Pimp C, 1999
warehouse district (houston, tx) PHOTO BY DERON NEBLETT From the crushed velvet baseball jersey to the one-of-a-kind hat bearing his namesake, Pimp C is a once-in-a-lifetime personality. Who would have thought that a rapper with high-pitched vocals who wore glasses would be considered one of the “trillest” of all time. To the people that knew him, Pimp was both a jokester and a truth teller. Some would say that it was hard to tell if he was being serious or funny because either way, whatever he was saying always had truth to it. It’s well documented that he served nearly four years in prison as the Southern Hip Hop empire he helped build reached its peak. But he immediately made up for his absence by dropping a solo album and another UGK album with Bun B. But, eerily similar to 2Pac’s rants before his death, Pimp C took to airwaves and magazines with his staunch opinions on lying rappers and homosexuality, in addition to his infamous “Atlanta is not the South” statement. The Atlanta comment would be the only one he retracted before his death in December 2007. 76 // OZONE MAG