Here Come The Lords: UGK

Oct 29, 2007

Here Come The Lords: UGK - Super Tight · by Abe Beame

If Hip Hop scholar/theologian DJ Drama is to be believed, T.I., Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy are the Nas, Biggie and Jay-Z of the South. The task for today is not to dispute this, but to assert that if this is so, UGK could arguably fill in as Eric B and Rakim.

Or, perhaps no East Coast equivalent gives the Underground Kingz their proper due. While the Long Island innovators laid a foundation for the Golden Era MCs to build on in terms of flow, content and production, it was the next generation that would arguably extend this style to its logical conclusion. In the case of Pimp C and Bun B, they not only originated a style, but perfected it in a way their “Golden Era” counterparts have never been able to rival, and managed to do so before the younger bucks had gotten 16 bars deep in the game.

In 1994, as a Southern duo from Atlanta was garnering hype and attention with their off-beat debut, a few hundred miles away in the tiny, economically depressed Texan community of Port Arthur, another Southern partnership quietly brought a sound to fruition that would have major reverberations for the future of hip-hop. One would be hard-pressed to deny the clear connection between the product UGK put out in 94 and what has come to dominate Clear Channel throughout the 21st century.

Historically, the greatest tandems in hip hop have been studies in contrast: the extrovert and the introvert, the swagger and the savvy, the comic and the cosmic. On UGK’s major label debut, 1992’s Too Hard to Swallow they showed flashes of this dynamic. Pimp serving as the outspoken, braggart foil to Bun B’s laid back, intelligent gangster. However, much like Southern brethren Outkast’s Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, you come away with a sense that the best is yet to come. That grittiness was not a result of the considerable producing talents of Chad Butler. Before any of these sounds really hit home, Pimp C’s tastes reflected the collective subconscious of the south, bringing together a pitch-perfect blend of gospel, soul, funk, screwed and chopped vocals and horror core synths with uncanny balance. He never dabbles too long in any one arena and as a consequence churns out albums embodying a sound that can only be described as undeniably South, though at the time there was no such aesthetic.

While Pimp C has remained constant in quality as a producer and predictable in content as a lyricist (You can barely tell one of his verses from Too Hard To Swallow and 2001’s Dirty Money apart) the revelation of Super Tight is the emergence of Bun B. The album cashes in on the raw promise displayed on Too Hard to Swallow, and Bun B is a large part of that. On Too Hard he is restraining his flow, in what appears to be an attempt to create a more main-lined, Scarface influenced delivery. It’s on Super Tight that he begins to experiment with a more melodic approach and allow more of the hard drawl to creep into his pronunciation. He is not entirely comfortable spewing multi syllabic pearls of wisdom and fire effortlessly just yet, but shows that he is capable of growth as an MC and hungry to further his considerable talents.
Bun was the oil-stained rasp with an old soul, an eye for detail and humble sensibilities long before Juvenile and Young Buck popularized the style. When Bun puts his mind to presenting specific aspects of life on the grind in Texas, his style and skill shine through. “Feds In Town” is an epic blues song in which Bun laments life under federal investigation. While the song tempts the danger of relying on cliché, it simply plays as a laundry list of aggravating life style adjustments that become necessary when forced to go low profile. Bun B’s delivery goes a long way toward believability of the narrator. Rather than stressing, freaking or acting out in ignorant defiance, as he coolly goes about pawning his jewelry and taking the rims off his Cadillac, what comes across is not a gangster but a pragmatist. As frustration mounts from verse to verse, he truly earns his frustrated revolt at the song’s conclusion.

“It’s supposed to Bubble” is a Southern “Drink Away the Pain.” The beat’s soulful celebratory nature suggests the decadence the song’s drink of choice evokes. Once again Bun accomplishes the delivery of a dark and largely pessimistic verse about the hardships of PA, TX and the necessity for taking refuge in intoxication in a manner that comes off as light and fun to the casual listener. On the menacing “Protect and Serve” Bun flows like a Mexican welterweight, displaying the form that would make him such a formidable foe/teammate on scores of Southern club cameos a decade later. He keeps the listener at bay with rhythmic jabs before launching into syllabic flurries, all brought across without sacrificing his casual, sing song delivery.

If it appears that the praise is being unfairly piled on one half of the duo it is for good reason. Super Tight is far from a perfect album, and at a scant 11 tracks there is little room for mistakes. Pimp C is a double edged sword; it’s difficult to imagine Bun B sounding any better than he does over his partner’s trademark production (See “Trill”) yet Pimp’s presence as a lyricist often serves as a detriment. However, the moments of brilliance are worth the wait, as exhibited on “Stone Junkie.” Over a porn groove, Pimp begins one of his better verses with a “Millie shot Santa Clause”-esque story about an abused, helpless teenage girl who murders her uncle/captor. Bun follows with a first person perspective of the crackhead, and he is once again spot on. As a writer Bun’s real strength is a refusal to rely on convention. His depiction of the crackhead is free of the parodied, comedic slant. The addict is presented as a menace, a ruthless and resourceful prisoner of his physical needs.

UGK is perhaps the first group to approach such urgent material in such a laid back manner. The same year that Biggie passionately mourned the death of the summertime cook-out, The Underground Kingz stared into oblivion and shrugged their shoulders. Their method works because of its dedication to honesty. The criminal element is represented not as a De Palma tinged glorification, or as an apocalyptic cancer on the community but as a reality — something not to necessarily bemoan or question, but simply to accept and adjust to. It’s a world rarely glorified, rarely vilified, but painstakingly fleshed out.

In 2007, as many have replicated, few have ever truly gotten the firm stylistic grasp on their situation and surrounding environment that Bun and Pimp displayed on Super Tight (and several subsequent albums.) At a skim, they present the hard-line defeatist nihilism employed a majority of the time by the holy trinity of Southern coke rappers, but under careful consideration the feeling that emerges is one of apathetic hedonism, the acceptance of hardships and will to celebrate life in spite of them. This is a Southern mentality that predates Hip Hop itself, and on Super Tight the Underground Kingz got it down cold.

Comments for "Here Come The Lords: UGK - Super Tight"

UGK are EPMD, Outkast are Gangstarr (or maybe Tribe ?).

— ian Oct 29, 03:59 PM
Gang Starr = league of their own.

— J-Mass Oct 29, 04:47 PM
You’re suggesting that your audience can only understand Southern rap through East-coast lenses.

I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I’m not sure that this approach is the right way to go.

Great selection, though.

— eauhellzgnaw Oct 29, 04:54 PM
UGK shouldn’t be compared to other groups, they have their own sound and are innovators. They’ve established themselves as legends.

— E aka Fidel Cashflow Oct 29, 09:46 PM
I can only understand southern rap through East coast lenses(no DF).

— dante severe Oct 29, 10:50 PM
FUCK DAT SHIT MANG!!!!! UGK have they own sound num sayin we have dat cuntrey rap tunez down here FUCK DAT UTHA WACK SHIT

— miro out tha 3rd coast NUM SAYIN Apr 30, 06:42 PM
I know exactly what you’re saying. Unfortunately my introduction in which I try to put UGKs relevance and invention into context was focused on and run with in the comments section.

— Abe Beame May 1, 04:22 AM