"Big Pimpin'" is the third and final single from rapper Jay-Z's fourth album Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter. Iconic Southern hip hop groupUGK is featured. Timbaland produced the song. "Big Pimpin'" was the most successful single from this album, as it reached #18 on the BillboardHot 100 and #1 on the Rhythmic Top 40 chart. In Rolling Stones updated 2010 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", the song ranked at #467. Despite the song's performance, Jay-Z later revealed he regretted the song's lyrics, claiming that, "Some become really profound when you see them in writing. Not "Big Pimpin." That's the exception. It was like, I can't believe I said that. And kept saying it. What kind of animal would say this sort of thing? Reading it is really harsh."
Controversy
Timbaland samples "Khosara Khosara", composed by Baligh Hamdi of Egypt in the mid-20th century and originally recorded by the famous Egyptian vocalist Abdel Halim Hafez. The sampled version of "Khosara Khosara" was arranged and performed by Hossam Ramzy, and can be heard on a CD compilation entitled, "The Best of Bellydance from Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey", an album that also contains another song that Timbaland sampled for the Petey Pablo track, "Raise Up". In 2007, the song sparked controversy when copyright co-owner Osama Ahmed Fahmy filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Federal Court, alleging that Timbaland illegally replayed portions of "Khosara Khosara" note-for-note. Jay-Z, Timbaland, Linkin Park and EMI Music Inc. were among the defendants named in the lawsuit.. The Linkin Park mash-up was entitled "Big Pimpin/Papercut". This latest lawsuit follows an August decision by a California judge to dismiss another lawsuit by Ahab Joseph Nafal, who claimed "Big Pimpin'" infringed the copyright on Khosara Khosara. Lawyers for EMI Records argued the 50-year-old track was governed by the 1909 Copyright Act, AllHipHop.com reports. On May 31, 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgement in favor of Jay-Z, et al.
Music video
The music video was shot in Trinidad during its Carnival and features Jay-Z and UGK on a music truck dispensing money into the crowd and partying on a lavish yacht. The last scenes at the beachfront mansion were shot in Miami Beach, Florida, on exclusive Golden Beach. The music video features cameo appearance from Too Short. It was directed by Hype Williams. The music video for Lonely Island's "I'm on a Boat" is largely a parody of this video.
