She earned enough money working in her salon to give her son the privileges of a middle-class life such as a college education, which at that time was difficult for the average person.

When verbal instruction and psychological manipulation failed to keep the women compliant, he beat them with wire hangers; in his autobiography he concedes he was a ruthless, vicious man.

"[4] Iceberg Slim retired from pimping at the age of 42 because he could no longer handle the physical and mental stress of the job, particularly when it came to managing his prostitutes, who tended to have difficult personalities.

[2][10] The hip-hop writer Mark Skillz wrote that when Beck began work on Pimp, "he made two promises to himself: no glamorizing his former life and no snitching.

Beck's vision was considerably bleaker than most other Black writers of the time; his work tended to be based on his personal experiences in the criminal underworld and revealed a world of seemingly bottomless brutality and viciousness.

In 1973, Hollie West questioned in The Washington Post whether societal changes and the women's movement would soon render the outlook expressed in Pimp obsolete: "The Iceberg Slim of yesteryear is considered an anachronism to the young dudes now out there on the block trying to hustle.

The advent of women's lib, changing sexual mores, general affluence in this society and widespread use of drugs by pimps to control prostitutes have made an impact.

In 1976, Iceberg Slim released the album Reflections, in which he recited passages from his autobiography over a funky musical backing supplied by the Red Holloway Quartet.

"[15] Valdivia praised the record for "the mixture of street smarts and the intellectual and emotional depth shown here", which, he said, was often lacking in Iceberg Slim's followers.

Hite went on to voice other works of Iceberg Slim, including Long White Con, Trick Baby, and Airtight Willie and Me.

[citation needed] Slim's first novel, Trick Baby, was adapted as an eponymous 1972 movie directed by Larry Yust[16] and produced independently for $600,000, with a cast of unknowns.

Universal Pictures acquired the film for $1,000,000 and released it in 1973 to a considerable amount of Iceberg Slim fanfare; the movie grossed $11,000,000 at the US box office.

The New York Times praised the film for its depiction of race relations and the friendship between two con men, set "in the grimier reaches of Philadelphia".

In 2008 Mos Def was contacted to play the character of Papa Tilson[19] alongside Rihanna (in what would have been her acting debut in a feature film at the time), Kerry Washington and Macy Gray.

[20] After his release from prison in 1961, Beck met Betty Shue, who became his common-law wife and the mother of his three daughters (Melody, Misty and Camille) and one son (Leon) while he was working as an insecticide salesman.

[5] Scottish author Irvine Welsh said: "Iceberg Slim did for the pimp what Jean Genet did for the homosexual and thief and William Burroughs did for the junkie: he articulated the thoughts and feelings of someone who had been there.