In his first full interview since the death of Pimp C, his partner in legendary hip-hop group UGK, Bun B speaks in depth to MTV about Pimp's passion for music, his influences, and their recent Grammy nomination. Check out this especially insightful excerpt:

MTV: Pimp was recently in the news for some outspoken comments he made about Atlanta not really being "the South," and some unflattering comments about his peers. But instead of these comments painting him in a negative light, in ways they humanized him as a real person, not just a rapper.

Bun B: He was passionate. He wanted to be as honest with people as he could — almost to a fault, you know? And it's just ... it's kind of hard to really put a lot of that into words, the kind of man he was. But everything he loved — everyone he loved — he loved hard and embraced it fully. He was very passionate if he felt a certain way about things; he couldn't hold it in, he couldn't filter himself, he couldn't be politically correct. It just wasn't in him to not say what he felt. Whether he felt he was right or wrong at the time, he spoke from his heart.

He said a lot of things over the years to a lot of different people about a lot of subjects. And at the end of the day, even if you didn't agree with him, you have to give him credit and respect the fact he was willing to stand by what he said. So many people can be wishy-washy about statements and what they do, and very few give a damn about anything anymore. You know what I'm saying? And he really cared about everything and everyone, and just wanted everyone to be their best. He wanted rap to be the best. He wanted Southern hip-hop to be the best. He wanted everyone involved to be the best. He never looked down on anybody. He never made anybody feel small. He tried to uplift, especially. Sometimes that honesty can come across the wrong way, and sometimes it can be taken the wrong way, and sometimes people don't want to hear it. And that's why, even though if I [didn't agree with] how he felt, I couldn't tell him to not speak from his heart. There's a lot of things that we didn't agree on. There's a lot of opinions I had on things that he didn't agree on, but he was down with me. It was documented he didn't want to do [the Jay-Z collaboration] "Big Pimpin'," but he rolled with me on that. And that's just the relationship we had. That's just the kind of person that he was. He didn't know how to love a little; he didn't know how to care a little.

CLICK HERE to read MTV's full interview with Bun B.

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