Pimp C: Nah. We were together, behind closed doors. It wasn’t meant for the media to see. When I came home, we spent a whole lot of time together, just us. And in all fairness, I’d been gone for four years and we hadn’t had a whole lot of contact while I was gone, so we needed that. At the time when I got back, his solo album was still poppin’ real great, so I didn’t wanna step on any of that or go right into a UGK thang. That’s why I just went and did a side project, the Pimpalation album, which was a compilation record. On that album, I just worked with people that I respected. And if you listened to that record, you know that I didn’t produce none of it. I was just having fun, rapping with people that I respect. I did that because I relly didn’t think it was the right time to just mash on the UGK thang, because he was getting show money. He was getting good bread every week, and I came home into a whole bunch of paper and was doing shows and welcome home parties and things like that. So we just capitalized off what was going on right then. But right now it’s UGK time. UGK for life. Obviously going to prison for four years was not an ideal situation. But at the same time, it’s kinda like when a rapper dies and their status becomes elevated to the point where people look at them like a legend or they become untouchable. Do you think that your prison sentence kinda changed your status or the way you’re perceived in the game? Pimp C: Well, musically it couldn’t help me being gone for four years. Having a record drop with old freestyle material and being gone for that long cannot ever help you move your music if you’re a musician. But maybe, yeah, I heard Bun say something one day. He said, “The Pimp C myth is a whole lot bigger than who you really are.” You know? So yeah, it’s a myth, and unfortunately negative things like that do give us street credibility. And I’ll be the first one to tell you that there’s nothing credible about going to prison. You lose when you go to jail. So for Chad Butler, that was a bad thing. I tried to be positive in the place and tried to do some positive things to turn it into something that I could get something out of, like putting some knowledge in my head and trying to go to school. I did as much as I could do in there, but at the end of the day, it was a negative thing. But for the rapper, the character, the Pimp C myth, yeah it was cool. Pimp went to prison, did his time in population, didn’t tell on nobody and came home, you know what I mean? Everybody likes that kind of story. But I’m here to tell you out of my mouth that there wasn’t nothing cool about prison. I could’ve done a lot more to elevate my status [if I wasn’t in prison].
started selling records in their own regions because they got tired of the abuse. We got tired of the abuse and the Southern thing was regional for a long time. The Florida rappers were selling records in their region, we were selling records in our region, in Texas, you had people in the Midwest selling their own records in their regions. Somewhere along the line, it popped, and the whole rest of the country caught on to it. So now it’s our time to shine. It’s not that I’m riding on them or picking on them. It’s just that the chickens have come home to roost. What goes around comes around. You reap what you sow, and karma is a muthafucker. At the same time, though, I’m a fan of old school hip-hop. Run [of Run-DMC} was the person that made me want to rap. And remember, on the [UGK] album, I got Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap on a song produced by Marley Marl. I’m trying to resurrect old school rappers from New York. No matter how many records you done sold recently, if you had talent you’ve still got that talent. And the true emcees and the people that are truly influential out there [in New York] are not the ones that are hating. So make no mistake that when Pimp C is talkin’ about these people, I’m not talking about everybody. I’m talking about the ones hating on the internet, the ones that refuse to give us our core value.
myth , ‘The pimp c you once me “bun toldlot bigger than who to is a whole.’ unfortunately, going .” really aregives us street credibility jail
How do you think the music industry has changed during those four years? Pimp C: It’s just that certain regions don’t have control anymore. The people that were in power at one time are no longer in power, and a lot of them are bitter because of that. That’s some of the things I’ve seen. They had to know that eventually it was going to come to the South. Why ride so hard on New York when they’re really not a factor right now? Pimp C: Here’s my thing; it’s not that I’m just going at them. They going at me on the internet and on their little comfortable websites. They talk about our rap styles on their little websites. They say we rap like we saying nursery rhymes. They say negative things in comfortable places and they hide behind email addresses, and even some of the [New York] rappers say negative things. Over the years, while hip-hop was being developed and being put in the position where people could go double and triple and quadruple platinum, they were saying little sly things in their songs. Am I right or wrong? Yeah, you’re right. Pimp C: You can go as far back as Run-DMC. “You need to go down South / You need to shut your mouth.” That was an actual Run-DMC lyric. There’s certain rappers out here – I ain’t saying their name – that keep telling us we aren’t “real hip-hop” down here. They keep telling us that because we didn’t have trains to paint on, and because we didn’t wear backpacks, and because we hadn’t necessarily had the opportunity to be a part of the New York City rap scene when rap started in the mid-to-late 70s and 80s, we weren’t a part of their movement. But if we hadn’t been buying their records back then, EPMD couldn’t have went gold. Certain rappers couldn’t have done what they were doing. Without the South and the Midwest, you have no hip-hop cause you have nobody to buy the records. They shitted on us for so long. After a person rejects you for so long and keeps telling you you’re not this and you’re not that, eventually you’re gonna come back and decide that they’re right. You’re right, we’re not “real hip-hop,” and we don’t want to be a part of your movement. So stay up there where you at. What ended up happening was that people
Has anyone from the East coast personally disrespected you or are you speaking on the general attitude that New York has towards the South? Pimp C: Nah, cause they cowards. They ain’t gonna say your name, fo’ real, cause they cowards. They hide behind email addresses. They’ll say little slick things on track number 17 on they album, but they won’t say your name. When a man won’t actually say what he’s trying to say, he really didn’t say it at all. So to me, they didn’t mean it until they really say who they’re talking about. So my comments are a blanket statement for anybody that wants to latch onto it. If you don’t like it, I’ll come to your house. We can talk about it or do whatever you think it is that you want to do to me. In particular, you speak on a lot of these things on the “Hatin’ The South” record that’s on your album. You wanna break that down? Pimp C: Yeah, it’s a remake of a record called “Let’s Straighten It Out,” by Lattimore. I flipped the hook to say, “Quit hating the South, we gettin’ paper in the South,” and Charlie Wilson is singing the hook. I got Willie D on there and we talkin’ about it, and Bun’s verse is about how he was buying all the New York rap back in the 80s. We came up on them and now that the tables have turned and we’re selling records, a lot of people are bitter. Willie is talking about the days when Public Enemy and Ice Cube and them were putting out records; they made us feel good about ourselves because they made us feel like being a rapper was the thing to do. Back then, it wasn’t all that hate coming from the old school like we’ve got coming from these bitter people now. Some of these rappers are Classic Cokes and some of them are Pepsi, the new generation. The new generation is wishy washy, cause they might say something slick [aimed at you] and then see you somewhere and smile and shake your hand. I’m not used to being around people like that. If you don’t like me or you got something against me, tell me what it is you don’t like about me and maybe we can have a conversation and get some clarity. If we can’t get no clarity, let’s just agree to be enemies and keep it moving. I’m from the old school, where if you had a problem with a person you go and talk to ‘em. You get it out in the open. We don’t need all that hiding. Willie D said something real on that song: typing on the internet and sending emails, you ain’t no gangsta! Bun got into a little internet battle with a XXL blogger who spends a lot of time hating on the South. Pimp C: He said something about how I should’ve stayed in prison because I was violent towards women. That guy’s just trying to get some airplay. He don’t really know anything about my case. If you research my case and really look into what happened, that’s not what happened. So that dude was dissing me and really didn’t know what he was talking about. A lot of times, the media doesn’t understand. If it’s not a pop record and it’s not something they can put in a category, they don’t understand, like some dude at one of them magazines. I believe it was XXL again. He said that my Pimpalation album had too many features on it. Any idiot can figure out from the title that Pimpalation is supposed to be 89