I was just trying to verify one release date
& four hours later I'd learned about the time Jay-Z got sent a Timbaland beat he wasn't really feeling but Kyambo Joshua knew it was a hit and convinced him to call UGK—even though they weren't mainstream yet—because Jay was a huge fan. Bun B was immediately on board, but Pimp C wasn't trying to confuse his Southern audience by hopping on a New York rapper's record, so Bun's over there like, "Are you crazy? This is Jay-Z." After a slight misunderstanding over a lyric ("let her play with the dick in the truck") gets cleared up, Pimp finally agrees—but first he goes to Big Gipp to ask if he can borrow his flow for the verse. Gipp says yes. Pimp records only twelve bars instead of sixteen—whether as one last protest or just because he's Pimp C—and sends it in. Then it's time to shoot the video... except Jay-Z is in the middle of one of the biggest crises of his career after stabbing record executive Lance "Un" Rivera at Q-Tip's album listening party because he believed Rivera was behind the leak of The Blueprint. He turns himself in, appears at the press conference wearing a Rocawear bubble jacket that promptly sells out before Christmas, and somehow still manages to put together what was then one of the most expensive rap videos ever made. Everyone flies to Turks & Caicos for Carnival. Bun misses his flight but eventually gets there. Pimp? Doesn't show. Some people say it was probation. Bun always said Pimp just still wasn't into the whole thing. So they film anyway, fly back to Miami, rent a mansion, and try again. Still no Pimp. Enter Too $hort. He convinces Pimp the road trip will be worth it if they drive their brand-new cars down to Miami and stunt the whole way there. Minor problem. Pimp's car doesn't exist yet. The label fronts him part of his advance so he can buy it... except the model he wants hasn't even been released. Somehow his manager tracks down a doctor who had special-ordered one before launch, makes him an offer he can't refuse, and suddenly Pimp has his car. He drives to Miami. Walks into the hotel. Runs into one of the models Jay personally invited because he was trying to impress her. Pimp hangs out with her instead... and she's the woman standing next to him in the finished video. Then he walks onto the set wearing a full-length fur coat. In Miami. In the middle of summer. Jay asks him, "Man... why are you wearing that?" Pimp shrugs. "The audience can't feel the temperature through the TV." ... Anyway, I was just trying to verify one release date.
