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The Rap Year Book

2000
What This Song Is About
Impulsive living.

Big

Pimpin

Why Its Important

Jay Z was, by then, a certified
star. UGK, while heralded in rap,
was still largely unknown outside
of their core fan base. Their
pairing here, and the success that
came from it, helped rearticulate
the northern and southern rap
conversation.

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The very first thing we see in the video for Big Pimpin is a very big yacht, and all
through the video the party that happens on it and away from it is a very big spectacle,
and the very last thing we see in the video for Big Pimpin is the very big yacht, and
that was all a deliberate move to relay the following:
Jay wrote Big Pimpin shortly after hed been charged with assault for stabbing
record producer Lance Rivera in the stomach during an altercation at a nightclub.1 Had
he been convicted, he might have seen upward of fifteen years in prison. That possible
reality served as the impetus for the world he built in Big Pimpin: The contrast between the million-dollar extravagance of the Big Pimpin video and the potential of being behind bars for years behind a mindless assault wasnt lost on me. Both were about
losing control. Jay Z wrote that in his 2010 book, Decoded. He further explained: Its a
song that seems to be about the purity of the hustlers thrillpleasure cooked down to
a crystal. And even further: If the price is life, then you better get what you paid for.
Theres an equal and opposite relationship between balling and falling. He anticipated
a catastrophic fall, so he balled stratospherically. His pimpin was the biggest it ever was,
and ever got, really.
When the actual trial date neared, though, Jay hedged his bet. Nervous hed catch the
violent reflex of a justice system thatd attempted and failed to lock up Puff Daddy the winter before for a shootout he was involved in at a separate New York nightclub, Jay settled
(No way was I going to allow myself to be a sideshow for the state). He pled guilty to the
charge and received three years probation,2 and that is 100 percent a fair trade.3
Its a weird thing to be thankful that someone was stabbed, but I am grateful to Rivera
for taking that L, as we all should be.4 Without that happening, (maybe) Jay isnt motivated to live through the most paranoid and hedonistic period of his life, and so we (maybe) dont get Big Pimpin. That wouldve been a real tragedy. He shouldve stabbed five
or six more people. He mightve written the most transcendent rap album of all.5

jay Z

featuring UGK
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The Rap Year Book

Jay Z had twenty career singles before Big Pimpin. Of those,

only three were RIAA certified gold (Dead Presidents, Can
I Get a . . . , and Hard Knock Life). Big Pimpin was his
first platinum single.6 Big Pimpin was also UGKs first career
platinum single. The song was produced by Timbaland (a true
hero), and the video, which became the first rap video featured
on MTVs Making the Video, which carries with it its own knot
of supplemental offshoots, was directed by Hype Williams (also
a true hero). The song was included in Rolling Stones countdown of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (number 467) as
well as their countdown of the 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All
Time (number 16). It was nominated for a Grammy (Best Rap
Performance by a Duo or Group) and an MTV VMA (Best Rap
Video). In totality, it was the most successful pairing of a rapper
from the North with rappers from the South7 that had occurred
up to that moment, and its brilliance lent itself as inspiration
for others to try, even if they never could quite match the glow.

Quick aside: Rap videos with less impressive boats.

2nd 
Place: The Notorious B.I.G.s Hypnotize, featuring
Puff Daddy (1997) The boat here is the second most impressive rap video boat. Biggies bowler hat is the first best
bowler hat, though.
3rd: Young Bleeds How Ya Do Dat, featuring C-Loc and Master P (1997) Young Bleed put nine hundred people on this
boat, and thats way too high a population density. I figure this
boat capsized about fifteen minutes after Master Ps verse.
4th: Big Tymers Oh Yeah!, featuring Boo and Gotti (2002)
They were on a boat that cost a few hundred thousand dollars to rent per week, and they brought a portable basketball
goal on board with them. I miss the Big Tymers so much.

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5th: B.G.s Bling Bling, featuring Hot Boys and Big Tymers
(1999) I MISS THE BIG TYMERS SO MUCH.
6th: 2 Chainzs Im Different (2012) This boat never even
made it to the water. 2 Chainz just hung out in it while it
was being carted around on the streets. What royalty.
7th: The Fugees Ready or Not (1996) Lauryn Hill. . But
also .
8th: Pusha Ts Can I Live (2011) This was a total misplay. He
was just on a boat rapping, not doing anything else. Pusha
T is a drug-dealer rapper. His name is literally Pusha.
Give this man the yayo and lets make a proper drugtransporting video, please.
9th: Theophilus Londons I Stand Alone (2011) It was a
rowboat. Like, a real, for real, actual rowboat.

Jay Z avoiding a fifteen-year prison sentence is a monumental

What if . . . moment in rap. SO MUCH stuff wouldve been different. Its a string of possibilities superseded by only two other
potentialities:
What if Tupac had not been murdered in 1996?
What if Biggie had not been murdered in 1997?
Others on the What if . . . list that fall somewhere below
those top three: What if the Hot Boys never disbanded? What
if DMX favored cats instead of dogs? What if BET: Uncut never
existed? What if Patrick Ewing didnt miss that finger roll?
What if Lauryn Hill didnt go crazy? What if Chris Tucker made
Friday 2? What if Plies used his government name?8 What if Suge
Knight was two feet shorter?9 What if Dr. Dre was Mr. Dre? What if
Halloween didnt fall on that weekend? What if Kanye never had
his heart broken? What if the Fresh Princes dad hadnt abandoned him? What if Lil Wayne was from, say, Rhode Island? What
if Snoop didnt beat his murder charge? What if Soulja Boy never

