''UGK 4 Life'' is the sixth and final studio album by American hip hop duo

UGK UGK (short for Underground Kingz) was an American hip hop duo from Port Arthur, Texas, formed in 1987, by Chad "Pimp C" Butler and Bernard "Bun B" Freeman. They released their first major-label album, ''Too Hard to Swallow'', in 1992, followe ...

. The album was released on March 31, 2009, by Jive Records. This is also the first posthumous album for

Pimp C Chad Lamont Butler (December 29, 1973 – December 4, 2007), better known by his stage name Pimp C, was an American rapper and record producer. He was best known for his work with Bun B as one half of the hip-hop duo Underground Kingz (UGK). S ...

Background

On December 4, 2007,

was found dead in his California hotel room. In March 2008, Bun B confirmed the final studio album would be dedicated to the late Pimp C.

Recording

The first single " Da Game Been Good to Me" 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

. 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 Byron Otto Thomas (born March 20, 1969), better known by his stage name Mannie Fresh, is an American music producer and rapper. He's best known for his productions on Cash Money Records releases, as well being half of the hip hop duo (alongside ...

Akon Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (; born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of " Locked Up" (featuring Styles P) ...

, Cory Mo, Steve Below and DJ B-Do. Collaborators include

Ronald Isley Ronald Isley (; born May 21, 1941) is an American recording artist, songwriter, record producer, and occasional actor. Isley is the lead singer and founding member of the family music group The Isley Brothers. Early life Born in 1941 to Sally ...

Lil Boosie Torence Ivy Hatch (born November 14, 1982), better known by his stage name Boosie BadAzz or simply Boosie (formerly Lil Boosie), is an American rapper. Hatch began rapping in the 1990s as a member of the hip hop collective Concentration Camp, ev ...

Webbie Webster Gradney, Jr. (born September 6, 1985) who performs under the mononym Webbie, is an American rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He's been signed to the independent Trill Entertainment label since 2003. In 2005 he came into the hip hop ...

, Killa Kyleon,

Slim Thug Stayve Jerome Thomas (born September 8, 1980), better known by his stage name Slim Thug, is an American rapper. He initially gained mainstream attention for his contribution to the hit single by rapper Mike Jones, " Still Tippin'". In July 2005, ...

Too Short Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by the stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper and record producer. He became famous in the West Coast hip hop scene in the late 1980s, with lyrics often based on ...

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

Sleepy Brown Patrick Leroy "Sleepy" Brown (born January 24, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Savannah, Georgia. He is one-third of the successful Atlanta-based production team of Organized Noize, which has created hits for act ...

, Big Gipp,

& Raheem DeVaughn.

Reception

Upon release, ''UGK 4 Life'' received critical acclaim. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received a score of 84, based on 11 reviews indicating universal acclaim.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 6 on the ''Billboard'' 200 selling 76,419 copies in its first week.

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 Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

. * "Everybody Wanna Ball" contains samples of "

Big Pimpin' "Big Pimpin'" is a song by American rapper Jay-Z. It was released on April 11, 2000 as the third and final single from his fourth studio album '' Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter'' (1999). It features a guest appearance from Southern hip hop ...

" by

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

and

. * "Feelin' You" contains samples of "Feel That You're Feelin'" by Maze. * "The Pimp & The Bun" contains samples of "Here We Go Again" by

The Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decade ...

. * "Swishas & Erb" contains samples of "Peaches & Erb" by

Society of Soul Society of Soul was a five-member R&B group that consisted of the members of Organized Noize (Sleepy Brown, Rico Wade and Ray Murray) as well as Espraronza and Big Rube Ruben Bailey (born September 27, 1969, Atlanta, Georgia), professionally ...

. * "Purse Come First" contains samples of "Try Love Again" by

The Natural Four The Natural Four was an American R&B group from Oakland, California that played from 1967-1976. History Formed in 1967, the Natural Four approached Fred Ivey about becoming their manager. Ivey owned a local record store called Tape Town and eve ...

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

and alludes lyrics from "Let Me See It" by

Personnel

Adapted from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. * 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

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ugk 4 Life Jive Records albums UGK albums Albums produced by Akon Albums produced by Mannie Fresh Albums produced by Mike Dean (record producer) 2009 albums Albums published posthumously