Ice-T, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Too $hort, Jay Z, and even Chris Rock all cite IcebergSlim as a huge influence on their work. Pimp: The Story of My Life. Kennedy's acting roles include Martel "Too Sweet" Gordone in Jamaa Fanaka's Penitentiary (1979), Penitentiary II (1982), Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) and Penitentiary III (1987),[6] and Leon "The Lover" Johnson in the 1981 film Body and Soul alongside his then-wife Jayne Kennedy. Robert you are missing the entire premise of his writing and what he was teaching the world. Iceberg Slim. To Ian Whitaker: Please do not relate this scumbag to gladiators; gladiators were mostly slaves/prisoners of war that were forced to fight to the brutal death. For Nigerian musician, see, 1966 Joe Pyne radio interview with Iceberg Slim, "The Biography Project: Iceberg Slim aka Robert Beck", "The Hustle The Story of Robert beck aka Iceberg Slim", "Art imitating Rob Weiss: 'Entourage' archetype knows 'How to Make It in America', "Robert Maupin "Iceberg Slim" Beck (1918-1992) -", "A Close Read of the Pimp Story Dave Chappelle Tells in The Bird Revelation", "The Life & Times Of One Of The Worlds Greatest Pimps: Robert 'Iceberg Slim', "Movie Review: The Lessons of a Pimp - Ice-T Produces a Documentary About Iceberg Slim", "Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp reviews", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Iceberg_Slim&oldid=1136464905, In 1970, incarcerated Bay Area pimp Robert Poole was influenced by Beck's, Many of the current musical references to pimp culture, for example in the work of. The advent of women's lib, changing sexual mores, general affluence in this society and widespread use of drugs by pimps to control prostitutes have made an impact."[3][8][9]. Kennedy's acting roles include Martel "Too Sweet" Gordone in Jamaa Fanaka's Penitentiary (1979), Penitentiary II (1982), Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) and Penitentiary III (1987), and Leon "The Lover" Johnson in the 1981 film Body and Soul alongside . Theoriginators and most influential figures of the genre are known to everyone payingattention, but now, Street Poison offers us a look at the one man who influencedthem all, and all the psychological and socio-political baggage that comes with it. On April 30th 1992 Robert Lee Maupin Beck died from liver failure. According to Betty Beck (his common law wife of the 60s and 70s) and Misty (their youngest daughter) he was a man who had clearly saw and experienced a lot in his life. The nightspots and the people that bought life, laughter and sorrow to them are nothing more now than faded pictures in cracked frames stored in attics and basements. According to Bettys recollection, Bob doubted that anything would come of it. Betty encouraged Beck to write the story of his life as a novel, and they began sporadically writing some draft chapters. Upon hearing that the man who has been called one of the best selling African American writers ever died broke, I asked Bentley Morris: So, how did this man who sold some six million books die broke in a one room apartment in South Central?, Rather matter of factly Morris responded: I dont know what he had in his bank account. I agree,all smoke and mirrors,most of the folks in the life end ip lonely and diseased,whether it be social diseases(AIDS-Hep C) or street (alcohol,heroin). Pimp and the seven other books Beck published with Holloway House during hislifetime (novels, short stories and a volume of essays) went on to sell millions ofcopies. 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. Spiceberg Slim is a moniker and the eighth studio album (released in 2002) by American rapper Spice 1. Others described him as despicable and savage.. His stories made him a star. . A popular Audiobook adaption of his autobiography Pimp, The Story of My Life narrated by Cary Hite, was released by Urban Audiobooks in 2011, and has become very popular due to the realistic portrayal talents of the voice actor. Though Betty and Bob were never legally married, to this day, she still uses the last name Beck. For 25 years of his life hewas a pimp, exploiting, demeaning and abusing women in the most abject fashion. Sir, youre talking about someone I really liked and had an enormous amount of respect for., According to the lawsuit: Beck and Holloway signed an agreement for Holloway to publish Becks first novel with the first right of refusal for his second work along with perpetual worldwide copyrights., Basically, Holloway House used the same agreement for each of Becks books. These writers have contributed to American literature, but its nothing to be celebrated. However, on second thought with his big booming bass voice, perfect elocution and salesman persona, he wouldve been a perfect candidate for Monty Halls Lets Make A Deal. The reason I wrote this article was because few know Becks true story, and many have forgotten or never knew the real reason he started writing his books. The real pimps and gangsters are either dead or locked up in jail doing long bids.These black writers should find more positive things to write about in the black community than always the ignorant and negative nonsense.Sad, they choose to write about brothers who degrade their women,sell drugs,kill etc instead of writing about brothers who help protect their women,dont kill,rob,steal,dont