give advice; they could take it or throw it out the window. That’s really their personal choice. At the end of the day, if they wanna waste their time on unnecessary beefin’, that’s fine. But you gotta try to move forward. I don’t knock nobody for whatever they do. I’m a grown ass man, and if somebody says some shit to me that I don’t appreciate, I’m gonna speak on that shit. But most of them niggas, if they think anything about me, they tend to keep they muthafuckin’ mouths shut. Why did you decide to do a double album? Bun B: I think it’s important for us to put as much UGK music in muthafucka’s faces as possible. When we were working on the album, the shit just kept getting better and better. We didn’t feel a need to stop making music if the shit was jammin’. If it ain’t broke, why fix it? We just kept putting out music and Pimp was saying that it’s a lot of things he wanted to do as an emcee and a producer, but we can’t be taking all these chances with UGK albums. So with a double album, you know, where you would normally just have one album with UGK shit you got probably about 25 songs that are exactly what you would expect from a UGK album. The other 4 or 5 songs are maybe produced by somebody else so it may not be the normal music that you expect from UGK. But with me and Pimp spitting on the mic it’s real shit, it’s trill shit, and it’s always from the heart. It’s always hittin’ in the streets. So we got 25 songs on a double album: 20 of them UGK classics, original like you’ve always heard, that Ridin’ Dirty type of shit. Then we got a couple records, like the one with Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane, produced by Marley Marl, just paying respects to the game. I just wanted to make sure we had more than an album’s worth of shit for the fans. A lot of people have been thinking it’s one album with normal UGK stuff and another album with cameos and different stuff. Nah, it’s more than an album and a half of classic UGK. It’s real.
We were screaming about making Chopped & Screwed [versions of our] albums back in ’95, ’96. So we were really ahead of the curve. They didn’t understand what was going on at the time so now they kinda know and they’re ready to put their machine behind it. But there’s always gonna be issues. Marketing and promotions issues and definitely recoupment issues. But it’s small things to a giant. We’re just focused on fulfilling this contractual agreement with Jive and being done with them and looking forward to seeing how we can take advantage of the situation. So this will be the last UGK album with Jive? Bun B: This is the last album we’re contractually obligated to give them. After this album, we don’t owe them any more albums and our publishing deal with Zomba is done, so we’ll be free agents. You’re looking forward to that, I assume. Bun B: I am. I have been looking forward to it. A chance to put everything in our own hands. We won’t have anybody to bitch about. [laughs] What’s the name of the album? Bun B: Underground Kingz comes out February 27th.
OR A LOT F E V O L D N A PECT ECAUSE “I’VE GOT R[IENS NEW YORK]. JUST BM NTIOF PEOPLEOUTH DOESN’T MEAN I’ TEAVER.” I’M PRO-S ST, MIDWEST, OR WHA EAST, WE
Even though some of your records, like of course the “Hatin’ The South” record, sound anti-New York, you have worked with people like Jay-Z and Kool G Rap, like you just mentioned. What do you think separates New York rappers that you’ve worked with from the ones that are bitter about the South’s success? Bun B: I really would like to know who’s hatin’. I personally don’t know exactly who it is. When I rapped on “Hatin’ The South” I’m talkin’ about niggas hiding on the internet. Bloggers and shit like that. Ain’t no major industry niggas had nothing to say about the South. We had a couple people crackin’ on “Laffy Taffy” or whatever, but I mean, it’s easy to crack on the song because of the content of the song. But as far as attacking Southern rappers in general, nah. A lot of people may not like that song [“Laffy Taffy”] but I don’t see nobody saying, “I don’t like them [Southern rap] niggas.” Shit, I’m just waiting for a nigga to say they don’t like Bun B or Pimp C. Then I’ll address that shit. But other than that, shit, I don’t see it. It’s just them folks on the internet typing with their little fingers, but those are the blog niggas. They ain’t real niggas in the street. These same niggas talking about they don’t like Pimp C lyrics are the ones that listen to the Flaming Lips and 3 Doors Down and shit. They don’t know what they fuck they’re talking about. I’m not saying there’s nothing wrong with listening to that type of music, but you gotta be careful who you’re