I wake up most mornings before the crack of dawn and when I do get to see the sunrise, I always have some Pimp C lyrics come into my head. “Wood Wheel” is a legendary song from UGK’s album, Dirty Money from 2001 and Chad Butler kicks off the track with the lyrics:

“I’m up early because my n***** don’t sell dope after nighttime.”
Or on the clean version we got something like:
“I’m up early ‘cuz ain’t enough light in the daytime”

Regardless if you’re listening to the clean or dirty version, you get the message. Just like me getting up before everybody else, Pimp C is out hustling right when he wakes up because he has dope to sell. And while I’ve never sold dope in my life, I’m always up early hustling to make ends meet and try to hit a lick in one of my businesses to set my family up for years. Maybe most won’t find the correlation between Pimp’s hustle and mine but ever since I was a kid, it was lyrics from rap groups like UGK that motivated me to work harder than the next. Pimp C and Bun B were always in my headphones to teach me life lessons as well as give me tips on how to build, sustain, and grow my businesses.

While Pimp will always get credited for his unique twang and his supreme drip, people sleep on his skills as a producer. And while the opening bars of the track will forever stay in my head and be the soundtrack to my long work days, it all wouldn’t matter if the production wasn’t on point. So with the beat from Pimp C, his opening verse, Bun B matching him bar for bar on the track, the adlibs, the lyrical content, the vibe and f*ck it… just everything about the track it’s a Down South classic. I always assume that everybody digs these tracks just as much as me but in case you don’t, give them Texas boys from Port Arthur, TX a spin and thank me later.

Nah… I can’t stop there. RIP to Pimp and to everybody who reads this article I need you to do one thing….. SMOKE SUMTHIN BITCH!