Available as Paperback
‘Iceberg Slim is a major creative influence on so many musicians and writers working outside the bland mainstream. Too often, this cultural icon for our times has been criminally ignored.’ Irvine Welsh
Airtight Willie and Me is a collection of six tales from the underground, all of them characterized by Iceberg Slim’s distinctive and unforgettable prose.
From the opening story, in which Slim meets Airtight Willie, one of New York’s slickest con men, to Satin, a classic tale of revenge in which a heist goes badly wrong, the reader is hooked into a rollercoaster ride through the badlands of urban America. Compelling always, funny sometimes, and typically bleak in their endings, Slim’s slices of city life are important social documents that scorch most contemporary into submission. There is no moralizing bullshit, no romanticized illusions, few redemming factors - just straight-up sawn-off shotgun blasts from the ‘King of the Ghetto’.
Iceberg Slim
Robert Beck (1918-1992), aka Iceberg Slim, is the best known pimp of all time. He grew up in the mean streets of Southside Chicago where he became involved in the underworld that was to shape his life. He eventually left the pimping game after his third stretch in jail and began to write. He wrote seven books, all published by Canongate, the most famous of which is his autobiography Pimp.