Paul Wall

An esteemed figure in Texas hip-hop, Paul Wall is known most for his equally affable and boastful rhymes delivered with a thick drawl best suited for the syrupy rhythms he favors. Also a DJ who fell under the spell of the pioneering DJ Screw, Wall came up with Houston's Swishahouse label, recording in tandem with Chamillionaire. Wall made local and regional moves before reaching a larger audience through Mike Jones' "Still Tippin'," a platinum hit that set him up for crossover solo success with The Peoples Champ (2005), a Billboard 200-topping release. Wall kept rolling with a featured role on Nelly's "Grillz" -- a number one pop hit nominated for a Grammy, it was good for Wall's custom mouthpiece business -- and Top Ten follow-up album Get Money, Stay True (2007). After a couple more albums with Swishahouse, Wall went independent and for the most part has stuck with street music tailored for leisurely drives and hedonistic parties. He has likewise remained prolific with a combination of over two dozen subsequent solo albums, duo albums, mixtapes, and EPs. Among Wall's frequent collaborators is Termanology, with whom he made Start 2 Finish (2022) and Start Finish Repeat (2023).

Born Paul Slayton, Paul Wall grew up as a hardcore disciple of fellow Houstonian DJ Screw and became so familiar with the pioneering DJ's woozy, slowed-down style of remixing that he had to adjust to hearing hip-hop at any other tempo. Wall started rapping and DJ'ing in the late '90s. Before his nationwide breakthrough, he was involved with promotional street teams, spun records at parties, put together underground mixtapes, and was half of the Color Changin' Click with Chamillionaire. He recorded 2002's Get Ya Mind Correct with Chamillionaire and then followed that with the 2004 solo effort Chick Magnet, his first album. Later in 2004, Mike Jones released a version of "Still Tippin" -- featuring Wall and Slim Thug -- that would reach number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually go platinum. During its ascent, Controversy Sells, another disc billed to Wall and Chamillionaire, hit the streets and set up the September 2005 release of Wall's Atlantic-distributed second album, The Peoples Champ. Appropriately titled, the album went to number one on the Billboard 200 and featured a pair of gold singles with "Sittin' Sideways" and the Top 40 crossover hit "Girl." It was around the same time that Wall was featured on another big single, Nelly's number one pop hit "Grillz," a track also nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.

Get Money, Stay True, Wall's 2007 follow-up, became the rapper's second Top Ten album upon release that April. Similar to the debut in its uncomplicated approach, it included the charting singles "Break 'Em Off" (featuring Lil' Keke) and "I'm Throwed" (featuring Jermaine Dupri), along with "Drive Slow," which originally appeared on Kanye West's The College Dropout. Wall would release two more solo albums for Swishahouse. Fast Life appeared in May 2009 and entered the Billboard 200 at number 15. While it served up plenty of party tracks, it also revealed another side of Wall with the introspective "Daddy Wasn't Home." Just over a year later, Wall was back with the number 58 chart entry Heart of a Champion, half of which was produced by blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. Having set up Paul Wall Music, Wall eased into label independence in 2013 with #Checkseason, and over the next three years continued to churn out solo albums on an annual basis. The Po-Up Poet, a collaboration with producer June "The Jenius" James, was trailed by Slab God, boasting appearances from Snoop Dogg and Devin the Dude, and the Houston Oiler, including featured spots from well-known locals like Z-Ro, Slim Thug, and, naturally, Chamillionaire. The 2018 release Bounce Backs Over Setbacks was Wall's final studio album of the 2010s, a decade in which he also recorded co-billed projects with the likes of Baby Bash and Statik Selektah and further supplemented with a handful of additional mixtapes.

The rapper entered the 2020s as a bona fide Houston hip-hop veteran and continued his prolific release rate. Mind Over Matter and Subculture, Wall's 11th and 12th solo studio albums, both landed in 2020, as did Slab Talk, co-billed to Lil' Keke. Solo album 13, Hall of Fame Hustler, was out the next year. In 2022, Wall teamed with Termanology for Start 2 Finish and with Bash for the third volume of their mixtape series The Legalizers. Wall linked again with Termanology for Start Finish Repeat, released in 2023. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi