Released April 11, 2000 Length 4:44 | Recorded 1999 Label Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam | |
Format 12-inch single, CD, vinyl Genre Hip hop, East coast hip hop | ||
"Big Pimpin'" is the fifth and final single from rapper Jay-Z's fourth album Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter. It features rapping by Southern hip hop group UGK as well as production by Timbaland.
Contents
"Big Pimpin'" was the most commercially successful single from Jay-Z's fourth album, as it reached #18 on The Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Rhythmic Top 40 chart. In Rolling Stone's updated 2010 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", the song ranked at #467. Despite the song's performance, Jay-Z later revealed he regretted the song's lyrics claiming that, "Some [lyrics] become really profound when you see them in writing. Not "Big Pimpin." That's the exception. It was like, I can't believe I said that. And kept saying it. What kind of animal would say this sort of thing? Reading it is really harsh." Katy Perry covered the song during her 2011/12 California Dreams Tour. The cast of The Big Bang Theory made a flashmob during the live taping of an episode, featuring the song as well as others.
Controversy
Timbaland samples "Khosara Khosara", composed by Baligh Hamdi of Egypt in the mid-20th century and originally recorded by the famous Egyptian vocalist Abdel Halim Hafez. The sampled version of "Khosara Khosara" was arranged and performed by Hossam Ramzy, and can be heard on a CD compilation entitled, "The Best of Bellydance from Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey", an album that also contains another song that Timbaland sampled for the Petey Pablo track, "Raise Up". In 2007, the song sparked controversy when copyright co-owner Osama Ahmed Fahmy filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Federal Court, alleging that Timbaland illegally replayed portions of "Khosara Khosara" note-for-note. Jay-Z, Timbaland, Linkin Park and EMI Music Inc. were among the defendants named in the lawsuit. (Linkin Park was included because the track was also mashed up with their song "Papercut" on the collaborative EP Collision Course in 2004). The Linkin Park mash-up was entitled "Big Pimpin/Papercut".
This latest lawsuit follows an August (2007) decision by a California judge to dismiss another lawsuit by Ahab Joseph Nafal, who claimed Big Pimpin' infringed the copyright on Khosara Khorasa. Lawyers for EMI Records argued the 50-year-old track was governed by the 1909 Copyright Act, AllHipHop.com reports.
Music video
The music video was shot in Trinidad during its Carnival and features Jay-Z and UGK on a music truck dispensing money into the crowd and partying on a lavish yacht. It features hip hop model Melyssa Ford. It was directed by Hype Williams. The music video for Lonely Island's I'm on a Boat is largely a parody of this video.
CD
- "Big Pimpin' (Radio Edit)"
- "Watch Me (LP Version)"
- "Big Pimpin' (Instrumental)"
- "Big Pimpin' (Video)"
A-side
- "Big Pimpin' (Album Version)" (4:05)
- "Big Pimpin' (song about Ian) (5:43)
B-side
- "Watch Me (LP Version)" (4:34)
- "Big Pimpin' (Instrumental)" (4:57)