JAY-Z and UGK teamed up on “Big Pimpin” back in 2000, but Pimp C was apparently hesitant about hopping on the hit record at first.
During an interview with The Art Of Dialogue that was published on Tuesday (January 2), music executive Greg Taylor recalled speaking to Dame Dash on speakerphone when that latter cut a $1 million check for the Texas duo to collaborate with Jay.
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An ecstatic Taylor immediately brought Pimp into the conversation, who proceeded to take a jab at Jigga for his previous issues with 2Pac, suggesting they give the money to the late rapper’s mother, Afeni Shakur, instead.
“I called Pimp on the phone like, ‘Yo Pimp’ […] I got a million-dollar check for you and all we wanted was a $100,000,” he recalled. “He was like, ‘Who’s that with?’ I said, Roc-A-Fella. He was like, ‘Ain’t that over there with JAY-Z.’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He was like, ‘Man, tell him to take that check and give it to 2Pac momma. He gonna be stealing all my shit.’
“I was like, ‘What?!’ I hated that I called him on speakerphone, so I jumped up to click it and it was another guy standing next to Dame.”
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Taylor confirmed that Jay was on the call and heard Pimp C dissing him.
“Yeah, [Jay] heard him,” he added. “Because I had to jump up and apologize for this n-gga to clean that shit up quick. I didn’t realize he was in the room. As soon I seen Hov in the room, I was like, ‘Ahhh.'”
Watch him discuss the transaction at the 8:30 mark below:
“Big Pimpin” moved forward once JAY-Z and Pimp C sat down and broke bread together with the latter’s mother for dinner, though they did have to clear up yet another misunderstanding before going through with their plans.
Roc-A-Fella A&R Kyambo “Hip-Hop” Joshua recalled a JAY-Z bar from their collaboration that didn’t sit right with Pimp at the time, and how he had to set the record straight in order to move forward with business.
“[Pimp C] thought Jay was saying that he was playing with his dick in the truck,” Joshua recounted in a podcast interview last year. “So he’s like, ‘Man, I’m not getting on no song with another man talkin’ bout playing with hisself in the truck! Young Hop, you my boy, but what you tryna have me doin’, man?’ He said, ‘That’s like career suicide!’”
Hip-Hop clarified that the line in question — “Let ’em play with the dick in the truck” — actually referred to would-be female passengers.
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“He said, ‘I could see that. That makes sense now.’ Then he kinda got closer to doing it,” he added.
Despite all of Pimp C’s trepidations, “Big Pimpin’” remains UGK’s best-performing single — both as lead and featured artists — and the only song of theirs to crack the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Hopping on “Big Pimpin’” proved to be a fruitful decision as the anthem became a huge success, peaking at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and topping the Rhythmic Top 40 chart, thus helping propel JAY-Z’s fourth studio album, Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter to triple platinum status.
