Paul Wall and Termanology released their second joint album, Start To Finish Repeat, on November 3, a continuation of the unexpected chemistry they displayed on 2022’s Start To Finish. During a recent interview with SPIN, the duo spoke about the making of the album, the respect they have for Bun B (who appears numerous times throughout the project) and the initial shock people felt when they first teamed up. After all, Wall is a Houston rap legend while Term hails from the East Coast and has a penchant for boom bap beats—not the chopped and screwed style so prevalent in the South.
At one point during the conversation, Wall opened up about his relationship with former collaborative partner Chamillionaire. In 2002, they joined forces for the album Get Ya Mind Correct, which went on to sell more than 150,000 copies. But their relationship went awry just two years later when Wall and his entourage allegedly attacked Chamillionaire’s younger brother, Rasaq Seriki. Although they ultimately squashed their beef in 2010, they had a little help behind the scenes from people who refused to let it escalate—namely E-40 and the late Pimp C.
“I remember Pimp C and E-40, both of them being the only two people in the world that would come to me and come to him and say, ‘Y’all trippin’. There’s way too much money out there,'” Wall explained. “The opportunity is here now and y’all guys grew up together. You guys need to figure that s### out. Don’t put that s### on wax. Keep it to yourself. Keep it player.’ They both told us that. When Pimp C got out of jail, that was the first thing he said: “What’s up with you and Chamillionaire.” I’d tell him something, and he’d be like, “You’re trippin’. I told him the same thing: ‘Y’all’s beef is over.'”
Wall confirmed Pimp C was “absolutely” instrumental in not letting it get out of control. He added, “And E-40 as well. He was one of our first mentors who was there for me and Chamillionaire at early, early stages. Bun B was the other one, but Bun B stayed out of it, though. Pimp C went out of his way to tell us we were trippin’. E-40 went out of his way too and gave us a list of all the rappers and rap groups throughout the years that broke up and got back together, and nobody gave a f### about them. The momentum was gone. He was like, “Is this going to be you or what?”
Wall said he and Chamillionaire are “cool” now and not dissing each other publicly helped repair their fractured friendship, one they’d had since they were little kids.
“When me and Chamillionaire went our separate ways, neither one of us really mentioned each other,” Wall said. “He had his beef with Mike Jones on wax, where they had a rap beef on wax, and I wasn’t really included in that. Neither one of them mentioned my name really or brought me into it, so I didn’t get in it. But even before that, when me and him were having our issues, we always tried to understand each other. I think it was just an unspoken rule.
“We grew up with each other. I’ve known him since I was five years old. We kept our personal thing private. We didn’t put it out publicly. We both understood that fans got a kick out of us having a beef, even though they’re a fan of both of us. It’s like wrestling where you want to see the fight because it’s entertainment to you. But we’re real people, and we had real issues with each other. It wasn’t a joke to us, so we didn’t buy into that when people were trying to rile us up to diss each other. We both kept it private, and I’m really glad that we did. Because when you look at us as a history of MCs, there’s not on wax me talking about him and him talking about me.”
Paul Wall and Termanology have plans for a third collaborative album, although they haven’t announced a release date for the project quite yet.
“The first album we did was such a shock to people,” Wall said. “We felt like we made dope music. We wanted to let our fans know that it was out and let hip-hop fans know that it was out. It was kind of an experiment. So when the fans really took to it, it encouraged us to do it again. We’re already working on the third one.”
Until then, check out Start Finish Repeat above and watch the video for the Statik Selektah-produced single, “Wall Paper (No Chit Chat)” below.
