Pimp C (33), aka Chad Butler, and one half of the rap duo UGK, was found dead in a hotel room this morning. L.A. County Fire responded to a 911 call at the Mondrian Hotel, located on Sunset Strip in Hollywood. They arrived to his sixth floor hotel room to find him dead in bed.

UGK is best known for appearing on the Jay-Z track "Big Pimpin’" in 2000, and more recently with Outkast on the song "International Player’s Anthem (I Choose You)." Pimp C had just performed with fellow rapper Too Short at the "House of Blues" in L.A. on Saturday night.

UGK, which also includes Bun B, is a successful rap group from the Southern U.S. especially during the early to mid 1990’s and also made prominent guest appearances on hit singles by Jay-Z ("Big Pimpin’", 2000) and Three 6 Mafia ("Sippin’ On Some Sizzurp", 2000) and was to work with Celly Cel, C-Bo, Spice 1 and Devin the Dude on a couple of projects. He is the co-owner of Trill Entertainment along with bandmate Bun B.

On January 28, 2002 Pimp C was sentenced to eight years in prison for failing to complete a community service requirement stemming from an aggravated assault charge. Pimp C released his debut solo album, The Sweet James Jones Stories, in March 2005 through Rap-A-Lot Records. Bun B and Rap-a-Lot records have waged a ’Free Pimp C’ movement, spread through music, Free Pimp C tee shirts and caps.

Pimp C was released on Friday, December 30, 2005 from the Terrell Prison Unit in Rosharon, Texas after serving about half of his eight-year sentence. He will be on parole until December of 2009.