In Sweet Jones: Pimp C’s Trill Life Story written by editor and publisher of OZONE Magazine Julia Beverly, there’s a chapter that reveals an interesting tidbit about Pimp C’s beef with Jeezy. Turns out it was the inspiration for his unrecorded verse for Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.”
One Reddit user decided to share the excerpt Thursday and as expected it spread like wildfire. For those of you who haven’t gotten to chapter 53 in Sweet Jones, warning: this is a spoiler. The context of this verse comes from an old radio interview where Pimp took shots at Southern rappers for their lack of substance and emphasis of drugs, money, and hoes in their music. Although he didn’t specifically name names, his “Atlanta ain’t the South” comment felt like it was directed towards Jeezy, who Pimp didn’t have a great relationship with, but Bun B did.
During the time when tensions were high between the two parties, Kanye reached out about a verse for a remix to “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” Coincidentally, it also featured his labelmate Jeezy. The verse went like this:
"I'm on this track like white on rice
Mr. Potato Head tryin' to make me Christ
I'm sorry, Atlanta; Georgia really is the South
But too many boys got them thangs in they mouth
I ain't talkin good grillz, mane
I'm talkin' bout that Angus beef with that big ol' vein
Gipp say they look like Sisqo
The Chocolate City is the new San Francisco
[...] This is for the busters and the suckers
And the fake drug dealers and the internet cluckers
Need to stop lying to the kids, for real
Ain't have no Benz until you signed your first record deal
Pimp also redid the chorus, too:
Naaah naa na naaah
Bitch I been had my money right
I'm Rap-A-Lot in this mafia life
Excuse me, do you really wanna go to war?
Say something I'll leave your brains on your mini bar
I think they bluffin' and they frontin'
I'm Pimp C, you can't tell me nothin!"
According to Beverly, this version of “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” was never released, and the official remix only ended up featuring Jeezy. When Kanye asked him to redo the verse, Pimp C said, "I done vowed I'm not gonna drop that shit, because Kanye told me that the song is a prayer. I'm finna go back and [re-do it] and treat it as such, and treat it with respect, like I'm talking to the Lord. I'm not gonna invite no man to suck my dick on no muthafuckin' song... when I'm supposed to be praying. So I’m gonna go clean that up.” If Pimp ended up doing a cleaner version of his verse, it was never released.
If you want read more about Pimp's controversial comments towards Jeezy, Sweet Jones is available here.
