UGK - Ridin’ Dirty (Album Review)
What up one & all. Sky Bento here on the check-in once again. Big Bento Energy is most definitely in full effect. Hope you & yours are doing good & well.
Here we are. Back again with another one of my Bento Monthly Retro Album Reviews (patent still pending). Summer is in full swing. At least today, since the sun has been in and out of hiding. Last time on the BMRAR, I covered The Chronic which is pretty much a ride through L.A. in audio form. I couldn’t shut up about how influential it is. And now I’m about to make my case for another classic (heavily inspired by the Doctor’s 1992 opus) as equally influential. This album (which turns 25 today, by the way) is pretty much The Chronic of southern rap albums. I remember when I first started driving, one of my first orders of business was to break in that new car smell to this joint front to back. Let’s keep the Summer cruise going as we examine UGK’s 1996 Southern masterpiece, Ridin’ Dirty. *Cues Pimp C’s “smoke some, b#tch” adlib*
1. Intro (feat. Smoke D) - The first similarity to The Chronic is this album’s love for skits. But this album uses them to a much different effect. You see, Ridin’ Dirty is the blues. Specifically, this album chronicles the ups and downs of a hustler in Texas. These skits set it up as both autobiographical and a cautionary tale through these skits from Smoke D “live from the motherf*cking pen”. It gives the record a greater sense of gravity through setting it up in connection to somebody already paying the price for living the life. Getting treated like the Pope in there is a hell of a flex though.
2. One Day (feat. 3-2 & Ronnie Spencer) - MOMMA PUT ME OUT AT ONLY FOURTEEN SO I STARTED SELLING CRACK COCAINE AND CODEINE. Now you see why the record starts in the penitentiary. This record don’t even start with UGK, which makes this record feel that much more like a statement on the lifestyle altogether. One day you’re here, and then you’re gone. It’s as simple as that. This record is special. This is the blueprint to so much music now, especially instrumentally. The guitars on this instrumental wouldn’t feel out of place on a Young Thug record. Bun B comes through and flows his ass off, throwing internal rhymes left and right. Then in true Pimp C fashion, Pimp C Pimp C’s. “My man Bobo just lost his baby in a house fire” really hits me in the chest every time I hear it. There’s so much to this record I can’t explain. It’s just magical. A true Southern classic dripping in honesty and pain to a smooth-as-a-Cadillac beat courtesy of Pimp C himself.
3. Murder - Now Pimp C & Bun B are here giving us one of the greatest performances of their respective careers. This feels like a formal introduction to UGK. Even though this is the duo’s third album, Ridin’ Dirty is where they fully came into their own completely distinct sonic space. One Day found them in the middle of the life, reflecting on it all. Now on Murder, we have them both showing you exactly what they’re about. Pimp’s simple, in-your-face bravado calls back to the 80’s and is carried by one of the greatest rap voices to ever emerge from the South. So many quotables. Then Bun B comes in with a verse that had my high school self wondering why he wasn’t side by side with Biggie & Pac to most rap fans. The amount of rhymes he pulls off in this verse is just ridiculous. This may be his best verse ever technically. This is a true classic.
4. Pinky Ring - Records like this make it obvious why the two were tapped by JAY Z for “Big Pimpin’”. Again, a smooth beat with a pronounced funky bassline and now we get Pimp C’s smooth singing voice. This is old school in all the best ways. The shoutouts to other Southern acts like OutKast at the end are a beautiful touch given that this was real Southern unity even before the South had something to say at the Source Awards.
5. Diamonds & Wood - I FLIPS DOWN THE AVE YOU KNOW I’M LOOKING GOOD. I’M BANGING SCREW N***A DIAMONDS UP AGAINST THAT WOOD. The screwed rap sample for the chorus, them silky smooth guitars, the steady hi hats and handclaps; this is the genesis of so much classic rap music. Nah, this the best UGK song hands down. Pimp C’s energy on his verse is just infectious, and that bouncy flow in between each line is just classic. Bun B again shows off his verbal dexterity, packing rhymes on rhymes. Bun B in these early days had a knack for rhyming in the middle of a line, and then continuing on to set up another rhyme effortlessly. But when Pimp C comes back for that third verse is when things truly get legendary. Every line has immense passion and truth behind it. Pimp C goes into simple-yet-effective detail about how these little things in his life like getting high and cruising help him deal with the pain of his reality.
6. 3 In The Mornin’ (feat. C-Note of Botany Boyz & Big Smokin’ Mitch) - Bun B be rapping his ass off still to this day but something was in his water in the 90’s. His hunger shows in his flows as he weaves rhymes together like a damn Street Fighter combo. This is another day in the life record, but that silky smooth hook gives hella Nate Dogg vibes. The Dr. Dre influence is apparent all over this record. Then Pimp C comes in for a verse and literally features himself on it. I kid you not, bro. This man came up with two separate flows and vocal deliveries and just alternates between them. Chad Butler was just too talented man, rest in peace Tony Snow. Now flip your tape over and let’s continue this ride.