sell drugs and help uplift their community and their people. The shit spreads like a a a disease. Indeed Bell was invulnerable back then, according to the book Kings: The True Story of Chicagos Policy Kings and Numbers Racketeers by Nathan Thompson, along with being a pimp, Bell was an enforcer for the Jones Brothers. When Bob came around here, he never gave any indication of living in poverty or anything like that. His name was, By your own account youve said that he sold six million books, they say when he died he had nothing, how did that happen?, 500 Female Emcees Everyone Should Know (Davey Ds Ultimate List ), The Hustle-The Story of Robert beck aka Iceberg Slim, La Trilogie Du Ghetto - Iceberg Slim | The Chronicles. See Leon Isaac Kennedy full list of movies and tv shows from their career. While hewas incarcerated, a prison psychiatrist gave him a copy of Karl Menningers TheHuman Mind, in which the psychoanalyst argues that many criminal inclinations andbehaviors can be explained, at least in part, by the absence of parental affection. He was virtually untouchable.. This genres stories are set on the streets of twenty-first century America and tells tales of drug infested streets in the keeping it real age of hip-hops gangsta influenced, materialistic culture. Undeterred by that pack of snobby New York critics Beck did what any hustler worth his Stacy Adams would do: promote the book himself. Kiddie raping why would you say something like that Mark? Beck suffered from diabetes and became increasingly reclusive. This is a good literary history. Tyson was a devoted reader of Becks work and, upon meeting his idol, sat downand talked with him for seven hours straight., Tyson started making regular trips to Becks apartment in South Central LosAngeles. @Armend Colvin, yo my man, no disrespect, but do you see who the article is written by? Anotther Documentary on Pimps? Born in Cleveland, Kennedy first began his career as a disc jockey and nightclub promoter. I befriended the family but have obviously lost touch. That night back in the apartment Bettys head spun like a top. But its something Betty told me about Bobs writing habits that strikes me as peculiar. [9] In 1976, Kennedy appeared in another Fred Williamson film, Mean Johnny Barrows. This character has to be cold, he told Betty. [4], Slim had been connected with several other well-known pimps, one of them Albert "Baby" Bell,[5] a man born in 1899 who had been pimping for decades and had a Duesenberg and a bejeweled pet ocelot. According to newspaper clippings from the Chicago Defender, Baby Bell was a psychopath who had a penchant for murder. is leon isaac kennedy related to iceberg slim. If you know whats good for you, you better get away from him, they warned her. He is an actor and producer, known for Lone Wolf McQuade (1983), Body and Soul (1981) and Penitentiary (1979). [7] Kennedy headed to Los Angeles, California to seek success in his career in June 1971. Betty says at that moment that her jaw hit the floor. Jay Z. Thats a few, I got more. In the book, Pimp the character of Sweet Jones is based on Bell. They divorced in 1982, and her ex-husband moved on and married another lady, Lolita Armbrister in 1995. Things have turned decidedly frosty as two daughters of late urban writer Iceberg Slim (Robert Maupin Beck) and their stepmother do battle over whether Slim's posthumously published novel,. Robert Beck was forty-seven years old when he started writing a brutal book called Pimp. Not fifty years ago, or sixty years ago, but right now? A few years after that, Tyson was convicted for rapingDesiree Washington. Becks first encounter withpimps was at his mothers beauty parlor in Rockford, Illinois. But it is the city of Chicago that he would be closely associated with for much of his criminal life. His stories made him a star. At their marriage, Smokey Robinson served as the best man. I remind myself, I must listen with my heart as well as my head, sometimes with more heart to really understand. [13], Kennedy has been married three times. My environment didnt include that. Mama Black Widow may have been his best work, its definitely his best novel, the short stories in Airtight Willie and Me are his most poignant works. Now its a different story, back then, if two gay men went on television and said they had the right to be married, theyd both be locked up in the looney ward. So you are celebrating a person that preyed on the weak and helped spread diseases?? Robert Beck (born Robert Lee Maupin or Robert Moppins Jr.; [1] August 4, 1918 - April 30, 1992), better known as Iceberg Slim, was a former American pimp who later became a writer. He had a growing family to feed but had no marketable skills or education. great stuff. Popular Chicago Defender columnist Henry Brown described Bell as a blustering, swaggering braggart, who ruled the underworld. Moreover, he did it in a way like no writer of his time had done. He published Pimp:The Story Of My Life in 1967, a legend in print that sold millions of copies, definedurban cool, reverberates in hip-hop culture to this day and cemented Beck as themost influential African American writer of his time, and arguably still today. The New York Times praised the film for its depiction of race relations and the friendship between two con men, set "in the grimier reaches of Philadelphia".