Bio
Kingpin Skinny Pimp Is a Memphis Rap Pioneer. TikTok Is Helping Him Go Global
It’s been a good few months for Kingpin Skinny Pimp, a Memphis rap pioneer who has never earned the same widespread recognition of other hometown heroes like Three 6 Mafia and 8ball & MJG.
Last fall, a snippet of his voice from the classic Nineties track “Lookin’ for da Chewin'” — the exclamation, “aw, not the thermometer!” — enjoyed a viral moment on TikTok, soundtracking more than a million fleet-footed dance videos.
Not long after the rise of the #NotTheThermometer challenge, Kingpin Skinny Pimp also learned that his music was a key component in hits originating many thousands of miles from Memphis. Russian producers were going viral with a gnashing, low-to-the-ground sound called phonk which relied heavily on samples of vintage Memphis rap tapes, and Kingpin Skinny Pimp heard his work repurposed in Lxst Century’s gleaming “Odium” — which has walloped its way to more than 22 million streams on Spotify alone — and Kaito Shoma’s “Scary Garry,” a spooky cut with nearly 24 million Spotify streams.
Kingpin Skinny Pimp contributed to Three 6 Mafia’s landmark debut album, Mystic Stylez; DJ Paul and Juicy J helped produce King of da Playaz Ball, Kingpin Skinny Pimp’s solo debut the following year. (This featured another version of “Lookin for da Chewin.'”) But while Three 6 Mafia eventually earned national recognition, Kingpin Skinny Pimp remained a regional star, churning out albums and producing a young Yo Gotti back when he went by Lil Yo. “All the Memphis people used to buy my stuff because they knew I was one of the hardest artists,” Kingpin Skinny Pimp boasts. But he acknowledges that “others had more connections than me to major distribution.”
Kingpin Skinny Pimp is brimming with plans: He’s at work on a movie and providing advice on the music industry to his son and daughter, who record as ATM RichBaby and Gimisum Dee respectively. But most of all, he’s also eager to continue fanning the phonk flames — a collaboration with the artist Phonk Walker, “Old Genesis,” came out in May, and he promises to “do a lot of music with the Russian kids.”
GIMISUM DEE
CEO/GIMISUM FAMILY MEMBER
Mixtape release : Oct 31st
