Before his death in 1992, Beck had become an inspiration and éminence grise for gangsta rap. He launched a new form of crime fiction, with the late Donald Goines becoming his best-known protégé. During the nineteen-seventies, Beck published three more novels and a collection of political essays, recorded a spoken-word LP, was profiled in magazines and newspapers, and became a bona-fide L.A. Iceberg Slim, whose legal name was Robert Beck, burst on to the scene nearly half a century ago, with his memoir “Pimp: The Story of My Life” (1967), followed immediately by the novel “Trick Baby” (1967), which was adapted for the screen by Universal Pictures. The notion that his books circulate only in the urban ghetto’s literary underground is laughable. I’m always amazed when I encounter well-read people unfamiliar with Iceberg Slim.
Instead, he catapulted the pimp into America’s pop-culture pantheon of heroes and outlaws. The writer and self-styled political prophet Iceberg Slim meant to fuel the black revolution.
