Anybody know any books similar to "pimp" or biographies of any pimps or cool gangsters
Some of U know damn well u would lose your mind for Miranda, worse than anything fresh is doing. So let’s stop acting like we are all Macks of the year that just happen to be on Reddit that don’t ever fall for a woman
If you like watching standup comedy, then chances are you love Dave Chappelle. If you've seen one of his more recent standups he claims that Pimp is thee most influential book that he's ever read. In my mind, Chappelle is nothing short of a comedic genius, and so I took his recommendation seriously, but waited until now to act on it. However, upon finishing the book I found myself with a number of contradictory feelings that I hope this review will help me sort out.
The book opens with a brief introductory to set expectations. Slim tells the reader point blank that these pages are filled with shame, depravity, evil. Pick a deadly sin. It's in there. His hope in writing the book is that in doing so he will be able to confront his perverse past, and that it's publication is to serve as a warning to others who aspire to be like him. Now as a person whose favorite artist is Jack Johnson, I can't imagine that he envisioned me as the target demographic, but I still found the book profound in my own way hence the reason I'm writing this review.
The strength in this book, to me, relies on it's prose. It's not glittery or self indulgent; it's raw. From the moment the book opens you are tossed into the world of the Pimps and it holds no punches. The effective use of slang and street vocabulary elevates the immersion you feel when reading through the chapters, and it's through these means that you understand Slim's psychology in a way you wouldn't without it. And despite the extensive use of cursing, misogyny, there's also poetry and even wisdom if you're willing to pay attention.
Take for example this passage in relation to maintaining an ice cold facade in the face of someone trying to test you:
>"Son, there is no reason except a stupid one for anybody to project on that screen anything that will worry him or dull that vital edge. After all, we are the absolute bosses of that whole theatre and show in our minds. We even write the script. So always write positive, dynamic scripts and show only the best movies for you on that screen whether you are pimp or priest.”
Of course, the true wisdom of at the end of the this tale is not in how to effectively manipulate others (although there is plenty of advice on that), it's in the consequences of doing so and the effect it has on someone who willing hardens themselves to their own moral compass and ultimately their humanity. It's clear that Slim regrets his insidious past, and that regret was further reinforced by
... keep reading on reddit ➡A few days ago there was a post on here about PIMP, the autobiography of Iceberg Slim. It caught my interest, so I gave it a read. It's an interesting book and I would recommend it. After I finished it I looked around for reviews because I was curious about other people's thoughts. What caught my eye was the large number of people justifying Slims actions because of the circumstances of his life, or praising his metamorphosis into a better man.
Simply put, I think Slim conned them.
I think the only thing that changed about Slim was the recognition that he was too old and had too much heat to continue pimping. I don’t think he felt even the slightest bit of regret for his actions, in fact I think his pride in them was the major inspiration behind writing this book. I also think Slim was a sociopath.
Sociopath is an overused label that I would usually avoid, but in this case I believe it is clinically correct. The most striking aspect of PIMP for me wasn’t the look into a seedy underground culture, but instead into the mind of a person who can beat the shit out of a woman with a coathanger whip without a shred of remorse.
There are only three things in the narrative that give any evidence Slim has even the slightest capacity for empathy or compassion. These are his love for his mother, his reflections on Henry, and the passages where he bemoans his actions and the poison of pimping. I don't believe him. Slim was a master manipulator, I think that he was well aware that readers would want to see some form of humanity from him as well as regret for his actions. I’m also sure he knew that without these aspects it would be much harder to attract a publisher.
Besides these passages, the overall tone of the piece is not that of someone who is confessing, but of someone who is bragging. There is even the stereotypical claim of having an incredibly high IQ. The entire narrative's primary goal seems to be showing us how intelligent, ruthless, and notorious he was. Slim tells us openly that he became a pimp not just for money, but for prestige. In fact I would argue that the value money held for him was mostly as a symbol of status. I don't see any reason to view this book as anything other than a final opportunity to tell the world that Iceberg Slim was its most cunning pimp.
In my opinion it is wrong to view Slim as a product of circumstance. I think he was a very intelligent man with a psychological illness that made him incapable of empathy, which both l
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I just finished reading Mama Black Widow for the first time and I haven’t seen it really discussed anywhere so I decided to write my thoughts and feelings about this book.
Iceberg slim is a master at capturing the ghetto and exposing it to his readers. I read Pimp: The Story of my Life recently too, and it’s blown me away the narratives this man was able to create. I never imagined that there was a former Pimp who could tell such heart wrenching stories, and who could so masterfully show the rawness but also the reality of ghetto life.
