Pimp C, the Houston rap legend who teamed with Bun B in the influential UGK, has been recommended for parole from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Terrell Unit, where he has been serving time since 2002 for aggravated assault. If all goes well, the artist could be released within 30 days, Bun B tells Billboard.com.
“He got recommended for parole, which means he’s that much closer,” Bun B says. “It’s just a matter of the board reviewing it and deciding if they want to release him. They head of the parole board did recommend parole for him, so that’s about as good a push as you can get in this situation.”
It’s been a bittersweet year without Pimp C for Bun B, a driving force in the national breakthrough of the Houston hip-hop scene. His recent Rap-A-Lot 4 Life/Asylum album, “Trill,” debuted at No. 6 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 303,000 copies in United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, since its late October release.
“It’s absolutely surreal, not just to be a part of it, but to watch the young guys in the Swishahouse camp, who have worked so hard for the past six or seven years, get to a place where they’re trying to get in the game,” Bun B says of Houston’s emergence. “Cats like Mike Jones and Paul Wall worked really hard to get where they are. They knew it would take them longer, but they didn’t hesitate one minute. I’m just happy to still be around to be able to take advantage of it myself.”
Bun B says he stays in contact with Pimp C as much as possible and is itching to begin collaborating with him upon his release. “Where he’s incarcerated at now is only about 25 minutes outside the city, but unfortunately I can only go on the weekends, which is when I work most of the time,” he says. “I’ve been able to squeeze one or two visits in here and there, but basically I just send messages through his wife or write him a letter.”
“He says he has over 200 songs written, not to mention a list of song ideas and samples he wants to use,” he continues. “I’m really anxious to see what he’s going to do. I’m not taking him to a studio. I’m going to set him up in a house so he can record there.”
Understandably, Pimp C’s hopeful return to Houston has several of the city’s native acts excited. “Pimp C is a pioneer of the South,” Slim Thug tells Billboard.com. “He and Bun B are definitely two of my favorite rappers ever. To Houston and to Texas, they’re like the Jay-Z’s of the rap game.”
Adds fellow Houston rapper Chamillionaire, “So many people are rooting for him, because he’s a legend.”
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