Songoftheday 4/13/22 - Take 'em out the hood keep 'em lookin' good, but I don't fuckin' feed 'em first time they fuss I'm breezin'...

 

 

"Big Pimpin'"- Jay-Z featuring UGK

from the albums Vol. 3...Life and Times of S. Carter (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #18 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 16

 

Today's song(s) come from rapper/record label mogul Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, who after scoring a pair of top-40 crossover hits from his Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life album, landed another one with "Jigga My Ni**a" from the Ryde or Die Vol. 1 label compilation in the autumn of 1999.  At the same time, Carter was featured on Mariah Carey's #1 pop hit "Heartbreaker". Jay-Z quickly returned with the "hype" single for his next album Vol 3...Life and Times of S. Carter, "Do It Again (Put Your Hands Up)", featuring rappers Beanie Sigel and Amil. The song went to #17 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart, while stopping at #65 on the "pop" crossover Hot 100 at the close of 1999.

 

For what Jay-Z surely believed would be the proper lead single for Vol. 3, Carter also went with the same tactic as his breakthrough radio hit "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" - to crib a song from a Broadway musical to anchor the record. In this case it was "Anything", which sampled the song "I'd Do Anything" from the 1968 children's musical Oliver!. But this time, even though urban radio sent the single to #19 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, mainstream stations mostly gave it a pass, where it stalled down at #55 on the pop crossover Hot 100. So muted the reception to the track as opposed to what Jay-Z expected that the track didn't even end up appearing on the American version of Vol. 3, but rather was tacked on to a release from Sigel (even though Sigel isn't on it). Instead, Carter went to the "B-Side" of the 12" vinyl single of "Anything" to promote to radio next. "Big Pimpin'" was written by Carter with producer Tim "Timbaland" Mosley, featured rap duo UGK (Underground Kings), with Chad "Pimp C" Butler and Bernard "Bun B" Freeman also receiving writing credit. Departing from the work-friendly vibes of the Vol 2 singles, "Hard Knock Life" and "Can I Get A...", this one is an expletive-dominated ode to the "pimp" life, controlling his "hoes" and spitting off a litany of misogynistic verses from all three of them. And to boot, Timbaland stole the background melody from an old Egyptian record called "Khosara Khosara" by Abdel Halim Hafez. Here's Hafez's original...

Now here's the finished Jay-Z product, which of course was all new to almost all American ears...

Nevertheless, despite (or maybe because) the misogyny and crime-braggin' on the track, "Big Pimpin" was a big success, returning Jay-Z to the pop Top-20 in July of 2000. The song also rose to #6 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, and #9 on the Rap Singles list, while topping the dance-oriented Rhythmic radio format rundown. Internationally, "Big Pimpin" climbed to #23 on the British Singles chart. The Vol 3...Life and Times of S. Carter album, released in December of 1999, went to #1 on both the Billboard 200 sales tally and the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over three million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2001, "Big Pimpin'" was nominated for Best Duo/Group Rap Performance, losing out to Dr. Dre and Eminem's collab "Forgot About Dre". The Vol 3 set was also up for Best Rap Album, which also went home with Eminem for his Marshall Mathers LP. 

Carter and Mosley were sued for the use of the "Khosara Khosara" song, but won with the argument that it was in public domain. 

 

As for the Underground Kings, hip-hop veterans who first came together in Texas in the late 1980's , and were signed to Jive Records. Their first album, Too Hard To Swallow, came out in 1992, where it got some critical buzz and made it to #37 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart. Their sophomore effort, Super Tight, placed Pimp C and Bun B in the Billboard 200 chart at #95, and the R&B albums top ten at #9 in 1994. Two years later, their third release, Ridin' Dirty, climbed into the Billboard 200 top-40 at #15, and sold over a half million copies.  

 

After their exposure on "Big Pimpin'", the duo's next album, Dirty Money, also made the Billboard 200 top-20 at #18, and finally got them a single on the R&B chart with "Pimpin' Ain't No Illusion", which stopped at #74. However, shortly after the success of "Big Pimpin'", Pimp C was convicted and sent to prison on an armed assault charge. Released in 2005, he released a pair of solo albums on the Rap-A-Lot label (former home of the Geto Boys), with 2006's Pimpalation landing at #3 on the Billboard 200, and topping the R&B Albums list. Meanwhile, Bun B put out Trill in 2005 also on Rap-A-Lot, which also topped the R&B Albums chart and got to #6 on the Billboard 200. One of the singles from that record, "Git It" featuring the Ying Yang Twins (future SOTD rappers), just missed the Hot 100, "bubbling under" the list at #101. 

Bun B and Pimp C reunited back on Jive Records as UGK for the 2007 album Underground Kingz, which was a sprawling two-disc affair with a truckload of A-list guest rappers. The record topped the Billboard 200, and spent two weeks at #1 on the R&B Albums list. From the record the single "Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)", which featured Atlanta hip-hop kings Outkast, scored the duo their sole Hot 100 hit as lead artists at #70, while climbing to a respectable #12 on the R&B Singles list. But that success didn't last long, as only months later Pimp C was found dead in a hotel room. One more posthumous album, UGK4Life, was released in 2009, with "Da Game Been Good To Me" becoming a minor R&B hit at #84. Since then, Bun B has released four more solo albums, with 2008's II Trill getting to #2 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on the R&B Albums list. His most recent record was a collaboration Mo Trill with rapper Cory Mo. As for Pimp C, three posthumous solo albums were released, with 2015's Long Live The Pimp spending a week on the Billboard 200 at #96. 

Jay-Z will of course return to the series, as will Bun B in a featured cameo on another rapper's record.

(3/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

 

Here's "Anything", which was the "A-side" of the 12" vinyl single "Big Pimpin'" was on, that sampled that Broadway tune from Oliver!. While it stalled down at #55 on the American Hot 100, the song did well in the UK, hitting #18 there...

 

Jay-Z and UGK appeared on the BET Channel to rap the track...

 

 and lastly, Jay-Z performing "Big Pimpin'" live in London in 2001...

Up tomorrow: Country crossover veteran wants some plants.