![]() ![]() The two most influential gangsta-style rappers, Ice-T and Ice Cube, both named themselves after Iceberg Slim, and they styled their anti establishment messages and hardcore confessionals of violent street life after Beck’s street fiction. Although he didn’t know it at the time, Beck’s works inspired the most powerful artistic response to America’s new police state: gangsta rap. ![]() The album closes with Beck’s most personal track, Mama Debt, where he probes deeper into the psychological traumas and troubled childhood that led him to pimping and his incarceration. In his polished and riveting monologues, Beck spins spellbinding tales of the dark side of ghetto glamour-the drug addiction, the violence against women, and the street rivalries. Beck’s deep voice is full of velvety menace and combined with Holloway’s mellow riffs, the album has all the ambiance of a haze filled lounge. ![]() In 1976 Beck recorded Reflections, in which he recites four street poems accompanied by Red Holloway’s jazz quartet. To a wide range of readers Iceberg Slim is the definitive voice of black urban life and to his critics he is a misogynist who wrote trashy paperbacks that promote violence against vulnerable young women both outlooks have a degree of truth to them. There would have been no blaxploitation or hip-hop the way that we know them today without Pimp: The Story of My Life. Robert “Iceberg Slim” Beck was a mess of contradictions whose works have transformed African American literature and culture. Those notes line the gatefold jacket which also holds the original liner notes, and some badass beat poetry on icy clear vinyl. Justin Gifford, author of Street Poison – The Biography Of Iceberg Slim, has penned a set of liner notes that help you grasp the immense cultural impact of this record and the hip-hop luminaries it inspired. A former pimp turned author, Iceberg Slim wrote Pimp: The Story of My Life, believed by some to be the highest selling book by a black author ever! On Reflections, the Red Holloway Quartet makes the bed, then Slim rhythmically speaks his prose like a bass note beat poet in what became the birth of the bad, dark, none-too-taboo tales of the street that inspired a subgenre of music. (Favorites: A.I.D.S.Reflections is the very explicit beat-jazz birth of gangsta rap. Last level mostly is complied of artists who have very little music out that is just super fucking weird and somewhat hard to find. I really, really hope it was fake, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it was real. Fun fact: Berkowitz Gorefest would post videos of girls carving his name into their legs on his Instagram. They are probably my favorite horrorcore group on here aside from The Flatlinerz, Three 6 Mafia and Alla Xul Elu. Themes often include rape, scat, torture, gore, pedophilia and more! Butchers Harem are the kings of this style. Now we get to what I would call "brutal horrorcore", which is horrorcore with influences from extreme metal within the vocal style and overall themes. This is where torture are rape become really common within these lyrics. (Favorites: Jak Progresso, Dyad Souls, Team Guillotine, Alla Xul Elu) Big Lurch is really just there because he legitimately fucking ate someone. Some of the artists on the next level really aren't that dark, but due to their obscurity, they are lowered significantly. (Favorites: Brotha Lynch Hung, Goretex, Necro, Mr.Hyde, King Gordy) I like to think of him as a cannibalistic Snoop Dogg. Brotha Lynch Hung is also fantastic I would say, but has a lot of typical "gangsta rap" within his music too, along with some fantastic g-funk. Necro and Mr.Hyde are probably the best out of all the artists within this depth. (Favorites: Insane Poetry, Natas)įourth level is when I consider you reach "gore rap", with artists who have a large amount of extreme violence in their lyrics. Third level includes artists with a lot darker songs and themes. (Favorites: Twiztid, Gravediggaz, The Flatlinerz, Psych Ward) Other tracks delve into, what seems to me, mockery of the occult and a tribute to slashers and other violent media. Their music isn't very serious, and at times is even light hearted and silly. The second level is where you get into juggalo-esque horrorcore, including Insane Clown Posse, which are considered the face of the genre, and coined the term "juggalo" from what I know. However, they have enough fucked up stuff for me to consider them onto here. Some of the releases from these artists are not really dark at all. The very top is pretty mainstream, accessible stuff, but likely still considered weird to many. Just an fyi, plenty of this music is dogshit, but there are many groups I still like on here. Also, sometimes I just put artists I found shitty lower, but only a little bit. The depth of the iceberg depends on a mix of how nasty the themes are, the accessibility within the music and the obscurity of the artist/group. ![]()
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