HOUSTON -- Funeral arrangements for Houston rapper Pimp C have been announced, KPRC Local 2 reported Monday.

Pimp C, one-half of the veteran Houston rap group UGK, was found dead in the Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles on Tuesday. He was 33.

Pimp C, born Chad Butler, will be remembered at a memorial service at the Port Arthur Civic Center at 11 a.m. Thursday. He will be buried in a private service in Groves, Texas.

Butler, and his partner, Bernard "Bun B" Freeman, were pioneers of Southern rap, and hit the mainstream with their cameo on Jay-Z's smash "Big Pimpin'." Though they never enjoyed the pop-chart success of some other rappers, their 1996 CD "Ridin' Dirty" is considered a rap classic, and their laid-back sound, complete with gangsta tales of creeping through humid streets gripping wood-grain steering wheels, was influential in shaping the Southern rap movement.