Paul Wall: Fast Money

It’s a new year but Paul Wall still rocks his platinum and princess cut studded grills which gleam when he smiles. The Houston rapper is still sitting sideways and still considers himself the people’s champ.   Now two albums deep, the artist born Paul Slayton is looking at readying the release of his third and […]

It’s a new year but Paul Wall still

rocks his platinum and princess cut studded grills which gleam when he smiles.

The Houston rapper is still sitting sideways and still considers himself the

people’s champ.

 

Now two albums deep, the artist born

Paul Slayton is looking at readying the release of his third and oft-pushed

back album Fast Life with an early

2009 release. Riding high since his mainstream inception People’s Champ in 2005, the Swishahouse

diplomat was instrumental in bringing Houston to the forefront of Hip-Hop and

the Billboard charts.

 

Yet amidst his latest return to

music, his extracurricular resume reads more like an ex-reality show celebrity

trying to hold onto his 15 seconds than a relaxed star-studded rap veteran. There

are talks of an autobiography written with the help of Internet king of drunken

sex chronicles Tucker Max, the connection with Travis Barker and Skinhead Rob

which launched a mixtape and plans to also present a

clothing line. Nevertheless, Paul Wall still plans to stand by his music, first

and foremost.

 

 

AllHipHop.com: What has been

going on with Paul Wall since Get Money,

Stay True dropped in ’07?

 

Paul

Wall:

I’ve really just been touring so much, and we’ve been hitting a lot of cities

like crazy man. I’ve also been preparing this new album Fast Life which should be released [March

24, 2009]. I have just been real busy with that recording the singles and

getting the promotion together for it. I’m just doing me, I’m on the grind all

day, you feel me?

 Bizzy Body – Paul Wall Feat. Webbie and Mouse

AllHipHop.com: What are your

feelings about the reception Get Money, Stay True got and the finished project?

 

Paul

Wall:

I was very pleased with the reception Get

Money, Stay True

got. I loved that album; I think it really showed growth

from People’s Champ. The beats on

there were crazy and it showed a lot of versatility. We put a lot into the

production especially on Get Money, Stay

True. That was the kind of joint you listen to while you’re posted up in

the parking lot. That’s the album for me, that brought everything together man.

It brought everything full circle.

 

AllHipHop.com: With that album,

you stuck to a formula and kept with things pretty gutter and glossy where your

first album was a bit more on the personal side like an intro into the game.

Will your next album be similar to either of them? What can we expect from it?

 

Paul

Wall:

Yeah true, the first album was a lot more personal and stuff. And this next

album will definitely be a mix of both of the first and the second, taking the

best of those two on this new one. We’ve worked hard on this one and made some

real dope music. I have joints with my man Lil’ Keke,

another one with Yung Joc and Gorilla Zoe, and I did

a some stuff with Travis Barker from Blink 182 and Skinhead Rob, plus I have

the single with Akon [“Girl On Fire”].Girl On Fire – Paul Wall Ft. Akon

 

AllHipHop.com: Has being a

family man changed you at all? And more importantly will it change the music at

all? Do you plan on embracing marriage in your future lyrics?

 

Paul

Wall:

I’m still the same old dude, the same old Paul Wall, baby. The only difference

now is that I got to put that bread on the table. I have more responsibility

now and have to provide for them back at home. Yet and still I have to keep

making the music my fans want to and expect from me.

 

AllHipHop.com: You have

definitely been instrumental in putting Houston cats on like Lil’ Keke more recently…

 

Paul

Wall:

Well Lil KeKe was actually one of the cats I looked

up to around the way. Lil KeKe has been in the game

for a minute back when he was in Screwed Up Click. I just achieved mainstream

success before he did, be he was definitely one of the people responsible for

me getting in the game. He really put me under his wing and taught me a lot. It just happen that I have had all this success.

 

But now I’m able to go back and scoop

cats up like him and give them some exposure into the mainstream. There are a

lot of talented cats coming out of Houston and if I can help them out that makes

me and Houston blow up even bigger.

 Not A Stain On Me (Remix) – Big Tuck Ft. Paul Wall, Trae, & Slim Thug

AllHipHop.com: More recently,

you got people like Weezy going back and forth

wearing the grills on and off, where some are just taking them off all

together. Have grills sales slumped recently, or do you feel like less people are

rocking them now them? Do you think grills will fizzle out like a fad someday?

 

Paul

Wall:

The grills are still going good man. But you know they’ve been around for a

long time before I even got involved and started rocking them. They’re

definitely still in high demand. I don’t think they’re a phase at all; they

have been around for a long time. It’s like some people rock shades, when they

go out clubbing. I don’t think they’re going anywhere, anytime soon. It’s just

like rocking bling around your neck.

 

AllHipHop.com: What does Paul

Wall have to write about in an autobiography? What about Tucker Max and his

writing style made you want to choose him to write it?

 

Paul

Wall:

I was checking out the work, he did an autobiography of a good friend of mines,

Jamie Kennedy. How the book was so real and it was really funny, so I just knew

I had to have him on mine. As far as the book, I’m talking about real life

situations in there. I don’t want to give everything away. So you’ll have to

get it and find out.

 

AllHipHop.com: With all these

side hustles and different projects you’re dabbling in, do you think it will be

hard to make music your first priority?

 

Paul Wall: I mean honestly,

it’s not. Music is not my first priority anymore; I’m doing so many different

things. Music has always been fun for me, so I’ll always make time for it as

long as I can. But when you put all the time and work into it, I’ve found that

it isn’t as much fun anymore. Honestly, I have a lot of things going on and

that’s the way I like it. I can’t stay tied down to one hustle.