As far as mama black widow specifically goes some of the main themes that really stuck with me was the tearing down of Otis’s father once he got to the north. We have a man who was a proud preacher in the south, and while his family may not of had many luxuries when they lived in the south their father atleast had his pride. This all changes when they move north, and I think this is something that not many people consider about this time period for Blacks. During the time period known as the “Great Migration” black left the south by the thousands, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the norther ghettos where better. This is something that Iceberg has explored now in both Pimp and Mama Black Widow.
Another really interesting part of this to me personally is the in which Otis is exposed to his homosexuality. He is raped by a religious figure who lives in his Apartment building. This book came out in 1969 and here we have a book dealing with the abuse of young people by trusted clergy. This is decades before the Catholic Church scandal, but here we have an example of this abuse.
Finally I’d like to discuss mama herself. Another thing this book shares in commons with Pimp is icebergs ability to make you hate the protagonist mother. This book however doesn’t show any redeemable side of the mother though in my opinion. It’s obvious in Pimp that his hatred began with his mother, however I think this book does a much better job of showing how a mother can destroy her own family. Otis’s mother successfully destroys her entire family, and I’ll spare some of the major spoilers but the pain she cause her own children and husband is heartbreaking. This book truly has an appropriate title.
Mama black Widow was a great read and I plan on reading all of Icebergs books. I wish more of iceberg slims work was discussed more heavily because I honestly feel as though some of the content in his books could be studied in college courses.
Probably the most red pill book ever written. Deeply talks about the psychology or women and how a pimp uses it to his advantage.
A coworker mentioned this and it struck a memory.
We're looking for a comedy sketch from 80s or early 90s.
Black man (men) sitting on stairs/stoop in front of a house. People would walk by and they would comment on the person's appearance by sayings things like:
"Excuse me sir, Iceberg Slim just called. He wants his strut back."
"Tub of crap just called. Says he wants his mirror image back."
It may have mentioned "This is Tony Montana's Keechen" (kitchen)
I have done many Google searches to no avail.
We were thinking SNL. He thinks it was David Alan Grier, so I also Googled In Living Color. We can not get anything to come up that is related.
Any help is appreciated!
I’m a diehard Dave Chapelle fan and something of a former book worm. So when he recommended this book I immediately jumped on it and thoroughly enjoyed it in all its gritty, raw glory. Does anybody have any recommendations to books like this one?
I have reread for the 4th or 5th time the biography of Iceberg Slim and I could not recommend it enough. There is his raw gripping story, his heart-wrenching relationship to his mother, the fun and witty dialogues. But what I find so interesting is also how he describes indirectly systemic racism he suffered from. His goal is not to complain but the reader can feel how he is almost trapped to be a bad man from his childhood, and also the opportunities he missed. This is not a sleazy book even if there is some crudity in it, this is really a great read.
A small excerpt:
> It was there in that dormitory that I got the insatiable desire to pimp. I was a member of a clique that talked about nothing except whores and pimping. I began to feel a new slickness and hardness. I worked in the laundry. I kept my clothing fresh and neat. It was in the laundry that I met the first man from whom I got cunning to balance my hardness. He was an old Drag man with his bit getting short. He was the first to attempt to teach me to control my emotions.
> He would say, “Always remember whether you be sucker or hustler in the world out there, you’ve got that vital edge if you can iron-clad your feelings. I picture the human mind as a movie screen. If you’re a dopey sucker, you’ll just sit and watch all kinds of mindwrecking, damn fool movies on that screen.” He said. “Son, there is no reason except a stupid one for anybody to project on that screen anything that will worry him or dull that vital edge. After all, we are the absolute bosses of that whole theatre and show in our minds. We even write the script. So always write positive, dynamic scripts and show only the best movies for you on that screen whether you are pimp or priest.”
*Mild warning regarding a recount of abuse*
"Agony of a Witch," what a dark turn for this amazing show huh?
I had light hunches that Lilith was the one who cursed Eda; having the confirmation doesn't make it any more shocking and heartbreaking, not in the slightest. Of course there are questions about how the Clawthorne sisters got to this point, which I'm sure "Young Blood, Old Souls" will dive deeper into next weekend.
