Pimp - Iceberg Slim (1969)
Pimp is a book you'd love to hate. It's hard, raw, cruel, but true (well, kind of, a bit fictionalized too). It tells the true life of Robert Beck aka Iceberg Slim, the number one pimp in Chicago from the fall 30s to the 60s. The book starts with the beginning, his childhood in Milwaukee and Rockford, Illinois, his violent stepfather, his tough mother and one incident that changed his life. When he was three, he was raped by his babysitter. A taste of injustice and disgust stuck in his mouth. He grew up wanting to be someone. But when you're black and poor in the 30s, what can you dream about? White people had the best jobs, best houses, best cars, best everything, and blacks could shine their shoes. But white people also loved one particular thing : screwing big fat black asses. So you have to make choices in life, as the first black man's hustle, he chose to be a pimp, the damn best pimp of the world. Remember the line from this Mobb Deep's song, « Shook One...