Rapper Bun B knows a thing or two about health and the effects of not taking care of yourself. Born Bernard Freeman, the now solo artist was once one-half of the platinum-selling southern rap duo UGK with his late partner Pimp C.
The duo penned such his as the "Int'l Players Anthem" and the unforgettable verses on Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'".
Pimp C passed away in 2007 as a result of the combination of a sleep apnea condition and the ingestion of a codeine-based cough syrup. At the time, UGK was at a commercial peak and two days later they received their first Grammy nomination. The death hit the hip hop community suddenly, which is why he and Chinara Butler, Pimp C's widow, collaborated to form the Annual Chad ‘Pimp C’ Butler Hip Hop, Health & Wellness Festival.
When speaking about the event, Bun B announced, “It’s a great opportunity to know about yourself. Find out about your body, get yourself tested and find out about the vision of my brother and his wife."
The festival includes a number of activities and attractions including a UGK/Pimp C memorabilia exhibit, HIV/STD testing, immunizations, a Wii video console raffle and an art submission contest. All of the proceeds from the festival go to the Butler Scholarship Fund which was launched by Chinara.
A number of organizations have signed up to help Bun B and Butler put on the festival including the CCM foundation, which partners with hip hop musicians to increase STI/HIV awareness, and Houston’s S.E.A C, which promotes syphilis awareness.
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The talented rapper also has a new hustle on the side: creating viral cooking tutorials for YouTube.
A video series titled “Trill Meals,” features Bun B and his family creating savory dishes like oxtail with cabbage and cornbread and oven fried chicken with rice and beans, all while he provides running commentary on how to make the meal that’s both practical and humorous. During the minute-long videos, he also provides special tips to viewers.
As far out as it sounds, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the Texas rapper is doing cooking videos, seeing that he’s long been a foodie. He even launched a food-oriented website back in 2013 called You Gotta Eat This, an online community where users can share reviews and pictures of food that they’ve enjoyed. He hopes that both the website and Trill Meals will encourage his followers to see food as more than just sustenance, but a way to relate to one another.
Bun B also doesn't just talk a good game about health, he lives it, too. "I treated my voice — well, not just my voice but my body — terribly for years," confesses Bun-B. "I smoked cigarettes, drank a lot of hard liquor. Luckily my voice — I didn't lose my voice but I got kind of close to losing the, I guess, the force behind it. Like, I was starting to do a little damage to my stomach lining as well as my lung capacity, so I just had to kind of back off a little bit and realize, like, 'Look, if you were a quarterback, you wouldn't treat your throwing arm this way, you know, so don't treat your voice this way.'"
"Spending more time around, as I got older in my career, spending more time around singers — people who take their voices very, very seriously; They don't eat certain foods, you know, it's a whole process as to why — like Michael Jackson I think is a great example. As bad as he might have treated his body, I don't think anyone treated their voice better than a Michael Jackson or a Mariah Carey — they're people who their whole life is based around making sure that no matter what else gets damaged, the voice is intact.
When asked what's next, Bun shared that he's still touring not only the country, but the world and is working on new music.
"I’m in a new direction and place in life, I think that’s going to reflect heavily in the music that I’m making. Not in the sense that I’m gonna make music that won’t connect with people that I have before. But I think for people that have been following me and supporters of my music for the last 25 years, I’m probably in a different place than 25 years ago. So I want to make sure that I’m still leading those people in the right direction in this part of life."
Visit the BlackDoctor.org Sleep Disorders center for more articles.
