Let me tell you how this week was supposed to go.

It was supposed to be silky smooth. See, usually we’re only working a day ahead, but not this week. We had several interviews prepped & ready. We had the Ghostface material cocked & loaded, ready to rock. We even had a giveaway coming up with a clothing company for a UGK-inspired & endorsed t-shirt (postponed for now).

Boom, silky smooth. The week was laid the fuck out.

Then this morning’s news revealed that Spice 1 had been shot.

Spice 1
My thought process was “Ok, he lived. Cool, we can make a mention but stay with the program.”

Then word started trickling in that Pimp C had passed.

Pimp C

Shit.

Things happen & plans change unexpectedly. And all things have a beginning.

When I started thinking of ways to speak on both of these artists, one of the inescapable links that comes to mind is the Menace II Society soundtrack, where both had profound songs that defined the early 90′ss, a time marked by the full blown exposure to crack (“Pocketful Of Stones” by UGK), violence (“Trigger Gots No Heart” by Spice 1), society’s ills…and rap as a medium to open people’s eyes to the shit.

Fast forward to today and where we stand. I can easily say that I’m praying that Spice recouperates & lives to be an older, healthier wiser man.

For Pimp, I won’t waste time on condolences…because Pimp lived the life he chose. My condolences do go out to his family. But part of me wouldn’t feel right feeling “down” because of his death. With Bun B, they blazed trails in rap before Pimp ended up getting locked up. Pimp came home, & like Pimpin Ken said, he came home to money & all of life’s other lavish trappings. Like the old timers would say, “you can’t stop a stepper” and as a trill ass nigga, that’s what Pimp was – a goddamn stepper & a marcher to the beat of his own drum

And dear Lord, the brother came hell & raised an insane amount of hell, calling out any & all rappers. Sometimes the claims were outlandish, perhaps provoked by the Devil’s dandruff (see: the infamous Atlanta radio interview). Other times they were on point & a good dose of reality that some of these egotistical rap hacks needed (see: criticism of hip-hop’s glamorization of jail).

I’m actually envious of sorts & I’m not even frowning upon the alleged drug use. If I ain’t have to worry about such trifles as drug testing at the job, constant nasal issues, incessantly tapping my feet, and, of course, the financial circumstances, hell I’d prolly be treating myself with the Bolivian marching powder, grindin’ my teeth as I type this.

So, fuck’em, Pimp.

You did it your way. You made your share of mistakes & had your share of triumphs.

And you lived your life to the fullest.

Spice 1, stay up & get well soon.

UGK – One Day

Spice 1 – Thug In Me

Menace II Society OST

Another coincidence is that we happened to have a set of Shots, all related by the letter “C”…so I think we’ll run with those as well.

Brought to you by The Letter C

C Shots

Casual-Oaktown-Promo_CDS-2004

Ceelo_And_Jazze_Pha-Happy_Hour-(CDS)-2005

Channel_Live-Mad_Izm_(Original_Buckwild_Remix)_12_Inch-1995

Channel_Live-Mad_Izm_BW_Reprogram-VLS-2005

Charli_Baltimore_(Feat._Camron_and_Nore)-NBC-VLS-1999

Chi-Ali-Age_Aint_Nothing_But_a_Number-VLS-1992

Chi-Ali-Let_The_Horns_Blow_VLS-1992

Chi-Ali-Roadrunner_VLS-1992

Chingy-We_Got_(Nelly_Diss)-2005

Chino_XL-Poisen_Pen-(Bootleg)-2005

Chino_XL-Watch_Closer_BW_Royce_5_9_Enough_Beef-(Full_VLS)-2005

Choclair-Back_Where_Ive_Stayed-CDS-2003

Clipse_Feat_Pharrell-Stuntin_Yall-(Explicit_Promo_CDS)-2005

Clipse-Cot_Damn_(Remix)-Promo-CDS-2003

Clipse-Definition_of_A_Roller_(Promo_CDS)-2004

Clipse-Who_Shot_Ya_Freestyle_Promo-CDS-2004

CNN_Feat_Swiss_Beatz-Hood_Money_CDS-2003

CNN-Ayo-VINYL-2003

CNN-Cheers(Promo_Vls)-2003

Common_and_Kanye_West-Go_BW_Diamonds_Are_Forever-VLS-2005

Common_Ft_Scarface_And_Mos_Def-The_Corner_(Remix)_(CDS)-2005

Common-Go_(Full_VLS)-2005

Common-The_Food_(VLS)-2004

Coo_Coo_Cal-We_Got_That_Ft.Juvenile_BW_Lap_Dance-2005

Cormega_Feat_Large_Professor-The_Come_Up-(VLS)-2002

Cormega-Dangerous_bw_Personified_(Promo_CDS)-2004

Cormega-Let_It_Go_BW_A_Beautiful_Mind-(VLS)-2004

C Shots

R.I.P. Pimp C