Overview – This book had me captivated from the onset and kept me glued to my seat chapter after chapter. This book was a great read, a great story, and I must commend Iceberg’s ability to recall details. The events within this book are too crazy not to tell. This was the bookend of Dave Chappelle’s comedy special “The Bird Revelation” where Dave details a story from the book to explain why he went to Africa after leaving the Chappelle show. Dave’s detailing of the story as comedic as it was did not capture the horror the women went through and the relative ease Iceberg used to carry out the scheme from just that story alone. The whole story Dave’s recites in the Bird Revelation is encompassed in a page and a half though Dave adds a lot of comic gesture to it, it shows how the life Iceberg lived pimping was not seeped in thought, but rather motivated by greed, power and dominance. Iceberg was ruthless in the ‘40s and this carried him into many situations of circumstance. One such story of ruthless aggression is the story of a popular pimp at the time when Iceberg was new on the scene seeing the pimp throw the woman to the ground and stomp on her for several minutes then driving off and waiting for the woman to recover to collect the money for the night. This was one of many ruthless stories of Iceberg’s life living as a pimp. Starting out however he was a good kid with aspirations of being an attorney. Shortly after his mother left his stepdad who genuinely cared for him and fell into the arms of a no-good smooth-talking player. Iceberg’s life was all downhill from there.
Theme- Stay focused the opportunity or worst nightmare could be lurking around the corner.
Biggest takeaway – Out of all stories of Iceberg’s life encapsulated in this book the one that really sticks out in my head is a story of a white hoe. When Iceberg first got to what he called the fast track. Iceberg had one woman working for him at the time he called a hood-rat, but on the fast track that would not be enough. One day he was leaving a bar he frequented, and he ran into a pretty white woman who was having car troubles heading into the bar to make a phone call. Iceberg put on his best rap to get her let him drive her home. In these days having a white woman was very lucrative in the pimp game it represented a status for the pimp in the hierarchy as well. Iceberg drove her to her house. Iceberg was macking the whole ride there and kissing her as arrived on the rich side of town where she lived. The woman kept describing how some sculptures and works of art have blemishes on them that make them unique. As they went inside Iceberg asked her if she had any money, she didn’t have any actual money, but did have a big jar of quarters to which Iceberg took and placed on her dresser. Iceberg looked for something to tie her up with and since she didn’t have any rope he used towels. As Iceberg sat the quarters on the dresser, looked for the towels and began to tie the woman up she continued to go on and on about how blemishes make art beautiful. Annoyed at this Iceberg began taking off the woman’s clothes. He saw she was shaved on her private area to which Iceberg thought that was what the woman was going on and on about. He continued to pull down her pants and up popped a small erect penis. Scared, shocked, and humiliated Iceberg jumped up and ran out of the room taking the quarters on his way out. The woman in transition laid on the bed upset yelling and cursing.
Overall Satisfaction – 9.0/10 Great read, amazing story and surprisingly amazing writer and writing
Comments on the Author – Iceberg was the type of person who could have been a lawyer, doctor, engineer, or something high status in the world where his IQ was put to good use. His recollection and recounting of the stories of his life play like a movie. One with action, emotional depth, violence, and sympathy. From his early life to robbing and early pimp stories to his stories of being strung out on coke and heroin, and his recollection of the lingo used along with his steady pacing in telling the story proved to be a momentous moment in literature. One thing I thought was interesting when reading this book was how detailed and meticulous the writing was in the beginning and how the writing sped up after the halfway point. A story that should have taken a chapter only took a few pages if that after Iceberg had been on the big scene pimping in the city for a while. I wonder if he wrote that way because he forgot some of the details after being so hooked on heroin and coke or if he wanted to speed up the writing to give the reader the sense of how it felt living like Iceberg on the fast track. Reckless and wild. Iceberg got his name from a bar fight that turned into a gun fight; a bullet went through iceberg’s hat and he stilled finished his drink. This book as legendary as that night for a pimp named Iceberg. The capitalistic concepts of this book will have to wait for a second write up as I am in still in awe of the story.
Comments