UGK (Underground Kingz) - Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You) (Director's Cut) ft. Outkast

2007

UGK (Underground Kingz) - Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You) (Director's Cut) ft. Outkast (2007) Director: Bryan Barber Era: Southern Hip-Hop Golden Age (2007) - The peak commercial and cultural moment of Southern rap's mainstream crossover, defined by cinematic narrative videos, inter-regional supergroup collaborations, and a resurgent Houston/Atlanta axis. Exceptionally high. This is widely regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop music videos ever produced and holds unique archival significance as the final video appearance of Pimp C. The Director's Cut version provides additional narrative and cultural material beyond the broadcast edit, making it a priority acquisition for any comprehensive Southern hip-hop or music video archive. Its intersection of cinematic narrative direction, supergroup collaboration, Southern cultural identity, and tragic biographical context places it firmly in Tier 1. Context: Released in summer 2007, this video arrived at the apex of Southern hip-hop's commercial dominance. UGK's collaboration with Outkast united two of the South's most distinctive creative lineages, Houston's street-level lyricism and Atlanta's avant-garde theatricality, in a single, cinematic event. The wedding narrative format transformed a 'player's anthem' into a culturally complex text about commitment, temptation, and community spectacle. The video's ensemble of Southern rap luminaries functions as a generational roll call. Tragically, it stands as the final filmed appearance of Pimp C, lending the video profound elegiac weight in retrospect. Its BET Hip Hop Awards recognition and the well-documented moment in which Kanye West redirected his own award to UGK further cemented the video's status as a cultural touchstone of the era. Director notes: Directed by Bryan Barber; the video premiered on MTV Jams on June 4, 2007, two days before the single's official release date of June 6, 2007. The Director's Cut (the version annotated here, running ~325s) expands the standard broadcast edit, allowing fuller comedic and narrative development of the wedding-day storyline. The video was shot in Los Angeles on or around May 16, 2007. Director of photography: Christopher Probst. Editor: Bill Yukich. The video was nominated for Best Video at the 2007 BET Hip Hop Awards, where it ultimately won Best Collaboration. This was the final music video appearance of UGK member Pimp C (Chad Butler), who died on December 4, 2007.