Big Pimpin'

Recorded in 1999 for Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter, with production by Timbaland and vocals from UGK. The track was recorded and mixed at Manhattan Center Studios in Midtown Manhattan and Sony Music Studios in New York City, with Jimmy Douglass and Chauncey Mahan handling engineering and mixing duties. Released in 2000, it became one of JAY-Z’s defining crossover singles and a major commercial driver for Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter. The song reached No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 20 weeks on the chart, while also drawing immediate attention for its interpolated Arabic sample and the controversy that followed. The song remained one of JAY-Z’s signature records, later earning recognition on Rolling Stone’s greatest-songs lists and continuing to resurface through the long-running sample-clearance litigation tied to its melody. Its beat and hook also became a durable touchstone for late-1990s and early-2000s mainstream rap.