15 questions with Fat Pimp
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By CRAIG KAPITAN
Eagle Staff Writer
It started as a joke of sorts. Texas Southern Universit...
By CRAIG KAPITAN
Eagle Staff Writer
It started as a joke of sorts. Texas Southern University student Christopher Murdaugh -- known by his stage name, Fat Pimp -- needed an act for the talent show he hosted each year at the Houston school.
A Dallas native trying to make his way in Houston's vibrant rap scene, he came up with Rack Daddy -- a song initially intended to tease Dallas for its flashy club scene. He didn't expect it to be performed outside the talent show, and certainly not for it to catch on like it has.
But no one is laughing these days. The song -- in which Murdaugh's only instructions are to "throw your shoulders out" and "do the rack daddy" -- has spawned multiple YouTube videos featuring fans dancing to the catchy beat. And it has become a staple of Houston and Dallas radio programing.
Fat Pimp also has caught the attention of the national scene, having garnered a contract with Warner Bros. after Rack Daddy and his follow-up, I'm Getting Money, began climbing the Billboard charts.
Rack Daddy peaked at No. 2 on the magazine's Bubbling Under R&B/Hip Hop Singles chart this spring while it reached No. 77 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop chart (it's currently No. 84). Meanwhile, I'm Getting Money debuted at No. 12 in February on the Bubbling Under Chart and reached No. 63 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop chart. MySpace featured him as the Web site's artist of the week.
Not bad for someone who has yet to release a full-length album.
On Saturday, he will make his first appearance in Bryan during a performance at Grahams Club. He spoke with Spotlight recently.
1. So, do I call you Chris? Fat? Mr. Pimp?
You can call me Fat. That's what everybody calls me.
2. How'd you get your name?
In high school I had a female friend, and we used to always freestyle in class. It's crazy, because the only thing I rapped about in high school was girls. So it was kind of like a joke -- she was just like, "Do you think you're a fat pimp or something?" And everybody kind of laughed about it. But at lunch time I remember this kid came up to me and he called me Fat Pimp, and everybody was like, "Yeah, that's his name, there." It's crazy because even people from high school still remember that day.
It's always been a cool nickname. Even my grandmother, before she passed, called me Fat Pimp. It really just turned into a household name.
Everybody called me Fat, so when they added the Pimp, it was just so funny and catchy at the same time. One thing about it, it's a distinct name.
3. You identify yourself as a Dallas rapper but spent a lot of time working your way up through the ranks in Houston. Is there much difference between the scenes?
It's a major, major, major difference.
It's like, you know, Houston is a lot more laid-back and Dallas is more -- what's the word? It's more about showing off, you know what I'm saying? We like a lot of attention in Dallas, man.
Dallas is more about swag. We're really big on our appearance and basically just being the life of the party. So I guess you could say we're more upbeat versus over in Houston.
4. What was it like having more of a Dallas sound in Houston?
I'll be honest with you. At first it was hard, but it also gave me leverage because ... it was a different sound so they were never tired of it. They never had somebody else who sounded like that before, so it kind of helped me out in the long run.
Houston used to be the type of area where people didn't embrace you from out of town. But now they're starting to open doors for everybody else, and that's a good thing for the next person to come around.
5. Is there going to be a full-length album out anytime soon?
Actually, I'm working on three projects at one time. Right now I'm working on my full-length album. We've got it set up to come out on Warner Bros., but we've got some other record labels on the table that are trying to sign me, too, because we have little issues. But so far we're projecting to get it done by the end of the year.
The thing about it is Warner Bros. really wants to push it but right now they've got us so far back on the priority [list]. We're really trying to get this movement going out here. The good thing about Warner Bros. is they're real reasonable, so hopefully we can get them to push it. That's all I want. But worst-case scenario, they might not.
6. It seems like you just shot up out of nowhere with Rack Daddy. How did you get to this point on your own, without a label?
To be honest with you, I was going through a down period down here at school. School wasn't going too good and, man, I just threw myself in my dorm room for about two months straight. Just did nothing but produce beats every day.
What ended up happening was one of the guys I rap with, my brother, he's pretty good at writing. He actually came up with some ideas. And once he came up with an idea, I saw that was going to be my formula: To produce the beat, give it to him and let him come up with a concept for it. So that's what we did.
[That was] about two years ago, when we started to get serious. Then a year and a half ago I pressed up a little promo CD with five songs on there.
We've had three of them get on the [radio] stations, two of them made the Billboard, and one of them [Lollipop] is just picking up now in the clubs. It's been a long journey, you know what I'm saying, but I think it's well worth it now. We've been working hard.
7. What was it like for you the first time you started hearing your stuff in the clubs?
I've always been in the club scene. I used to MC parties. I'm a DJ. The club scene didn't really hit me. What hit me was when it hit the radio. Like, just to be in my car and out of nowhere it comes on the radio -- that's what really hit me, man.
It was last summer [when it first hit the radio]. They had spun Rack Daddy one time in Dallas and that one time sparked it. So I guess it just got played at the right time, when a lot of people heard it and people started asking about it. But it still didn't take off in Dallas. The I'm Getting Money single is the one that took off in Dallas first. That one took off in the clubs and pretty much toward the end of the year is when it hit the radio. Once it hit the radio, man, it was bananas.