[14]. Now, Justin Gifford, professor of American literature at the University of Nevada,Reno, presents us with the first biography of Robert Beck, entitled Street Poison: TheBiography of Iceberg Slim. Kennedy also is best known for his role as Leon "The Lover" Johnson in the 1981 film Body and Soul alongside his then-wife Jayne Kennedy. Together they delicately balanced their growing family with writing his memoirs. How ex-pimp Robert Beck transformed into writer Iceberg Slim,introducing a new genre for literature, film and music, http://hiphop101a.blogspot.com/2010/02/next-hustle.html. Today, when calling the offices of Holloway House one is immediately thrown off guard, the phone is answered very simply and professionally with a pleasant, 8060. Just glad someone told the story. Thanks to them it was a done deal: the book Pimp got no love. Bentley had him thinking that no one was buying his books anymore. but had they tried to ever write anyting uplifting for their race, they would have never been known. Damn, thats deep! It was reissued by Infinite Zero in 1994, then by Uproar Entertainment in 2008. In 1969 when this masterpiece Mama Black Widow was released this was a ground breaking story. (as Kit Stolen) Drop that Iceberg stuff, T.From there, it was only a short step for Marrow to call himself Ice-T. Becks tales ofstreet pimping in the 1940s and 50s must have seemed somewhat dated for kidsgrowing up in the 70s and 80s. In their suit, they state that Robert Beck died penniless. Processed hair, pencil-thin moustaches, diamond rings, zoot suits, Stacy Adams shoes and flashy clothes told the story of how sharp a hustlers game was. [5], Beck married Diane Millman Beck in 1982. According to Becks friend Lamar Hoke, Jr., Baby Bell was a boss player (as those in the life would say). But Bob neither believed in himself or in the strength of his story. This isnt exactly unusual for a writer. It was decades before the 1999 documentaries, In the back streets of Black America, Becks books were selling faster than a twenty-dollar hookers car date. I wish I would have met him before I married Robin, Tysonlater said. Beck took us inside of a world that few knew anything about. However certain terms are still in use: busted (arrested), cat (female sex organ), cut loose (to refuse to help) and roller (cops). But she knew it was true. While Beck used his insights into psychology to manipulate his prostitutes further,he also knew that however ambiguous his feelings towards his mother were, theywerent feelings of deep-seated hatred, as he diagnosed in other pimps. It was at a hamburger stand in Lemert Park, where she soon caught the eye of an enigmatic stranger. One day while out working he met a man whom Bob would later only refer to as the Professor. The Professor who Betty confirms for me was a white man, was a writer who was interested in authoring a book about Bobs life. Say more ofthat Iceberg stuff, T, his friends would implore him. Cary later went on to voice other works of Iceberg Slim, including Long White Con, Trick Baby, and Airtight Willie and Me. When his mother was abandoned by his father, she established a beauty shop and worked as a domestic to support both of them in Milwaukee. We rely on your support to keep POW alive. On June 4th 1943 Bell shot and killed a good friend in cold blood. But then in the eighties, he dropped out of sight, right when his name had taken on mythical proportions in the hood. Mr Beck spent the last years of his life talking to kids, he preached and pleaded to teenagers all over, he told them, dont exploit your own kind, dont waste your life in the streets, dont make the same mistakes that I did, Your list of exploiters and disease spreaders is gonna look different from mine. Not only that, but it directly challengednotions, stereotypical and otherwise, about the American image of black men andsexuality.. [5] Another pimp, who had gotten Slim hooked on cocaine, went by the name of "Satin"[5] and was a major drug figure in the eastern part of the country. In a state of shock Bettys head was spinning, because she believed her boyfriend this refined and elegant gentleman, to have been a professional of some sort. Pictures of his face and real biographical information were as hard to find as Osama Bin Laden. When Bob would come to the office in the later years no, we werent as close as we had been, but he was always professional, we were cordial with Bob. Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Victor W. Valdivia wrote "For those who aren't easily offended, this album will be spellbinding. Day and night out loud, she prayed for his salvation. These cities would later provide the backdrop for his books. The mind reels when one thinks about the ways rap music in general and gangsterrap in particular has influenced the cultural landscape in the entire world. the player.. the mack.. and that insulte to the game .. the wantta be pimp..then thire me THE QUITE PIMPNOW LADIES LETS GET TO THE TURM HOES ..PISSES YOU OFF WHEN YOU HEAR IT DONT IT .. THATS BECAUSE YOUR THAT HOE..I SAID IT ONCE ILL SAY IT AGAIN 3 KINK OF HOES IN THE WORD..first thires the closet hoe.. think about it.. then thires the street hoe.. .. then thires the famliy hoe now ladyies i ask you nicely .. witch one are you .HAHAHAHAHAHAH THE MILLIOM MACK MARCH. To young readers in the hood, Pimp had that raw, street feel to it, it was real gritty, says Dr. Todd