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Earlier today, I received the news that rapper Pimp C was found dead at the Mondrian Hotel, located in Hollywood after L.A. County Fire responded to a 911 call. They arrived to his sixth floor hotel room to find him dead in bed.
 R.I.P. Pimp C — 1973 – 2007
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Pimp C, whose real name was Chad Butler, was also a friend. I had the opportunity to develop and maintain The Unofficial UGK Website since 1996. And despite the name, it was considered by UGK fans (and for many years by the group) as the official site. My brother and I attended countless shows with Pimp C & Bun B…otherwise known as the Underground Kingz…and we enjoyed each one like the first. My most recent UGK show was at the SXSW show in Austin, TX on March 15 of this year. This picture (right) of me and C was taken after the show.
While the mainstream music listener knew UGK by their collaboration with Jay-Z on Big Pimpin’, UGK’s truest fans regarded many of their songs as instant classics. In fact, the first song I ever heard by UGK in 1995 was It’s Supposed To Bubble…and I was hooked from then on. While UGK had many fans before me, I quickly made it a point to become a UGK “historian”.
Eventually, I decided to create an account on GeoCities in order to catalog everything I learned about the group. One day, I received a phone call from an unknown number on my cell phone. It was from Pimp C…calling to tell me he’d seen my site, liked the job I did, and wanted to help me make the site “official”. Before Wikipedia, before MySpace…CountryRapTunes (as we called the site) had the story straight from the artist, and it’s still there to this day. Pimp & Bun are without a doubt legends in the “rap game”. While they didn’t achieve the success that most would expect, they paved the way for rappers in the South to break into the mainstream.
My deepest and heart-felt condolences go out to Chad’s family, including Mama Wes…and to Bun B.
The latest report on TMZ.com indicates that Pimp C may have died from natural causes. I’ll report any and all updates on CountryRapTunes.org. If you’re a UGK fan, add your thoughts by clicking here.
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December 5th, 2007 at 1:26 am
In 1998, my brother and I started an Underground geocities fan site. We noticed there was nothing online about UGK, and went ahead with it just as a hobby. When I left for college, Derrich ran with the site putting up pictures, showtimes, and lyrics. One day he got an email from a random person claiming to be Pimp C. My bro called him out and said “if you’re Pimp C, then call me at my number.” Sure enough, Pimp called and we got invited to see their show at Astro Arena in Houston in 2001. We got to meet UGK and took photos of the performance. We even got to eat a home-cooked meal courtesy of Mama Wes (Pimp C’s mom). I met them a couple more times, and my brother many more times. Pimp C was funny and didn’t give a fuck. He gave me the term “let my nuts hang” which for me displays a confidence and pride in what you do. UGK is my favorite rap group, and Pimp’s jazzy compositions are among my favorite songs. I will miss his work as a producer and the colorful, live southern twang he so effortlessly configured in his expression. I’m gonna miss Pimp C, and I’ll always remain a fan. RIP Chad Butler aka Pimp C 1974-2007
December 5th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
I remember you had the website back in the day. that was when the internet first came out to me, and i was searching for UGK stuff. that was like the only web site out and you had posted a link to our site promoting a underground record called Regg Dogg and the Cru present Blood Money… linking the take it off video…. that was like back in 1998. People used to come up to us and say they saw us on UGK’s website, which was big back then because we were still in high school… Anyway good work you were the first on the Internet with UGK and helped keep their name out here when they were struggling with the business side and no records were coming out with singles. I remeber back then my lil brother was in high school and opened up a show for them, and then Above the Law was performeing and everybody kept screaing…. U G K… UGK … until above the law walked off the stage… Anyways thats my memories RIP to the Pimp. I am happy to see that you all did what you did because it got a whole nother group of people into the internet and were the FIRST to represent the trill MUSIC.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
When I was in college back in 1995, my roommate came back from winter break in Houston with a UGK CD. I remember cruising in his “hooptie” (mid 80′s Pontiac Parisienne) and listening to Pocket Full of Stones. Good times….”now what ya’ll know about them Texas boys!!!” RIP Pimp C.
January 20th, 2008 at 9:22 am
RIP Pimp C !
March 30th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I had a chance to meet pimp c in prison.I ‘ll never forget are conversation we had my deepest condolences to bun b and pimp’s family we are going to miss one of best mc’s in the hip hop industry and in life