Bun B

An imposing if beloved presence in hip-hop since the early '90s, Bun B is a Southern rap icon known for no-nonsense rhymes delivered with steely precision. Beside fellow Port Arthur, Texas native Pimp C, he rose to fame with UGK, who issued a string of Top 20 albums including the gold-certified Ridin' Dirty (1996) and the chart-topping Underground Kingz (2007), home to the duo's Grammy-nominated collaboration with OutKast, "International Players Anthem (I Choose You)." In the midst of UGK's hot streak, Bun B made his solo debut with Trill (2005), a Top Ten hit he followed with the equally successful II Trill (2008) and Trill O.G. (2010). Trill O.G.: The Epilogue (2013), and Return of the Trill (2018) maintained the MC's commercial visibility during the rise of a younger generation raised on his earlier recordings. Subsequent projects Mo Trill, TrillStatik, and TrillStatik 2 (2019-2022) have seen him work in tandem with producers Cory Mo and Statik Selektah.

Bun B (born Bernard Freeman) and Pimp C formed UGK in the late '80s when their former crew, Four Black Ministers, fell apart. UGK signed with Jive, and with 1992's Too Hard to Swallow began a series of Southern gangsta rap albums that were successful sellers. Bun B formed the side project Mddl Fngz in 2000, but his main concern was still UGK. Things came to halt in 2003 when Pimp C was sentenced to eight years in prison on an aggravated gun assault charge. Bun B carried on solo, making numerous appearances on other artists' tracks and then in 2005 releasing both the mixtape Legends and his debut album, the Rap-a-Lot release Trill, a Top Ten hit that was later certified gold. With Pimp C seeing early release in late 2005, Bun B returned to UGK. In 2007, the pair put out their chart-topping Underground Kingz, which included the hit single "International Players Anthem (I Choose You)" with OutKast. Pimp C's accidental death in December 2007 left Bun B to return to a solo career.

Bun's second solo album, II Trill, arrived in May 2008. It became his highest-charting effort to that point, rising to number two on the Billboard 200 and simultaneously topping the R&B/hip-hop, rap, and independent charts. His follow-up, 2010's Trill O.G., fared almost as well, peaking at number four on the Billboard 200. A fourth installment of the Trill series, Trill O.G.: The Epilogue, arrived in 2013 and featured guests Big K.R.I.T., Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Raekwon, and more, as well as posthumous Pimp C appearances on "Cake" and "Don't Play with Me."

After several years during which he recorded occasional guest verses -- he was more deeply involved in endeavors such as lecturing at Rice University -- Bun B released Return of the Trill in 2018. Featuring production assistance from Big K.R.I.T. and El-P (whose Run the Jewels appeared on "Myself"), Return also included appearances by T.I., Lil Wayne, Leon Bridges, and Gary Clark, Jr. He quickly followed with TrillStatik, on which he teamed with producer Statik Selektah and involved the likes of Method Man, Fat Joe, and Westside Gunn. Bun dealt two similarly collaborative LPs in 2022. First was Mo Trill, made with Cory Mo and led by the rolling maturation anthem "Hesitate" with Talib Kweli, David Banner, and Tobe Nwigwe. TrillStatik 2, the making of which was streamed live from the headquarters of Sweet Chick restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, was out months later. K.R.I.T., Paul Wall, and Boldy James and were among the guest contributors. The next year, Bun opened a brick-and-mortar location of his formerly pop-up-only Trill Burgers restaurant in Houston. ~ Neil Z. Yeung & Andy Kellman, Rovi