R.I.P to the Pimp

Pimp C’s dead.  Someone asked me what I thought of it.  At the time, not too much.  I mean, what’s there to say?  He’s dead.  There’s not much outside thought to be had about that simple fact.
Now, of course, there’s a lot more to be said to the person that asks me what I think of Pimp C.  It’s an interesting, nuanced sort of thing, actually.
I’m 27 years old, and I grew up in Houston.  I could have written that much more simply by saying the following–I love UGK.  Those facts and that sentence mean the same thing.  They kiss with one synonymous notion.
But, I’m a lot older than I was when I first got into the Kangz.  My tolerance for rampant misogyny in music isn’t what it once was.  However, I love the last UGK album and felt like the day we finally got that record was like Christmas.
Yesterday, people were calling me sounding like their brothers died.  Seriously.
And they were unapologetic.
One friend mentioned that he felt like he knew Pimp.  I mentioned that, if we knew him, we wouldn’t consider hanging out with him.  He agreed.
But we both love UGK and the Pimp.
Saw somewhere that it said that Pimp told people the key was to “rap like you’re dying.”  And he did.  There was a palpable, undeniable sincerity in everything he spit.  He took the 2Pac model of using emotion as a device and did it to death.  You couldn’t take your ears off him because, on top of having one of the greatest, most recognizable voices ever, he meant every word he said.
And man, some of those words were really, really foul.
Maybe I can be intellectually opposed to the Pimp yet a fan because I can appreciate his ability to build a character and play it well.  Or maybe it’s because his beats were so fire that I can cut him some slack.  But this is one of those contradictory moments that I don’t quite know what to say about it.
Pimp C was a great rapper.  That’s undeniable, regardless of how you feel about what he had to say.

4 thoughts on “R.I.P to the Pimp”

  1. “Maybe I can be intellectually opposed to [insert rapper here] yet a fan because I can appreciate his ability to build a character and play it well…because his beats were so fire that I can cut him some slack”
    Sounds like what Chris Rock was saying in his last HBO stand-up. Man, getting to my thirties, this is exactly how I feel about a lot of Hip-Hop I grew up listening to. You hit it on the head playboy, it’s contradictory but true nonetheless.

  2. nicely stated, bo. he was so sincere that, even when i felt completely offended to the point that i would look sideways if the wrong person enjoyed a particular line too much, i respected his honesty. so much for my UGK tour hopes. the last album is fantastic.

  3. Those contradictory feelings that you write about, completely describes how I’ve felt, not just as a fan, but as a lover of hip hop. I’m 36, so this goes back quite a ways. Unlike some people my age and older who like to pretend that there was this magical back in the day moment, where everyone was kicking positivity, I know that’s simply not the truth. I remember being in high school, and being a huge fan of Slick Rick, and being totally taken aback by the song, Treat Her Like A Prostitute. I felt insulted by the words and the tone of that record, but not so much that I stopped supporting and being a fan of his.

  4. Niggas need to leave that Caine alone then they won’t be dying at age 33.
    “You heard me right, we play wit’ our nose
    We wear platinum pieces with the Coogi clothes…”
    -Pimp C “Pourin’ Up”

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