4 Life
Encyclopedia
UGK 4 Life is the sixth and final studio album from the hip-hop duo UGK
UGK
UGK was an American hip hop duo from Port Arthur, Texas formed in 1987 by the late Chad "Pimp C" Butler . He then joined with Bernard "Bun B" Freeman, who became his longtime partner...

. It was released on March 31, 2009. This is also the first posthumous album for Pimp C.

Background

On December 4, 2007, Pimp C
Pimp C
Chad Lamont Butler , better known by his stage name Pimp C, was an American rapper, singer, and producer...

 was found dead in his California hotel room. In March 2008, Bun B
Bun B
Bernard Freeman better known by his stage name Bun B, is an American rapper and was one half of the southern hip hop duo UGK . He is also a guest lecturer at Rice University located in Houston, Texas...

 confirmed the final studio album would be dedicated to the late Pimp C.

Recording

The first single "Da Game Been Good to Me
Da Game Been Good to Me
"Da Game Been Good to Me" is the first single off UGK's final studio album UGK 4 Life. The song was released onto the Internet on January 16, 2009 and on iTunes February 20, 2009.-Music video:...

" was released onto the Internet on January 16, 2009. It was made available on iTunes on February 20, 2009. Bun B stated he recorded a song dedicated to his late partner Pimp C
Pimp C
Chad Lamont Butler , better known by his stage name Pimp C, was an American rapper, singer, and producer...

.

Bun B stated that he would not experiment with new collaborations or producers.

In addition to Pimp C, production came from producers such as Mannie Fresh
Mannie Fresh
Byron O. Thomas, better known by his stage name Mannie Fresh, is currently an artist and hip-hop producer who records for Def Jam South and his own division Chubby Boy Records...

, Akon
Akon
Aliaune Damala Badara Thiam, better known as simply Akon , is a Senegalese American R&B recording artist and songwriter.According to Forbes, Akon grossed $21 million in 2010, $20 million in 2009 and $12 million in 2008. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of "Locked Up", the first...

, Cory Mo, Steve Below and DJ B-Do
DJ B-Do
-Biography:Bradley Davis, better known as DJ B-Do or B-Do, is a producer and songwriter who was born and raised in Port Arthur, Texas. B-DO has played instruments since he was 2 years of age. Although he is known more for his production, he's in a group called Da Underdawgz that the late Pimp C...

. Collaborators include Ronald Isley
Ronald Isley
Ronald Isley is an American singer and is known as the lead singer and founding member of the family music group The Isley Brothers.-Career:...

, Lil Boosie
Lil Boosie
Torrence Hatch , better known by his stage name Lil Boosie, is an American rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Hatch was bestowed the nickname Boosie by his family, and he was raised in southside Baton Rouge...

, Webbie
Webbie
Webster Gradney, Jr. , who performs under the mononym Webbie, is an American rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was signed to the independent Trill Entertainment label from 2003 to 2005. In 2005 he came into the hip hop scene with "Gimme That" featuring Bun B...

, Too Short, Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...

, Sleepy Brown
Sleepy Brown
Patrick "Sleepy" Brown is an R&B singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is one-third of the successful Atlanta-based production team of Organized Noize, which has created hits for acts such as OutKast, Goodie Mob, and TLC...

, Big Gipp
Big Gipp
This article is about the American rapper. For the Notre Dame football player, see George Gipp. For the Iowa State Representative see Chuck Gipp.Big Gipp , is an American rapper from the South...

, Akon
Akon
Aliaune Damala Badara Thiam, better known as simply Akon , is a Senegalese American R&B recording artist and songwriter.According to Forbes, Akon grossed $21 million in 2010, $20 million in 2009 and $12 million in 2008. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of "Locked Up", the first...

 & Raheem DeVaughn
Raheem DeVaughn
Raheem DeVaughn is an American singer and songwriter. His debut album, The Love Experience , reached No. 46 on the Billboard 200 album chart. It featured the singles "Guess Who Loves You More" and "You". His second album Love Behind the Melody was released in January 2008...

