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The Camp is Here
Thursday
September 1, 2005
He laces Lil Jon with grills, lays down lyrics with Kanye West, has a show on Slim Shady’s Sirius radio station, remixes T.I. and rolls with the South’s coolest click, SwishaHouse. We catch up with hip hop’s hottest, and busiest newcomer, Paul Wall.
by Matt Sonzala
It’s about $25,000 worth,” shrugs Paul Wall of the gleaming grill that shines from between his lips. For a part-time dentist, rocking iced-out enamels is no biggie. Alongside business partner Johnny Deng, Wall has fixed up fronts for everyone from Lil Jon to Mike Jones. But he’s not in RWD cos he’s good at drilling fillings. Getting his industry hustle on as a promoter for labels like Cash Money back in the ‘90s, Wall officially became a rhymer in 2002 when he and former friend Chamillionaire released Get Ya Mind Correct, a record that sold over 100,000 copies independently.
Born Paul Slayton – “Wall rhymes good with Paul, so it just stuck” - 24 years ago in Houston, Texas, it’s thanks to a spotlight-stealing verse on Mike Jones’ smash Still Tippin’ that has catapulted Wall into hip hop headlines. Signed to H-Town’s SwishaHouse, which also boasts Jones and Slim Thug, the heat on Wall was so intense that Lyor Cohen himself snapped up the Southern spitter to Atlantic Records. Despite being signed to the major, Wall is staying loyal to his old crew. “I wouldn’t be shit without Michael Watts, G. Dash and T. Farris,” he says of the House head-honchos. “I wouldn’t be nowhere near the artist I am today as far as publicity and exposure, so I give SwishaHouse 100% of my credit.” The same can’t be said for Mike Jones, who has since stopped shouting out Swisha. “I support Mike and what he do, but I really have no idea what’s going on,” admits Wall. “I don’t know why he don’t say SwishaHouse anymore.”
Regardless of his reasons, it’s Jones and Wall who have helped Houston become a force to be reckoned with once more in recent years. “Houston is dead smack in the middle of the country and we been living in our own little world down here for so long,” he explains. “We didn’t get any media attention, but we was getting money so that was cool with us. Now we’re trying to introduce our sound to the rest of the world.”
That sound includes the sizzurp-sipping screw music, invented by the now-deceased DJ Screw and chopping and screwing, which is basically slowing down a song’s sounds (check out Roll Deep’s chopped and screwed In At The Deep End to get an idea.) Thick dripped beats, slo-mo basslines and lyrics primarily concerned with rims, rides and raw women are on the menu, and right now a lot of people are wanting to eat. Wall charges anything from $5,000 - $15,000 to chop and screw an album and has recently C&S’d T.I. and Lil Flip to great acclaim.
Not only a rhymer, remixer and teeth fixer, Wall is one of the few features on Kanye West’s forthcoming album and appears on Eminem’s Sirius Radio as a regular presenter. How on earth did he get his grind on so hard? “My whole career from start to finish, I’ve just been in a lot of good situations, I’ve been blessed,” he laughs, in his thick Southern twang. “But I’m still climbing the ladder. Even if everything ends today I can honestly look back and say ‘Damn I had one hell of a career.’ I’m just blessed to be where I’m at.”
With tracks like Sittin Sideways and current street-heater I Got The Internet Goin’ Nuts getting heavy rotation in the US , it appears Wall’s career is on the ascent. Forthcoming album, The People’s Champ featuring Lil Wayne, T.I. and Freeway should ensure Wall will be a winner. So why the title? “I just always keep it 100% real and I never treat people like shit. Whoever you are, whatever you do, I’m a show you love. I think actions speak louder than words above all,” he concludes. “I don’t talk about it, I be about it as best I can. I’m Paul Wall.”