UGK “Underground King”

This isn’t the recording responsible for UGK’s deal with Jive Records. That distinction belongs to The Southern Way, Pimp C and Bun B’s indie cassette release on Bygtime (the bulk of which would be re-worked for Too Hard to Swallow). One of the earliest demos credited to the group, “Underground King” doesn’t even feature Bun B, but the first incarnation of UGK—Pimp C and Mitchell Queen. (When Bun and Jalon Jackson of fellow Port Arthur, TX duo, P.A. Militia, joined the group, it began doing business as 4 Black Ministers. After Queen and Jackson left Pimp C and Bun B reverted back to the name UGK) Regardless, historical documents don’t get much more intriguing or entertaining than this late ’80s artifact, which finds Pimp C and Mitch spitting over “Funky Drummer,” and pointedly dissing colleagues over in Houston (“R-A-P-A-L-O-T ain’t shit to me”—from Pimp C, of course). Trill shining.