How did Pimp C die?
Pimp C, the Southern rapper who, along with Bun B, formed one half of Underground Kingz, or UGK, was found dead in a hotel room on December 4th, 2007. He was just 33 years old.
Despite some years of struggle, which saw him sentenced to jail for eight years for a probation violation, C ultimately made a name for himself as a rapper, be it as part of UGK or as a solo artist. He was a well-regarded performer, with later rappers such as A$AP Rocky and Megan Thee Stallion explicitly taking inspiration from him.
UGK released several albums throughout the ’90s before becoming more widely known through appearing on Jay-Z’s 2000 song ‘Big Pimpin’. But their progress was cut short by Pimp C’s sentence, which necessarily placed the group on hiatus.
Both members pursued solo careers during this period, including Pimp C, who released music recorded before he was sent to jail. He released a second album after, with Pimpalation arriving in 2006. UGK reformed and released another album in 2007, which included the Outkast-featuring ‘International Players Anthem (I Choose You).’
C’s music career seemed to be on the right track, but it all abruptly ceased as 2007 neared its end. While he was staying in a hotel in Hollywood, his wife became worried when she didn’t hear from him for a while. She phoned the hotel and asked the staff to check on him, which they did. They then confirmed that the worst had occurred.
Pimp C was in the room, unresponsive. Paramedics were called, but they couldn’t do anything to help; he was pronounced dead.
A coroner’s report later declared that his death had been an accident, resulting from his ingestion of lean in combination with his sleep apnea. Lean, a mixture of codeine and promethazine, is believed to have suppressed his breathing, which proved deadly when his sleep apnea stopped his breathing as he slept.
The report noted that, while the lean was detectable in his system, it wasn’t significant enough to be considered an overdose. His death, then, resulted from both the effects of the drug and his sleep apnea lethally combining.
Pimp C had been known to rap about lean in his music. It is a chilling thing to hear now, in light of how he ended up dying. Purple drank, while being a feature of so much rap music, can be a deadly substance.