Okay Irvine, so how come he’s not on any school syllabus? The only difference being that Slim was black. It’s written by Irvine Welsh, the man who brought us Trainspotting and Glue, and he immediately tells us that Iceberg Slim did for the pimp what Jean Genet did for the homosexual and William Burroughs did for the junkie – and that he is probably now as essential reading as William Shakespeare. Having got over that, let’s get on with the Introduction. There’s nothing on the cover that says READ ME! The title is printed in bold black underneath the aforementioned model and is enough to make you want to run a mile. Wrong decade, wrong character, wrong look. So, who’s the dude on the front? If this guy was paid to sell this book- he doesn’t.

The model on the cover’s not the Author, because he appears on the inside back cover – and he’s one Robert Beck aka Iceberg Slim. The author wrote the novel in the 1960s, so where the 70s look comes into it I’m not quite sure. Someone forgot to tell the cover designer that the book starts in the 1920s and really concentrates on the 30s, 40s and 50s. You know – the decade that fashion forgot? It sports a black male model complete with gabardine, polo neck, dark glasses, checked trousers and high heels, oh – and a brolly and a fedora. If I hadn’t known better I would never have picked it up. The first hurdle to get over with this book is the God awful cover. Unsurprisingly, in view of its subject, the review contains some fairly graphic language and imagery in places. Pimp: The Story of My Life ~ by Iceberg Slimįollowing yesterday’s interview with Jamie Byng, Jay Benedict takes a detailed look at Pimp : The Story of My Life, recently republished by Canongate.

Iceberg slim pimp glossary of terms