Pimp: The Story of My Life

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, sexual violence, child abuse, child sexual abuse, sexual content, death by suicide, substance use, addiction, graphic violence, cursing, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and death.

Pimp: The Story of My Life illustrates the connection between crime and trauma, casting this dynamic as a complex relationship that flows both ways and perpetuates itself. Slim’s narrative soon establishes that severely negative experiences such as violence, betrayal, and loss can lead to lifelong feelings of mistrust and anger, as well as the sense of being trapped in a particular lifestyle. Slim’s childhood experiences and his economic position, along with his experiences during adulthood, shape his entrance into crime and influence his determination to pursue life as a pimp.

After finally changing his life for the better, a much more mature Slim pens his autobiography from a world-weary position of regret and hard-earned wisdom, looking back on his childhood and feeling that he “had seen too much, had suffered too much” (12-13). Even the earliest chapters of his recollections reflect his lifelong acquaintance with trauma, for when Slim was an infant, his father attempted to kill him by throwing him against a wall, and he later endured repeated sexual abuse from a babysitter.