Pimp C dies

Why it matters

Chad Butler, who recorded as Pimp C in UGK, was found dead in his suite at the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood on December 4, 2007. He was 33. The Los Angeles County coroner ruled the cause sleep apnea complicated by a codeine-cough-syrup overdose. He had been in town to perform with UGK at a House of Blues show. The room-service tray was untouched. Pimp C is half of UGK, the Port Arthur, Texas, duo that he and Bun B had been running since 1987. Their catalog (Too Hard to Swallow, Super Tight, Ridin' Dirty, the self-titled UGK album in 2007 that included "International Players Anthem") is one of the foundational Southern rap bodies of work. Pimp C produced most of UGK's beats himself; his work as a producer is sometimes underrated next to his rapping, because the rapping was so distinctive (high-pitched, slightly nasal, fully Texas). He had served prison time from 2002 through 2005 on an assault charge. He had been free for two years when he died. The codeine was the cause. The codeine is the thing nobody quite figured out how to talk about, in Southern rap, before or after. You can hear his absence in every UGK and Bun B record made since.