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It’s Hard Out Here: Portrait of a Pimp

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uptown iceberg slim portrait of a pimp

A gruesome look into the life of sexually abused child-turned-pimp, convict-turned-husband-and-father-turned-bestselling author, Robert Beck, Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp, premiering on Showtime in April, is not for those expecting a wholesale glamorization of pimp culture. There are no MTV Cribs-esque scenes of flashy clothes and fast cars. Iceberg isn’t sweet-talking his women, á la The Mack, into believing in him and his pimping powers either.

Unlike similar documentaries, namely 1999’s American Pimp from the Hughes Brothers and HBO’s popular Pimps Up, Ho’s Down, Portrait digs deep into Beck’s psyche, zoning in on sexual molestation, abandonment issues and substance abuse as the key motivating factors that led to him becoming a pimp. Being a pimp never benefited Beck, but writing about it, as Iceberg Slim, made him a legend. Since Pimp: The Story of My Life debuted in 1967, it has sold millions of copies with reprints in several languages.


Executive producers Ice-T and Jorge Hinojosa offer plenty of visuals in the form of animation and rare interview footage with Beck himself. But substance matters most. Commentary from celebrity fans, ranging from Snoop Dogg to Chris Rock, is juxtaposed with that of Beck’s family, including his first wife and three daughters. Also showing up is Holloway House publisher Bentley Morris, who is grilled about exploiting Beck.

While his enduring fame has left its mark on black popular culture, Beck, who died in 1992 at age 73, paid a huge personal price. As he states in the film, “nothing good came out of pimping.”

Watch it anytime on Showtime on Demand or catch the next Showtime airing Thu, May 08, 12AM ET/PT on SHOWTIME or click here for the complete viewing schedule.

By Maurice Garland


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