André 3000 says Pimp C was outraged after he sent back his verse for UGK's hit "International Players Anthem (I Choose You)."
In a preview of LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s "The Shop" that dropped on Tuesday, July 9, the crew discussed UGK and OutKast's epic 2007 collaboration. While they praised the late Chad Butler's verse, André chimed in with a "funny story" about the making of the record. He revealed that Pimp C was furious when he sent his verse back without the drums.
“Rest in peace Pimp [C], but I got a story about that,” 3 Stack began.
“Pimp was so mad at me because they sent the beat and I wrote my verse, put my words down and I took the beat out for me to rap," he explained. “When I sent it back to them, Pimp was like, ‘F**k this muthaf**ka, man! This n***a done goddamn took my beat out! Who the f**k he think he is?!’ So he was really mad at the choice that I had made to take the beat."
“I don’t know if it was Bun [B] or somebody, they were like, ‘Nah, but you don’t understand, when that beat drop, though, it sets it off,'" he continued. "So it’s almost like a set-up. So it worked, and once he got that, he was like, ‘Okay, okay.’ But he was so mad at me.”
The song appeared on UGK's 2007 album Underground Kingz. Their fifth studio album was the Houston duo's last project before Pimp C passed away in December 2007. Shortly after the preview dropped, VP of A&R at Atlantic Records Jeff Sledge said he's the one who spoke to Pimp about André's decision to take out the beat.
"Lil secret.....it was me who had that conversation with Pimp C," he wrote on X. "Chad was really pissed off then I told him the drum drop will make his verse go crazy. Thank you Andre. #JiveRecords."
André 3000 told the story on "The Shop" with co-host Paul Rivera, Sexyy Red, comedian-actress Jiaoying Summers, fashion designer Jerry Lorenzo and BMX star Nigel Sylvester. The full episode drops on YouTube on Thursday, July 11. Check out more previews from the upcoming episode below.