Industry Rule #4082: Bun B

Flying the flag for your city can be hard sometimes. Especially when you aren’t from a metropolis like New York or London. Bun B knows a thing or two about how to grab the ears of big city record labels, though. As part of UGK along with the late Pimp C, he helped bring Southern hip hop to new heights in 1996 with Ridin’ Dirty after years in the trenches of the regional rap scene. He continues to be an important part of the hip hop world, but the lessons he learned during his first days in the major label world are the ones that he shared with us when he sat on the Academy couch in 2008.

Fight for your individuality.

Ridin’ Dirty was the first album where Pimp and I got to do every song the way we wanted to do it. It was the first time a record company said, “You guys know what you are doing.” Before that the record company thought we were stupid. We’re from the South, and they would be like, “That is a good song, but the people in Los Angeles aren’t going to get that, you probably need to do this.” I said, “I didn't make this for the people in Los Angeles to get it, I made it for all the people. It doesn't matter where you're from. I'm not concerned about making something that New York is going to jam. If it is good music, they will get it anyway. You are thinking about radio and the people that you hang around with. I can’t give a fuck about that. Give that shit to the man in the street and he is going to dig it.”

Their problem was that they were scared and they would only service the album to people in the South. I used to go to New York for my album and I couldn't find it. They were like, “We have it in a couple places but we don't think people…” I'd be like, “There are eight million people in New York, how the fuck do you know what eight million people think? Why don’t you sell more music if you all know what the fuck people want to hear? You'd all be billionaires. Every record you put out would be number one around the world. Bullshit. You don't know what you’re doing. Give the shit a chance.”

Ridin’ Dirty was the first time they said, “OK, this Screw shit, the candy paint and the cars, I think people can get it.” I said, “No, shit! You can fucking see Screw tapes selling all over the world. We have been telling you about Screw for three fucking years. You don't think. Let us do our thing.” “Okay, do the album, make the music, this is the budget. Make it in the budget and we will put the shit out.” And that is what we did, they left us the fuck alone and we made the album we were supposed to make.

If you're an artist you have to fight for your individuality, don't just take what a record company tells you. Argue with them motherfuckers, call your A&R a son of a bitch, don't be scared to come up against people, they can't hurt you. Just tell them how you feel and they will actually respect you a lot more for it, believe me. I called my CEO a bitch. That wasn't a good one. They didn't answer the phone for two months, but it’s all good. [laughs]

Be careful about what you sign.

I remember the first time that we went on the radio and told people we were broke. We didn't tell the radio station what we were doing, we just said we want to come up and go on the air today and they said, “Sure.” So went to the radio and they said, “What is going on with UGK today?” And we said, “Shit, UGK is broke,” and they said, “Excuse me?” And we said, “Yep, we're broke, the record company are playing us. We signed a fucked deal, and we fucked up, you bought all those records and we didn't get a dime of it.”

So then people are calling up and going, “Why didn’t ya’ll get paid?” So then we pull out the contract and start explaining to people on the air how fucked up our contract was. It gave the consumer an inside look. They couldn’t understand at the time. “You sold 500,000 records, shouldn't you get a check from that?” “No, I can’t get a check from that because the way my deal works I don’t get paid off that, I get paid off this. I only get paid off the 7% of what money is made, not the 100%.”

People didn't know this type of thing. The consumer didn't know this about the game. We tried to expose as much of this shit as possible. For an up-and-coming artist who might want to be us, it is important to know the game and have as much information as possible and know how these record companies will fuck you over.

Don’t front.

You can front all you want. Eventually people will see who you are. You keep talking about Benz’s and Bentley’s and all this money, and they are going to see you get out of a car, and if it is not the Benz or the Bentley, you are going to get confronted. “Bun B, you jumping out of a Hyundai? What the fuck are you doing in a Hyundai? You said you rolling in Benz’s.”

People see you shopping, they see you taking the kids to eat, you will get exposed. I don't care who you are and how good you think your lie is, it will catch up with you. This is the internet age, camera phones. There is a camera on every corner in most major cities. So whoever you are, you’re telling them you've got all women in the world, but you really like men, you can front all you want to, we will eventually catch you with a boy.

The reality is nobody really cares who you fuck with. We’re only mad because you lie. People should be real about who they are and honest about who they are and let the people decide if they want to fuck with you or not. You would be surprised. Most people don’t really give a shit about that.

Very few people get to be rich and famous.

[When we were on Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin’”] the exposure was good but we knew it wasn't ours. Like, “You may have helped this song be number one, but we know who the star is. Let's be real, it's a Jay-Z record, the biggest shit on the planet. Keep it very real, don't get a big head, get back in your little world.” Because afterwards if I had the record company go and get a Jay-Z verse for my song, then they are going to pay $100,000 for that. And if I go and get a Timbaland beat at that time they would have had to pay half a million dollars for that. The Hype Williams video, a half million dollars for that, so already just off one song I’m $1.2 million in the hole.

Now, do you wanna be famous or do you want to actually make a fucking living out of your music? That is what a lot of artists have to come to terms with. Very few people get to be rich and famous. It doesn't really work like that. You either get to be rich – those are the people who work behind the scenes, the producers, executive producers and people like that – or you can be famous, the ones in front of the camera doing all the singing and dancing. Everybody doesn’t get to be Mick Jagger, we're not all going to be filthy fucking rich and super fucking famous. So, at the very least, maintain your integrity. You can make a living off of integrity.