What I'm focusing on today is the ramifications behind Lilith's way of thinking and her (monumental) shortcomings as a sister. As she blurted out her revelation, it brought up real life parallels to infamous pimp, Iceberg Slim. Dave Chappelle, during his comedy special The Bird Revelation recounted the ways Iceberg learned how reign prostitutes in, control the most uncontrollable women, revealed in his memoir Pimp:
>Oh that's easy Iceberg. All you have to do is beat that bench with a coat hanger, and then run her a bath, and give her some pills. She'll be so grateful that you fixed her, that she'll forget you were the motherforker that beat her in the first place...
Again, we don't know why Lilith cursed Eda in the first place. But cursing her own sister is some cold shirt. Even colder is forcing Eda into the Emperor's Coven and using its resources to heal the curse, hoping Eda will be so grateful that her "dear sister" healed her, that she'll forget that she cursed her in the first place.
I would never bet money on Dana Terrace or anyone in the writer's room reading Pimp, yet it goes to show how these concepts of power and control permeate through all walks of life. There's also the conversation about the Emperor's Coven being an allegory for cults/organized religion and how their influence brainwashed Lilith in the first place. It all comes back to power over individuals though. Lilith wanted to feel powerful over her sister; as it stands now, she holds all of power. At what cost? Her relationship with her sister...
At the beginning of the book, Iceberg Slim tells you he’s going to take you into the world of the pimp. And he certainly delivers. I’ve never read a book so immersive as this one. Iceberg just takes you there, to the human trafficking and crime underworlds of 1930s-60s America. He doesn’t try to glorify what he did, he just tells it how it is, holding nothing back. This story made my heart pound at times, it made me hate his guts sometimes, made me like him sometimes, sympathise with him sometimes, made me laugh, hell, made me cry at times too. Easily one of the greatest books I’ve ever read. If you haven’t read it, I think it’s a must read, no matter what genre you’re into.
Whilst reading Pimp I increasingly saw his influence on our culture especially in blaxploitation films and hip hop. This author needs more praise, his books are a real historic voice. I recommend any fiction reader to pick up these books because it's a nice change of pace and will make you open your world up to different books.
Just finished this gem. Not my usual type of read, kind of an autobiography, but I inhaled this book.
Iceberg Slim was a famous American Pimp, in this book he retells his story as coming up as a pimp and ends with his introduction into the "square life"
This book was exhilarating to me, the things that him and the people around him did were disgusting but by the end I was sympathizing with him. I shed a tear or two at the end.
If anything this book gives me perspective on a large piece of American culture that few have written about, only being portrayed by television and or movies.
If you haven't read this one I really recommend it.
If you have read it, please share your thoughts below.
The more I read people interpreting this analogy the more puzzling it is. I went back and read Pimp, which made the mystery more curious. Here is what I can make of it but I welcome any other ideas:
Dave was a bottom bitch, making executives/entertainment business leaders (the pimps, like Weinstein) money and helping other comedians, to again to make others money.
The pimps had a secret they held over Dave where they also purpotedly bailed him out - this is intentionally vague, because revealing it could get Dave in trouble but like being sued because it is probably part of a settlement agreement with a confidentiality clause. The secret is probably something like Dave worked on material for say Amy Schumer or someone else and it was the subject of a lawsuit alleging something like misuse of copyright, that the pimps settled without involving Dave. But who would bring that kind of a lawsuit? You guessed it, the same pimps that are claiming to be protecting him from thie same lawsuit. Or maybe the secret is something like Dave's prior dealings with criminals that could possibly be used as grounds for terminating his prior contract, So the pimps agree to continue the contract and keep the prior criminal information Secret if he keeps working. I dont understand what could be the secret and purported fix held over Dave.
What The Pimps want and what Dave does not want to do is more comedy based on negative black stereotypes like black crackheads in the ghetto, black pimps abusing people for bling, black drug culture. Maybe they let Dave try something different - the bit about a slave killing a white master - and that lost viewers, or Dave was branded a race baiter, or that otherwise "killed the john" as in lost money, lost audience, so the pimps wanted him to just go back to making people laugh putting down black people with black steteotypes, but Dave had enough.
Daves material makes me feel like Im a better, more genuine person for having listened to him, and were all a lot closer and worthy of each others respect and caring than we think. I really want to understand his story better.
I started reading this book today and I have never been so shook this early into reading something.
This guy was diabolical, a master manipulator, trafficked more than 400 woman.
Thinking about how Henry would do a pimp voice has been making me smile at really bad sections.
Definitely worth reading!
Gritty,but a bit poetic in its depiction of the lower class.