1. He did so because hed been told that Rivera was responsible for Vol. 3 . . . Life and Times of S. Carter leaking a month before the official
release date.
2. Jay was sentenced in December of 2001. Four months before that, hed released Izzo (H.O.V.A.), the first single on the album that followed
Vol. 3. On Izzo, which hed written after the charges came down but before the sentencing, he rapped, Cops wanna knock me, D.A. wanna box me in / But somehow, I beat them charges like Rocky. This was (highly likely) a miscalculation on his parthe (probably) thought he
actually was going to beat the charge. Or, I guess I suppose he could also have been talking about the first Rocky movie, where Rocky loses at
the end but really he wins.
3. This is an easy assertion to make when its not your abdomen being gouged into.
4. To be clear: I dont want anyone to be stabbed. But if we can detract the violence of the event from what came after it, then, yes, I am for real
thankful.
5. Please see footnote 4.
6. From Big Pimpin to 2014, hes had twenty-one singles that were gold or platinum.
7. The least successful was when Jay Z tried to co-opt Juveniles free-form flow on the Ha (Remix). Oh, man. That was a sad day.
8. Algernod. ALGERNOD. Thats not a rappers name. Thats the name of a mischievous elf in a Disney movie.

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2000 Big Pimpin Jay Z, featuring UGK

Supermanned any hoes? What if Lil Kim didnt do that to her

face? What if Master Ps tank was just a normal-ass tank?
But to the original point: Originally, Pimp C didnt want to record for Big Pimpin. It wasnt in line with the sound he and Bun
B had built for UGK.10 We put the [Big Pimpin ]reel on and we
hear these flutes and this happy music . . . and Im like, maaan. Im
not doing it. I called [Jay Z] and said, Hey, man, are you trying to
sabotage me? He said, Look, fam, its gonna be the biggest record
of your career.11 Eventually, he was convinced to do it. Bun B
was glad. It was probably the biggest chance that we took in our
career, but it ended up being the biggest payoff as well.12
So, what if UGK passes again on Jays invite to be on one of his
songs? They never do Big Pimpin together. What happens? Does
Jay Z just keep it moving and do it with Three 6 Mafia instead?
Or maybe Jay takes offense at having been turned away twice.
And maybe Jay, already short-tempered from having Nas
gnawing at him, attempting to goad him into warmaybe Jay
snipes at Pimp C and Bun B in a song instead of how he went
for Nass neck. And so then instead of getting the historic Takeover vs. Ether 2001 battle (see page 142) we get a true North
vs. South rap war, because there is a zero percent chance that if
Jay says Pimp Cs name in a song, Pimp doesnt spend a planets
worth of energy attempting to unravel Jay Zs career. How does
that play out?

The Rap Year Book

141

Is it Biggie and Tupac againan uncontrollable firestorm that

ends in tragedy? Or does the fight stay on tape like how the Jay Z
vs. Nas feud did? And if Jay never calls out Nas by name on Takeover then Nas never records Ether, right? And if he doesnt
record Ether, then which direction does his legacy point?
Because Ether is for sure a critical part of the Nas legend. And
how does he use his extra time? Do we get to Nass reggae period
ten years earlier, and is rap even ready for that in 2000?
Or maybe Nas, having watched Bun and Pimp throw salt on
Jay as two vs. one, teams up with Jay behind some home-team
allusion? And so we get Jay Z and Nas vs. Bun B and Pimp C?
When its over, do Nas and Jay Z release a duo album together?
Is it any good? Or maybe the two couldnt get their styles to
congeal and it flops and so they both just sort of fizzle around in
New York, local titans but thats it? Oh my god: WHO MARRIES
BEYONC IF SUCCESSFUL JAY Z ISNT THERE? Is it Kanye?
Or does Jay Z somehow still end up with Beyonc except now
its not really a power couple, its more of a Britney Spears
and Kevin Federline couple? Does Beyonc spiral into insanity? Does Britney Spears end up recording Single Ladies?
Whaaaaat issss happpppening?
Big Pimpin is the representation of a time in Jay Zs life
that almost wasnt. But its also a linchpin in history, keeping the
reality line from sprigging out into all sorts of weirdo directions.

9. That puts him somewhere near as tall as George Costanza, and fucking NOBODY wouldve been afraid of Black George Costanza.
10. In 1998, Jay extended an offer to UGK to be on a song called A Week Ago from Vol. 2 . . . Hard Knock Life. Pimp C opted against it and
they passed.
11. This quote comes from a book called Third Coast: OutKast, Timbaland & How Hip-Hop Became a Southern Thing.
12. This quote comes from a 2014 interview with BET.com.

rebuttal: so fresh, so clean outkast

Big Pimpin is not a bad song. Its a very, very good song.
So Fresh, So Clean is just superior, thats all.
To be great, Pimpin requires the aid of not only UGKs
Pimp C and Bun B but also a mutilated sample from an
Egyptian film whose makers are still suing for the way Jay Z
and his producers butchered it. Not saying overstacking is
always a damning quality (see Monster, page 198, which is
clearly the correct choice for 2010), but in this case, the muses
are clearly on the side of Clean, which careens into Classicsville with its slick, timeless, endlessly applicable simplicity.
Big Boi and Stacks float on a carefree wave of well-tailored

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greatness, and the fact that they did this much without featured artists or problematic samples (they use Joe Simons
Before the Night Is Over, and possibly an unconfirmed riff
from Funkadelics Ill Stay, neither of which has garnered a
lawsuit) speaks to Cleans exceptional nature.
I mean, I still have absolutely no idea how to process the
line I love who you are / I love who you aint / Youre so
Anne Frank, but considering the rest of the song, Im gonna
just maintain that comparing a lover to an optimistic Jewish
child hiding from and eventually caught and murdered by
Nazis is a singular compliment. Devon Maloney

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