*It’s true that, as a Senior Lead Writer For SoulTracks and a lifelong R&B fan, that it’s my typical genre of choice and what I cover/listen to the most, but I still love hip-hop and have had the privilege of meeting and conversing with a few of my faves, one of them was Paul Wall. His manager led me around on a wild goose chase that day and didn’t seem to know where to meet him, when to get there, etc, so I was pretty worn out by the time we hooked up, but when I did finally meet him, Paul was so warm and friendly that all was forgiven (Oh—-and did I tell you I misplaced my recorder, and basically had to write down every single word he said as he spoke? NEVER want to do that again.). He’s one of the coolest and kindest performers in the game and he OBVIOUSLY loves the sisters, stay up Paul Wall!*

Tall, tattooed and decked out in bling, Paul Wall saunters into 97.9 The Beat’s conference room. With a broad smile displaying his iced-out grill, the rapper offers a firm handshake and eases into the sofa before dropping a bombshell: Creating the follow-up to his 2005 smash, The People’s Champ, nearly left him down for the count.
“I didn’t want to rap anymore,” he admits, a nudge of fatigue creeping into his voice. “I kinda lost my love for it.”

And to the 27-year-old Houston native, “it” refers to the grind of the rap hustle. About five years ago, long before his Southern drawl made cameos on “Still Tippin” (with fellow Houstonian Mike Jones), “Grillz” (with Nelly) and laced his first national solo hit, “Sittin’ Sideways,” he was known as Paul Slayton. He was a fervent follower of the late DJ Screw (famous for pioneering the “chopped and screwed” style of hip-hop) who spun at parties while working with local promoters and perfecting his own rapping technique.

Mr. Slayton, along with TeRay “PKT” Green and his childhood friend, Hakeem Seriki – now known as Chamillionaire – first delivered hip-hop with a gospel twist as the Sleepwalkers. A chance meeting with Michael “5000” Watts, a well-known mix-tape DJ, led to a freestyle verse being added to one of his mix tapes and a deal with Mr. Watts’ Swishahouse label. Ultimately, since the label offered more exposure than money for the duo, they left for Paid In Full Records and became the Color Changin’ Click, where, after several other mix tapes, their debut album, 2002’s Get Ya Mind Correct, sold more than 100,000 copies.

Before completing work on the follow-up, they began to clash personally and professionally, so after the completion of 2005’s Controversy Sells, Chamillionaire went independent once again, and Paul Wall made his way back to Swishahouse as a solo artist. When Swishahouse and Asylum Records partnered with Atlantic and released The People’s Champ, a star was born. After years of struggling under the radar, Paul Wall certainly welcomed the success but was soon overwhelmed by the energy it took to shine at the national level.

“Champ started to feel like a 9-to-5, more promotion and nonstop work than about the music. I just became worn down,” he says. “I live in Houston, and I missed being able to drive to San Antonio and Dallas. These days, I’m flying all over, and I’m in every city for just one night, hitting radio stations, clubs and TV stations. I can’t kick it anymore for three or four days at a time.”

So when he entered the studio to make his new CD, Get Money, Stay True, it just wasn’t the same.
“In the first segment of recording, I was saying practically anything that rhymed, no message or meaning behind the lyrics. I mean, it sounded all right, but there was a mental block, and I just wasn’t feeling it. That’s when my boy T. Farris sat me down one day and gave me a pep talk, telling me, ‘This isn’t the same Paul Wall people fell in love with.’ ”

Enter Lil’ Keke, another Houston heavyweight and a member of the Screwed Up Click, a collective made up of Houston rappers.
“Lil’ Keke came in on it with me, someone who I always looked up to and admired, then it turned into us in the studio having fun again,” he says with a grin. “It was the turning point of the album. It created a different vibe, like hanging out with friends as opposed to hanging out with co-workers. The headaches went away, I got my motivation back and fell back in love with the music.”

Judging from Money’s first singles (the bottom-heavy, screw-influenced “Break Em’ Off” with Lil’ Keke and the catchy, club-ready “I’m Throwed” featuring Jermaine Dupri) and the star-studded list of collaborators (Snoop Dogg, Jon B, Juelz Santana and Dallas’ own E-Cla$$, to name a few), the “Ice Man” has definitely gotten his groove back. He even looks forward to recording with former nemesis Chamillionaire someday.
“Our falling out happened so long ago,” he says with a dismissive shrug. “When we do record together again, it’ll be for a whole album, not only one song. It’s just a matter of getting the time.”

Paul Wall knows better than most that the constant evolution of hip-hop won’t make staying on top a cakewalk, with sales down for the genre overall from just a few years ago. He considers it a temporary setback, not unlike the one he just rebounded from.

“What people think of as traditional hip-hop isn’t selling as well right now because people in the music business use a formula, which is to spend a bunch of money on promotion or on videos, and they think that it will make the records sell. All you really gotta do is make good music and promote it; the record labels just need to do their job better. Hip-hop is the No. 1 global influence. Every other form of entertainment these days is all influenced by hip-hop. It ain’t going anywhere.”

Just like him – the people’s champ.