Houston picked up on Rack Daddy right around the same time, so it was kind of crazy. Nobody'd ever really seen that before from an independent artist -- to have two songs on the radio in two major markets hit the Billboard chart's top 100. That ain't really heard of.
8. Did you have enough of your promo CDs [released on Ball Hard Enterainment, a label started with a friend] to sell at that point?
To be honest with you, man, the way we actually did it was wrong. We had gave away so many promotional CDs. We didn't really think that the first bit of music that was going to come out professionally done was going to be the ones that was going to actually blow up, but it did. It's overwhelming, man.
9. You think the demand's going to still be pretty strong by the time you get your full-length album out?
I think so. Now we're getting a lot of calls for features. I'm getting a lot of artists out of Texas and Louisiana who are actually calling for production. I think it's going to go kind of hand-in-hand, you know what I'm saying? I feel like if one isn't picking up, the other one will. I think that's going to play a part in my record deals. I feel like I have a total package, and I really feel like the sound I have with my music is different. It has a little bit of Louisiana mixed in with a little bit of Atlanta.
10. Tell me how you came up with Rack Daddy ...
Actually, it's a club in Dallas. It's a pool hall, but on certain nights they turn it into a club. The thing about Dallas, it's crazy because there's a lot, a lot, a lot of dancing that goes on in the city. But nobody ever gives it any kind of name. We thought it was funny at first. We just called it the Rack Daddy because that's the club it was in.
I actually did the song just for a talent show. Every year TSU has a talent show in the spring that I always host. I kind of performed it at the talent show just as a joke, but people actually started to ask about it, and we went ahead and recorded the song. We didn't even have a song done. We just had the beat that I made, and we had the hook. That was it. Once people started getting familiarized with that beat, the demand became high for us to go ahead and do a song.
11. So you're kind of making fun of the dance scene?
Yeah, it was crazy because we were just doing it just to have something to do at the talent show. Once I did it, people started asking, "Can I get a copy of the song?" and I'm like, "What song?" It was real good luck, man. Real good luck.
12. Are there going to be any more new singles off the upcoming album?
Yeah, I've got a new song called Check Me Out. I've got another song called Swag. [The version of Swag on MySpace] is just the rough version. That's just giving my fans something. A lot of people were saying they wanted some new music. What I'm trying to do now is communicate with more and more of my fans over the Internet.
13. Has life changed for you much since getting all this attention?
It's a good and negative. You get a lot of attention. That feels good. People start to act like they really care about you and treat you better. But on the negative end, man, you lose a lot of friends. You lose a lot of personal space. You're not free to do everything like you used to. You've got to just watch your every move.
A lot of people are jealous and envious of you. But to be honest, that's what you signed up for at the end of the day and that's what you wanted to do, so I don't really complain about it too much. A lot of people would love to be in my shoes right now. I'm real thankful I've got it like this.
14. Are you still attending school at Texas Southern?
Actually, I withdrew last semester. I'm actually at school right now getting re-enrolled so I can finish out this last year. I should be out this time next year.
I've got a good manager, and he stays on top of me and makes sure we stick to schedule.
15. Anything else you want to say to fans?
Just let everybody know that if they want to get in contact with me, e-mail me on my MySpace. If they want those shows, hit me up. I'm a real humble dude -- willing to work with anybody, so just reach out to me.
Fat Pimp gets signed to Warner Bros
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More proof that the Dallas hip-hop scene could be on the verge of a blow-up: Fat Pimp just got a rec...More proof that the Dallas hip-hop scene could be on the verge of a blow-up: Fat Pimp just got a record deal with Warner Bros.
The 24-year-old Fat Pimp, born Christopher Murdaugh, who made news a few months ago when his song "I'm Gettin' Money" made the Billboard charts, is currently blowing up the charts again. This week, his song "Rack Daddy," which again features his brother Jodean, but also includes another performer, Big Roddy, is sitting at No. 79 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
And just try listening to K104 without hearing the song.
You can't. I've tried.
Still, it's a catchy little number, and Murdaugh says he wrote it while hanging out in the parking lot of a Rack Daddy's billiard hall after hitting up the clubs one night.
"It started out as a joke," Murdaugh says over his cellphone from Houston, where he's a student at Texas Southern University. "I saw all these people dancing, and I just figured I'd write a song about it. In Dallas, we don't really name our dances."
When I point out that, thanks to him and fellow rising local stars Lil Wil and Lil Shine, this just isn't the case any more, Murdaugh laughs. "Right," he says. "'cause that's where the money is."
Murdaugh says his debut full-length on Warner Bros. should be released sometime around the beginning of July. But, before then, he's "got a lot of stuff to re-do because Warners wants to make me to be the first star to break out of Dallas."
When I again point to Lil Wil, this time to say that he might disagree, Murdaugh laughs again.
"Yeah," he says. "But that's my boy. It's competition, but it's good for the city." --Pete Freedman
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