Pimp C, who spun
searing tales of Texas street life into a key role in
the rise of Southern hip-hop, was found dead in an upscale
Los Angeles-area hotel on Tuesday. He was 33.
The rapper formed
Underground Kingz with partner-in-rhyme Bun B while the
pair were in high school, and their often laconic delivery
paired with wittily dangerous lyrics influenced a
generation of current superstars like Lil Wayne. T.I.
had the group on as guests when he remade their 1994
song ''Front, Back and Side to Side'' for his King
album.
This year Pimp C
called hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons as well as R&B
star Ne-Yo an antigay expletive in Ozone
magazine. In September he told the blog Stereohyped, "That
statement about Russell Simmons had nothing to do with
his sexual orientation. It had more to do with a
disagreement [we had]. I don't know if the man likes
Martians, squirrels, or whatever, so I ain't gonna speak on
something that I didn't see. It's no gay bashing with me.
It's just, be proud of what you are, instead of hidin'
in the closet."
To a mainstream
audience, Pimp C was best known for UGK's cameo on the
Jay-Z hit Big Pimpin', and for ''Free Pimp C''
T-shirts and shout-outs, ubiquitous in rap several years ago
while he was jailed on gun charges. On Tuesday his
MySpace page had been changed to read, ''C the Pimp is
FREE at last.''
Born Chad Butler,
Pimp C was found dead in a room at the Mondrian hotel,
a longtime music industry hangout not far from the House of
Blues on Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, where
he had performed Saturday night alongside rap veteran
Too $hort. Capt. Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County
coroner's office said Butler had apparently died in bed.
''At this time
there's no signs of foul play,'' Winter said. ''It appears
to be possibly natural, but pending autopsy and toxicology,
we can't say the cause.''
Butler had been
in Los Angeles to work on his next solo album for
Rap-A-Lot Records, according to James Prince, the
Houston-based label's CEO. Manager Rick Martin
identified Butler's body and said in a statement, ''He
was my best friend and I will always love him.''
Though they never
enjoyed massive pop chart success, UGK's early CDs are
considered landmarks for the then-burgeoning Texas hip-hop
scene, which also featured the Geto Boys. Signed to a
deal with Jive Records, they released Too Hard to
Swallow in 1992, Super Tight two years later, and
Ridin' Dirty in 1996, considered a rap classic.
Over laid-back
beats, they laid out incisive details that remain Southern
rap mainstays: descriptions of sex and conspicuous
consumption, wood-grain steering wheels, and
triple-beam scales used to weigh drugs.
Butler led off
Three 6 Mafia's 2000 ode to drinking cough syrup to get
high, ''Sippin' on Syrup,'' with the lines: ''I'm trill
working the wheel / A pimp, not a simp
/ Keep the dope fiends higher than the Goodyear
blimp / We eat so many shrimp I got iodine poisoning.''
Butler was jailed
for three years in 2002; he had pleaded no contest to
aggravated assault for brandishing a gun during an argument
with a woman at a mall, then fell behind on required
community service. UGK's rise was derailed, but the
''Free Pimp C'' slogan caught on, and an unauthorized
album of Pimp C's freestyle rhymes was released while he was
in prison.
When Pimp C and
Bun B finally put out an album this year, they felt such
a need to reestablish themselves they titled their album
Underground Kingz like a new act would, as if to
underscore a new start.
Critics praised
the CD, which included the hit ''International Player's
Anthem (I Choose You),'' featuring OutKast. Pimp C's verse
riffs on high-class women and cars: ''I'm pullin'
Bentleys off the lot / Smashed up the gray one, bought
me a red / Every time we hit the parking lot we turn
heads,'' he raps.
Barry Weiss, CEO
of Jive, said in a statement: ''We mourn the unexpected
loss of Chad. He was truly a thoughtful and kindhearted
person. He will be remembered for his talent and
profound influence as a pioneer in bringing southern
rap to the forefront.''
Butler, who grew
up in Port Arthur, Texas, came from a musical lineage.
His father was a professional trumpet player, and the rapper
studied classical music in high school. He even
received a Division I rating on a tenor solo at a
University Interscholastic League choir competition.
''That's how I
came up listening to everything,'' he told the Associated
Press in a 2005 interview. ''Music don't have no color or no
face. It's a universal language. I think being exposed
to all that kind of stuff influences the way I make
records.''
Butler is
survived by a wife and three children. (AP)