Bernard “Bun B” Freeman was whipping by way of Los Angeles site visitors to make his LAX flight after a whirlwind journey from his house in Houston, Texas. The UGK legend had vowed to slot in as many enterprise conferences and lunches as doable previous to celebrating his spouse Queenie’s birthday in Turks and Caicos. Simply days earlier, Bun traveled to New York Metropolis to unveil his newest collaborative undertaking with producer Statik Selektah, TrillStatik 2, earlier than bouncing again to Houston to announce his first Trill Burgers brick-and-mortar restaurant. Cross-country treks have grow to be the norm for the buzzing entrepreneur and famed Southern lyricist. Because the pandemic restrictions have lifted, he’s been again on the street, selling his Trill Burgers enterprise and doing tv.
At 49, Bun B has grown accustomed to fixed change. Since launching UGK within the late ’80s/early ’90s, he’s been navigating the rise to rap infamy and its inevitable pitfalls with the main focus of a educated sniper. Subsequently, he’s nonetheless right here to speak about all of it these years later. His UGK partner-in-rhyme, Chad “Pimp C” Butler, wasn’t so fortunate. In 2007, he was discovered lifeless of a suspected drug overdose in a West Hollywood resort room. A coroner later attributed his dying to a mix of codeine and promethazine (generally referred to “purple drank” or “lean”) and a pre-existing situation of sleep apnea. Whereas Bun B was pressured to proceed his profession with out Pimp C, he carries his legacy prefer it’s his faith. In December 2022, Bun B and Pimp C’s widow, Chinara Butler, honored the late rap luminary with a tenth anniversary celebration of UGK Day, an occasion designed to offer public well being sources to the Port Arthur, Texas group.
“That’s at all times been part of honoring Pimp C,” Bun B explains to Excessive Instances. “His spouse within the very early years of him passing away was doing plenty of work in that space. And each time she would honor Pimp C, she wished to ensure that well being sources had been obtainable locally. And I do know that was one thing they wished to do as part of UGK Day in Port Arthur [their hometown] as effectively, particularly coming from a group the place we come from the place we all know everybody doesn’t have correct medical insurance. We all know everybody doesn’t have a balanced food regimen, and we all know there’s plenty of fried meals that individuals eat and issues like that. So we need to ensure that folks not less than have entry.
“All of us collectively sacrifice for the larger good of all. However everybody can be nonetheless answerable for their private well being, too. As I grow old, I understand how far more accountable I ought to have been and will have been. And figuring out that sort of stuff now, you’re nearly obligated to do higher at this level.”
That consciousness has translated to Bun B taking higher care of himself, too. The day of the interview, the information that fellow hip-hop artist Grand Daddy I.U. had handed away hit social media. It was yet one more sobering reminder of our fragility.
“These are my contemporaries, give or take three, 4 years,” Bun B says, audibly bothered by the revelation. “And all of us lived related life, I might think about. And I’m certain we didn’t foresee how foreboding it may have been to be partaking in some of these items. And now that we see folks our age we all know dying from issues like that, it’s like, ’Effectively, rattling, if he had a nasty coronary heart, what do I’ve?’ That sort of a factor.
“That is simply part of getting older—not getting outdated essentially however simply getting older. As you progress into completely different elements of life, you understand, ‘Hey man, I can’t …’ You bought to attempt to not fall down since you don’t bounce again up as shortly as you used to. You’ve acquired to maintain your self. And it’s at all times good to be very self conscious. The one means you understand how to be absolutely conscious is to consistently get checkups and hold entering into for these yearly checkups. And when you’re on drugs, take your drugs and simply do the whole lot you’re purported to do. As a result of I imply, what’s the choice? In some unspecified time in the future, all of us acquired to develop up.”
Whereas marijuana continues to be unlawful on the federal stage, the usage of medicinal marijuana is on the rise and 21 states have legalized hashish for adults. Subsequently, Bun B (who began smoking at 16 years outdated) finds it preposterous to give up now. He does have one problem although—everybody needs to get him excessive.
“I spent plenty of years smoking weed when it was unlawful in most locations, and it was not cool,” he says with amusing. “Again then, it was a giant counterculture. So now that weed is accepted in most trendy societies and it’s obtainable legally in additional locations than it has ever been in America, why surrender on weed now? However I’ve to watch out after I go to sure locations. Whenever you go to New York, you’re bombarded with weed. Once I go to Washington, D.C., I’m bombarded with weed. And after I go to Illinois, similar factor. I imply, God forbid I’m going to San Francisco! There’s no means these folks may count on me to smoke all of the weed that they’re attempting to present me. That’s insane. However I do my greatest. I attempt to not allow them to down.”
The TrillStatik 2 album listening get together was an ideal instance. VIP friends had been greeted on the door with a blunt, courtesy of one of many many blunt rollers on web site. The Astor Membership donated a half pound of RS-11 to the trigger, whereas Puffco hosted a giveaway and Trichadelics and Stress Labz handed out complimentary globs. After all, Bun B had all of the weed he may deal with.
He additionally continues to battle for legalization in Texas, one thing he’s been vocal about for years. Whereas the victory has but to be received, there have been indicators of progress. Just lately, residents in Denton, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin, and Harker Heights accepted poll measures that sought to ban arrests and citations for carrying lower than 4 ounces of marijuana normally. In addition they accepted new guidelines blocking cities from funding THC focus checks and plan to take away marijuana scent as a possible trigger for search and seizure. Now, they only should persuade metropolis officers—not a straightforward job.
Within the meantime, Bun B is trying ahead to LL Cool J’s Rock The Bells Cruise. He discovered success final summer time on the inaugural Rock The Bells Pageant together with his Trill Mealz Meals Courtroom, which boasted culinary creations from Nas, E-40, Jadakiss, Types P, Ghostface Killah, Mia X and, after all, Bun B’s Trill Burgers. He’s hoping to take the idea to the open seas.
“I believe that’s what we’re speaking about,” he says. “I’ve already signed on to carry Trill Burgers to the cruise, so Trill Burgers will certainly be there. With it being Rock The Bells, we’d positively wish to current the Trill Mealz Meals Courtroom once more. And we couldn’t consider a greater place to have that obtainable for folks than on this cruise. We’re going to be speaking to completely different distributors and, clearly, there’s so many alternative folks in that area that we wished to get for the primary meals court docket that we simply merely couldn’t coordinate in time. So hopefully with us having a lot lead up time into this, we are able to attempt to get on folks’s calendars earlier. We simply should manifest it.”
This text was initially Up to date within the March 2023 problem of Excessive Instances Journal.