7. Touched (feat. 3-2 & Smoke D) - Smoke D is back to kick off the B-side of the tape to remind us that the pen ain’t the life he’s used to. But then we hear some familiar bars (if you were around in the 2000’s). JAY Z flipped Bun B’s opening lines on this record on “99 Problems”. Hov was clearly a real UGK fan. Beats like this were just made for Pimp C. That’s probably because most of them were made by Pimp C but still. Talk about sonic cohesion. This record doesn’t hold up as well as some of the others but the silky smooth beat doesn’t ruin the ride. And it transitions very well into the next joint.
8. F**k My Car - This is Southern G-Funk. This is “B#$ches Ain’t S%^t” for the South. Car culture is Texas culture, so it’s only right we get a record dedicated to the whips of the South. Pimp C feels like the biggest baller of all time on that final verse. Pimp C once said he didn’t want to work with JAY Z because 2Pac didn’t like him, and records like this show just how deep Pimp’s Pac influence is. He shines brighter when the drums drop out. But when he says “let me tell y’all n&^$#s the difference between you and me” the bravado reaches a new level. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a rapper as confident as Pimp C. And I mean ever. To this day, when I feel the need to remember who the f**k I am I throw some Pimp C on and this is one of them ones.
9. That’s Why I Carry (feat. N.O. Joe) - More Southern G-Funk. You know Texans love their guns, but this record goes deeper into exactly why they do. It ain’t easy coming up in Port Arthur. In order for somebody to eat, somebody gotta be food. And it ain’t gonna be Bun or Pimp. The cinematic feel of the beat makes you look over your own shoulder, just in case because “it’s some hating going on in P.A.”. It wouldn’t be a true UGK record without a life lesson from Pimp C. Here he warns against shooting your friends, which might seem obvious, but on a record that deals with jealousy so deeply it hits a bit different. Plus Bun comes back and slips a line in about laughing at these mark hoes that say they never heard of drank. Let me remind you this is 1996.
10. Hi-Life - Biases from the way Diamonds & Wood has impacted culture aside, this may be the best track on the whole record. We’re back to the pen with Smoke D briefly, before Pimp C flashes us back to reality. The risks he takes to live the life he lives definitely take a toll as he walks down the path he’s taken. “What you gone do when the Devil poke you with his fork?” This is another record where every lyric could be quoted. But it’s Bun’s opening bars are always stick with me most. “You only get one life to live that’s all they give us to do it. You can bullsh&t your way through it, or stay true it can be complicated…”. This record always felt like a list of reasons to get high, both off drugs and higher in life. “A man’ll commit a crime ‘cause a f^%cking crime pays”. Truer words were never spoken. I could write a college dissertation about how this record completely encapsulates the Black experience in America. But I won’t. Yet.
11. Good Stuff - Now here’s a record where Pimp C really raps his ass off. Funky ass hook. Fat bass. Checks all the boxes. But again, don’t sleep on Bun B. I think he really broke down barriers for Southern rappers by stringing together as many rhymes as he does throughout this album. Records like this display their chemistry perfectly. While they both flex entirely different skill sets as rappers, you can’t deny the smooth brashness they flex when they really feel like spitting (which is pretty much all the time for Bun B throughout this record).
12. Ridin’ Dirty - This is the most 90’s feeling beat on the whole project. That piano loop really draws you into that “a day in the life” feeling. The beat is telling you to wake up and hustle. But the lyrics are telling you to be careful if you really listen. From the opening skit, to Bun’s ending lines, it’s all there. The glitz and glamour that comes with having your paper right is truly a gamble. This record really sums up the vibe of the whole project: the ups and downs of hustling in P.A..
13. Outro (feat. Smoke D) - “You gotta maintain” says Smoke D, again summing up the vibe of the whole project. Pimp C then comes in to shout out his affilliates to a remix of the Diamonds & Wood instrumental. He even shouts out Boosie on this joint. Three “Free Larry Hoover”s. Shaquille O’Neal. It’s a long list, but it’s good to hear Pimp C being so grateful on this joint. So many artists have expressed gratefulness for his work. This is truly a defining record in the hip-hop canon.
I got into UGK through their alumni. I was a big fan of T.I., Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne, Chamillionaire, Mike Jones, etc. but I grew up with minimal exposure to their actual music with the exception of their 2007 Underground Kingz album. When I finally got my first laptop right before I graduated high school, I finally dug into their music and started with this album of course. This album inspired me to dig deeper into all the other Southern classics I missed growing up on the East Coast. This was around 2012, so Drake, Kendrick Lamar and A$AP Rocky were really giving them their flowers. But it wasn’t until I got my first car a few years later and drove around smoking to this joint that I really felt immersed in the world they were displaying. Sitting parked by the beach thinking how this music changed culture and really gave a lot of Southern MCs a blueprint blew my mind. Even with no videos this record shifted culture forever, and 25 years later you can still see Bun & Pimp’s fingerprints.
Happy 25th Birthday to a classic.
