Bun B -- II Trill

Rating: 3/5 stars

Pros: Bun brings out the best in many of his A-list guests.

Cons: Pimp C's mic presence is sorely missed.

Bottom Line: UGK was more than the sum of its parts; Bun's career may have died in that Hollywood hotel room too.

Recommended Tracks:

Damn, I'm Cold

Swang on 'Em


Childhood friends from Port Arthur, Bun B and Pimp C formed the rap duo UGK in 1987. While they never achieved the commercial success of contemporaries like Outkast, they were just as influential.

Over the ensuing two decades, they were joined at the hip. When Pimp C was incarcerated in 2002, Bun B did innumerable feature yelling "Free Pimp C" to keep his memory alive. He released one solo album (2005's Trill) while Pimp was in jail, but otherwise steadfastly refused to rap without his partner.

Tragically, Pimp died of a mix of sleep apnea and a drug overdose in Hollywood hotel last year. And for the first time, Bun is releasing a new album (II Trill) without his life-long partner to lean on. It's Mick Jagger releasing a record without Keith Richards.

II Trill leans heavily on the UGK template that birthed a generation of Houston rappers -- songs about cars, girls and gangstas over laid-back bass-heavy beats. But Bun was always the more thoughtful and lyrical of the duo, and pointed social commentary emerges throughout.

He's become on of rap's elder statesman, the sheer length of his career giving him an air of wisdom and gravitas: "On these cold and black streets hunting / And a young black man can lose his life over nothing / If I got to go, please let it be for something real / cuz this bullshit hood shit is getting people killed."

What's missing is the energy and charisma Pimp brought to UGK; Bun's monotone delivery wears over 16 tracks. To compensate, the album is flooded with guest appearances from seemingly every Southern rapper. It's no coincidence that Bun sounds best when trading bars with energetic rappers like Lil' Wanye ("Damn I'm Cold") and Young Buck ("If I Die II Night").

But there's never a doubt about who his real partner will always be, as Bun delivers a sad refrain that rap fans have become all too familiar with: "I guess I just assumed we had more time / for us to make more music and write more rhymes."

UGK -- Underground Kingz

Rating: 3/5 stars

Pros: Long-awaited collaborations with fellow Southern greats
don't disappoint.

Cons: Bloated two-disc tracklist will thrill long-time fans, exhaust
the uninitiated.

Bottom Line: UGK makes a triumphant return with Pimp C out
of jail.

Recommended Tracks:

International Playaz Anthem

How Long Can It Last

Before Southern rap dominated the airwaves and long before Big Pimpin, Bun B and Pimp C "put out a record at the age of sixteen / rapping about moving work, candy paint and sipping lean." Fifteen years later, not much has changed, as the two Port Arthur rappers follow this same formula over laid-back bass lines and sparse '70s soul samples.

Their unique sound influenced a generation of rappers. And while those same rappers (Jeezy, T.I.) tweaked that blueprint to sell millions of records, UGK stubbornly stuck to their guns.

Underground Kingz, like their previous work, is a relentless chronicle of the street life – cars (Candy), women (Like That) and drugs (Cocaine). But as Bun B makes explicit on How Long Can It Last, it's not a lifestyle they're terribly proud of: "People think hustling is cool or hustling is live / They don't understand hustlers only hustling to survive / They wish they daddy was home, mama wasn't on drugs / And they didn't have to grow up to be dealers and thugs."

The duo share a unique chemistry, which they showcase International Playaz Anthem, the brilliant first single with Outkast. Over a lush loop of a Willie Hutch song, Pimp C's flamboyant charisma makes an undeniably crass verse about pimping seem endearing. Bun B is the thoughtful lyricist, mirroring the menacing drum line perfectly.

At more than two hours long, "Underground Kingz" is equal parts exhausting, uncompromising and triumphant. There is a great album buried somewhere in the midst of its 28 songs, but the listener will have to dig to find it. You get the feeling UGK wouldn't have it any other way.