casting judgment on. Shit, I listen to 3 Doors Down, but I don’t sit around and diss muthafuckers that don’t. Have you been happier dealing with Jive for this album? Bun B: I’m gonna always have problems working within a system where somebody else cuts my checks. Am I better businessman at 33 than I was at 18, 19? Hell yeah. Do I still tell people at my label “fuck you” from time to time? Hell yeah. Do you have more creative control over your project now? Bun B: Back then you gotta understand, we were a couple years ahead of our time. Back when we first started talking about Screw music and blades and all that shit down here, it was still a local thing. Nobody knew. So now that the whole world understands the context of the world we live in and the root of the music we make, we haven’t had any problems. They never really told us how to make our music. They just won’t let us promote it the way we want to promote it. We always bumped heads with them on promotion and shooting videos and sample clearances. They only problem we have with music is that we’ll want to [sample] a song and they won’t want to pay for the sample. But they don’t pick producers or dictate what kind of songs we do. They’ve never really done that. One thing they have respected over the years is Pimp C’s talent as a producer, I’ll give ‘em that. They just didn’t wanna pay him for it. Yeah, I said it. I’ll say it so he doesn’t have to say it. [laughs] So, yeah, things have changed but they remain the same. They do understand our music and how to promote it a little better before because the blueprint is there.
Who else did you work with as far as producers? Bun B: The Runners, Jazze Pha, Mannie Fresh, Three 6 Mafia, Marley Marl, Swizz Beatz, and local cats from Port Arthur named Wes & Avery. What does this mean for your solo career? Bun B: I never planned on having a solo career. My solo album was really done more than anything - like I’ve always said – to keep the UGK name alive. For some reason Pimp really feels like I should keep my solo career. He’s really adamant about that. He’s always on my back, “As soon as this [UGK] album is done, we gotta start rolling with your shit.” If the people want it, I’ll give it to them, but right now I’m just happy to be back ridin’ with this UGK shit. Houston had a huge year last year and the world saw the big Texas explosion – do you think it’s slowed down at all? Or what do you see happening next in the whole Texas music scene? Bun B: You know, we had a pretty easy way in to the game last year cause a lot of people were curious about what was going on down there. We had a lot of cats that were prepared to put the records out. It was a great introduction to Houston, but now we’ve gotta start putting our lives out there so people can relate to us. We put the image out there, now we’ve gotta put the spirit behind the image so these people can relate to it. I think that’s gonna be the test for a lot of people. A lot of people got in the game based on being affiliated with Screw or Michael Watts and that’s great because they put the work in and they should’ve had the credit given to them, but at the same time, none of us are gonna be able to lean on Screw or Watts anymore. We’re gonna have to be able to stand on our own laurels as artists and as men and put our lives out there on record. When people use the term “Screw music” do you see it as a tribute to his legacy or do you think it’s disrespectful, as his family says? Bun B: The family has every right to feel how they feel about protecting his legacy. It’s not my place to say if they’re right or wrong or if anybody else is right or wrong. But they are his family and the proprietors of his legacy and they’re the ones that have to make sure that his name is used the right way. So you can’t knock them for whatever move they make to try to keep that legacy intact. They’re protecters of the DJ Screw legacy so every time that term “Screw” is thrown around, yeah, I think they’re probably gonna get rubbed the wrong way a little bit, especially if these people haven’t given Screw the proper credit. But there’s a lot of people – people tend to point the finger at Michael Watts – but it’s a lot of muthafuckers out there, distribution companies, whoever, people out there just puttin’ out mixtapes with “Screwed & Chopped” and making a lot of money off it. There are a lot of people out there to get mad at, and it ain’t just DJs. There’s a lot of these one-stops, these wholesalers, these distribution companies putting out a lot of mixtapes and albums – a lot of people making a lot of money off “Screwed & Chopped” music and not giving anybody anything off that intellectual property. 93