mack and Willie Dynamite, as well as inspiring a million rap records.” “I had read his books when I was a teenager growing up in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn,” remembers the artist and former Yo! MTV Raps host. Hip-hop renaissance man Fab Five Freddy, whom Ice-T says introduced him to Slim via a telephone conversation back in the day, befriended the former player in the late 1980s. The film contains stunning archival footage, period photographs, cool Ralph Bakshi-inspired animation and interviews with such luminaries as Quincy Jones, Snoop Lion, Bishop Magic Don Juan and actor/director Bill Duke, who once attempted to get Pimp made into a feature film. Twain, because he was able to write about his strange world so perfectly Lecter, because of how he was able to manipulate so well using just his intellect and prowess.” To me, he is like a perfect combination of Mark Twain and Hannibal Lecter. “He wrote about these grime situations very artfully. “Iceberg Slim’s world was a violent one, but he wrote about it so poetically,” Hinojosa says. “Believe me, that was a profound experience.” Almost 30 years later, the close encounter with Slim’s wildstyle fictional autobiographies, as well as the complexity of the writer’s post-hustling life, inspired Hinojosa to direct the already critically acclaimed documentary, Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp.Īfter four years in the making, Portrait of a Pimp delves deep into the long life of the writer whose brutal books-which include Trick Baby (1967) and Mama Black Widow (1969)-depicted “the ghetto experience” in all its gore, guts and glory. “I was 19 years old, a former prep school kid, when Ice-T gave me a collection of Iceberg Slim’s books,” Hinojosa remembers. In fact, the pretty boy rapper introduced his manager Jorge Hinojosa to Slim’s novels 28 years ago. Promoted as a fictional autobiography, in the 46 years since its release Pimp: The Story of My Life has sold millions of copies, been translated into different languages and has influenced a generation of creative folks including Brooklyn born mogul Jay Z, Scottish scribe Irvine Welsh and, of course, rapper Ice-T. As though struck with luck, a few days later Betty saw an ad placed by Holloway House in the Los Angeles Sentinel: “Black writers needed! Publishers will pay you for your stories!” With Beck dictating, Betty typed the pages, and Pimp was constructed.Ī few months later, the book was through. Instead of being repulsed, Betty encouraged her sweet daddy to write a book about his streetwise adventures. Kindasorta married to a White woman named Betty, with whom he would have three daughters, Slim was working as an exterminator in Los Angeles while trying to figure out his next move on the big chessboard of life.Īt the urging of his mother, he exposed his past explicit exploits to the woman that he loved. When former “procurer of women” Iceberg Slim (Robert Beck) published his now iconic first book Pimp with Holloway House in 1967, he had already fled “the game” in the Chicago streets and was living as a square in California. Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Share on Email
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |