The reason Pimp C was mad at André 3000’s ‘Int’l Players Anthem’ verse
‘Int’l Players Anthem’ is now be a wedding anthem and a staple of 2000’s Hip Hop, but it actually started out on the wrong foot. When UGK tasked André 3000 with laying down a verse on the DJ Paul and Juicy J-produced record, they couldn’t have imagined what would be sent back to them.
OutKast were featured on the Texas duo’s single from Underground Kingz in 2007, with André 3000 delivering an iconic verse about marriage and monogamy. However, Three Stacks took it upon himself to remove the beat altogether in order to spit his verse, leaving Pimp C far from impressed.
During his appearance on LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s The Shop, André 3000 recalled Pimp C’s reaction to hearing his verse, which had him “mad” about the results. “Rest in peace Pimp [C], but I got a [funny] story about that,” he said. “Pimp was so mad at me because they sent the beat and I wrote my verse, put my words down and I took the beat out for me to rap.
“When I sent it back to them, Pimp was like, ‘Fuck this muthafucka, man! This n-gga done goddamn took my beat out! Who the fuck he think he is?!’ So he was really mad at the choice that I had made to take the beat [out].”
André 3000 believes Bun B may have played a role in convincing Pimp C to cool his initial reaction and come around to the idea that the song might work out for the better. “I don’t know if it was Bun B or somebody, they were like, ‘Nah, but you don’t understand, when that beat drop, though, it sets it off,’” he said. “So it’s almost like a set-up. So it worked, and once he got that, he was like, ‘Okay, okay.’ But he was so mad at me.”
Veteran A&R Jeff Sledge reiterated André 3000’s comments on the A Waste of Time podcast, claiming he was “pissed” about the whole thing. Like Bun B, Sledge suggested that the acapella verse could work out and give Pimp C’s bars even more shine.
“When André sent his piece back and had no drums, [Pimp C] was pissed off,” he said. “He was like ‘Fuck André, man! How the fuck is he gonna send my shit back and take my drums out? Fuck that.’ He was going off about André taking the drums out.”
He added, “I was like, ‘Chad, hold up fam. Let’s rock it like that because when André doing a capella and then when the beat drops, that’s when your verse drops. And then your verse is gonna lift the record up because now the beat is rocking and your verse is kicking.’ And he’s like, ‘Alright, Jeff. I’m gonna give it a shot. If it fucks up, it’s on you.’”
Luckily everything worked out in the end, resulting in one of 3000’s finest verses on wax. A world without that “Keep your heart, Three Stacks, keep your heart” line wouldn’t quite make sense.