In an unreleased interview with UGK’s Pimp C, the deceased veteran opens up about the mechanics behind their guest verses on Jay-Z’s 1999 smash “Big Pimpin’.” According to the Port Arthur, Texas native, Hov looked out for the group by allowing them to hop on the track, but that they didn’t receive any publishing or even a platinum plaque for their work.
He began by speaking on how Jay knew it would be a hit and gave them the opportunity to contribute. “Every time I do an interview, that song comes up. I understand why,” he reveals in the interview, unleashed on HoodBoxOffice.com. “What people have to understand is that was a Jay-Z song. Jay-Z had that song. He had the beat already, he had the hook already. It was going to be a hit with or without UGK. By putting us on it, he reached another market. He was able to get people involved that maybe would not have been so receptive to a happy-go-lucky tune like that.”
Although the success was a team effort, Pimp C knew that the song didn’t belong to him and Bun B. “We played our part, but that’s his record. He really had that already together,” he continued. “Jay-Z is very smart. The man knows how to put singles together, he know what’s gonna sell before it sells and that’s a talent that a lot of artists don’t have. By him bringing us in on that and knowing that he was going to shoot that video and knowing everything he was doing, he was really giving us a meal ticket and a blessing.”
But Pimp also spoke on the downside of contributing to the record. After the song became a hit, UGK didn’t receive a platinum plaque or any further publishing checks.
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“On the flipside of that, we did that song work for hire, so we ain’t get no publishing. And I still ain’t got no platinum plaque for that song yet,” he said. “So right now, what I’m trying to do, I’m trying to get my plaque. And I’m not saying that’s Jay-Z’s fault. I’m saying that somewhere, the ball was dropped. Partly on our end, a whole lot on Def Jam’s end. Let me get my plaque, man. ‘Cause I go to the studio where it was recorded at and I see the plaque and I don’t have one.”
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