Boyd, an accomplished author and USC professor of cinema, who has in his book collection an autographed copy of Pimp, which he calls cherished property. Dr. Boyd remembers how the book Pimp, was able to bring attention to a lifestyle that a lot of people werent aware of back then. This presented a major problem. Bob and Betty had been infrequently working on chapters for their own book, but because of Bobs lack of confidence, they didnt seriously pursue it. It isnt right, but thats how alot of people are. Even sadder was the fact that the man who inspired a movement died virtually uncelebrated. Luther Campbell Shue encouraged Beck to write his life story and helped him write drafts. And thanks for reading! [12] In 1991, Kennedy appeared in Damages which was an episode of Against the Law playing the part of Spider. Universal Pictures acquired the film for $1,000,000 and released it in 1973 to a considerable amount of Iceberg Slim fanfare; the movie grossed $11,000,000 at the US box office. Here was a black man in the 1930s mind you, Hoke told me on the phone, that had a stable of Oriental hoes that used to chauffer him around in his Duesenberg. Due to his former profession and white common law wife, the Black Panthers wanted nothing to do with Beck. According to Betty, initially, Bob was ashamed of his previous life, because he went on the Joe Piney Show wearing a brown paper bag over his head, with holes cut out in the front of it for his mouth and eyes.. and shoot Preston Ray five times the last shot going through his throat. leon isaac kennedy father iceberg slim leon isaac kennedy father iceberg slim. "[5] 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. The book claims that during his career he had over 400 women, both black and white, working for him. . If youve read the article in its entirety, and more specifically the above paragraph, how then can you say the writer didnt research the subject well? But Im no thief. Nishikawa, Kinohi. When verbal instruction and psychological manipulation failed to keep the women compliant, he beat them with wire hangers; in his autobiography he concedes he was a ruthless, vicious man. Penitentiary II 2:29. Due to the success of their novels, a new generation would later find their voices. [2] In his autobiography, Maupin expressed gratitude to his mother for not also abandoning him. Iceberg Slim, Soul on Ice, and Donald Goines are all celebrated as great works of Black literature but Rick Ross and his rape approving lyrics cross the line? Well, when a child has been violated in that way, they act that out, with their friends and family and or strangers on the street. He never imagined his life going in that direction.. Beck was devastated but by then he had met Betty, who would become his wife, andwas living with her, which provided him with stability. Like many American cities, Chicago is undergoing a transformation. This small publisher in a non descript building would eventually become home to some of the greatest black fiction writers ever. Things got even more confusing when Goines died in 1974 and Beck stopped writing a few years later. Im author of Iceberg Slim: the Lost Interviews With the Pimp that was just published. He is an actor and producer, known for Penitentiary III (1987), Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) and Body and Soul (1981). One night from behind a closed door Betty overheard Mary warn him, Bobby, dont you take this pretty girl and put her on the street!. We treated him very genteelly. Bob Beck was a reformed street hustler whose main intent besides feeding his family, was to scare young people away from the life. To Bettys way of thinking, she says that she doubted if any white people had ever heard stories about the world that Bob was from and that a great many of them would find it interesting. I started out in the life til an old dealer wised me up,went back and got my masters,I did stay in touch with a lot of the old crowd,most are dead,the few alive live for the most part in shelters,withered and disheveled, Couple of the photos included here appear in that book too, The book is awesome read. Leon Isaac Kennedy Highest Rated: 96% New York Ninja (2021) Lowest Rated: 57% Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) Birthday: Jan 1, 1949 Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio, USA Leon Isaac Kennedy rose to fame as. Throwing caution to the wind he scraped together seventy-five bucks and bought Betty a typewriter, with the understanding that: Hed write his stories if shed type and organize them. Slim is an important influence on hip-hop artists. This article is yet another reason for me not to dislike the culture hip hop and writers like Robert Beck promote (YES I said promote). They were from the same streets. Bob was the smartest man I have ever met in my life, she says, he had the widest vocabulary of anyone I have ever known.. Robert Lee Iceberg Slim Beck (born Maupin Moppins) in WikiTree Robert Maupin-Beck in MyHeritage family trees (Tate Web Site) About Iceberg Slim Iceberg Slim, also known as Robert Beck, was born as Robert Lee Maupin in Chicago, Illinois on August 4th, 1918. Pimps, hustlers, andprostitutes were a large part of her clientele. Born on January 1, 1949, Leon Isaac Kennedy hails from Cleveland, United States. Most of the time the story is in the struggle and not the resolution or triumph.