#ICEBERG JEANS RAPPERS CODE#

#ICEBERG JEANS RAPPERS CODE#

They taught him “secrets from the legendary ‘pimp book,’ ” the unwritten code for pimps that had evolved since just after the end of slavery. “Beck theorized that the pimp’s relationship to his mother,” writes Gifford, “defined his approach to the profession.”īy 18, with eight arrests for various crimes to his name, Beck cfme under the tutelage of colorful Milwaukee pimps with names like Diamond Tooth Jimmy and Weeping Shorty.

His mother’s betrayal cemented in Beck a hatred against women. She left her husband, Henry, an upstanding man who had given her the beauty parlor, took her son and moved away. Much like her son, Mary was bewitched by the counterfeit glamour and dangerous charm of the street criminal.” Mary, meanwhile, “fell for one of the smooth-talking hustlers from her beauty shop, a man Beck names ‘Steve’ in his autobiography. When he was a few months old, his father suggested to his mother they “leave on a church doorstep.” When she refused, the senior Moppins, Beck later wrote, “hurled against the wall in disgust.”īeck’s mother, Mary, opened a beauty parlor when he was 12, and the area’s pimps and prostitutes were “the only ones who always had the money to spend on their appearance.” Beck was “mesmerized” by the sight of them. Justin Gifford’s “ Street Poison,” a new biography named for Slim’s frequently used term for the hurtful impact street life has on one’s soul and psyche, shows us how Beck became Slim and doesn’t sugarcoat the evil aspects of his life before he (supposedly) changed his ways. His name was Robert Beck, a k a Iceberg Slim, whose 1967 memoir, “Pimp: The Story of My Life” became a template for countless hip-hop songs and blaxploitation films. Author Irvine Welsh calls Slim, in terms of that influence, “probably the most dominant writer since Shakespeare.” Comedians Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock have declared him an essential influence. Pioneering gangsta rappers Ice Cube and Ice-T both took their names from him (as did Jay-Z initially, as Iceberg Slim was one of his early handles).

Iceberg jeans rappers