.

Reception

Initial critical response to UGK 4 Life was positive. At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...

 rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received a score of 84, based on 9 reviews.

UGK 4 Life debuted at number 6 on the Billboard 200 selling 76,419 copies in its first week. As of 2011, it is their lowest selling album with 217,220 copies sold.

Track listing

  • (co.) denotes Co-Producer.


Sample credits
  • "Still on the Grind" contains samples of "Don't Mess With Mr. T" by Marvin Gaye
    Marvin Gaye
    Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....

    .
  • "Everybody Wanna Ball" contains samples of "Big Pimpin'
    Big Pimpin'
    "Big Pimpin" is the last 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....

    " by Jay-Z
    Jay-Z
    Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...

     and UGK
    UGK
    UGK was an American hip hop duo from Port Arthur, Texas formed in 1987 by the late Chad "Pimp C" Butler . He then joined with Bernard "Bun B" Freeman, who became his longtime partner...

    .
  • "Feelin' You" contains samples of "Feel That You're Feelin'" by Maze
    Maze (band)
    Maze a soul / quiet storm band, also known alternately as Maze featuring Frankie Beverly and Frankie Beverly and Maze, was established in San Francisco, California in the early 1970s.-Career:...

    .
  • "The Pimp & The Bun" contains samples of "Here We Go Again" by The Isley Brothers
    The Isley Brothers
    The Isley Brothers are a highly influential, successful and long-running American music group consisting of different line-ups of six brothers, and a brother-in-law, Chris Jasper...

    .
  • "Swishas & Erb" contains samples of "Peaches & Erb" by Society of Soul
    Society of Soul
    Society of Soul was a five-member R&B group with the members of Organized Noize, as well as Espraronza and Big Rube....

    .
  • "Purse Come First" contains samples of "Try Love Again" by The Natural Four
    The Natural Four
    -History:Formed in 1967, the Natural Four first signed with a local Oakland label, Boola Boola Records. The first 45 release was "I Thought you were mine" A side b/w "You Did This for Me". "I Thought you were mine" sold 30,000 locally as it was played on KDIA where it rose to #7 on the chart. "Why...

    .
  • "Harry Asshole" contains samples of "I Left It Wet For You" by UGK.

Personnel

Adapted from Allmusic.

  • Ruben Bailey: Composer
  • Keith Bardin: Photography
  • Steve Below: Composer, Producer
  • Frankie Beverly: Composer
  • Leslie Brathwaite: Mixing
  • Calvin Broadus: Composer
  • Patrick Brown : Composer
  • Bun B: Executive Producer
  • Chad Butler: Composer
  • Mike Dean: Mixing, Producer
  • Hal Fitzgerald: Engineer
  • Pam Francis: Photography
  • Mannie Fresh: Producer
  • Jeff Gilligan: Art Direction, Design
  • Cameron K-Oz Gipp: Composer
  • Michael Hawkins: Composer
  • Lee Hutson, Jr.: Composer
  • Ernie Isley: Composer
  • Marvin Isley: Composer
  • O'Kelly Isley: Composer

  • Ronald Isley: Composer
  • Rudolph Isley: Composer
  • Chris Jasper: Composer
  • Anzel "Intl Red" Jennings: A&R
  • Brandt Jones: Composer
  • Rick Marcel: Guitar
  • Clay Patrick McBride: Photography
  • Mike Mo: Engineer, Mixing
  • Corey Moore: Composer
  • Raymond "Yoda" Murray: Composer
  • J. Prince: Executive Producer
  • Ari Raskin: Engineer
  • Todd Shaw: Composer
  • Jeffrey Sledge: A&R
  • Premro Smith: Composer
  • Chris Soper: Engineer
  • Earl Stevens: Composer
  • Aliaune "Akon" Thiam: Composer
  • Giorgio Tuinfort: Composer, Producer
  • Rico Wade: Composer


Chart positions

Chart (2009) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

6
U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 2
U.S. Billboard Top Rap Albums 1
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