 Paul Wall is set to release "Get Money Stay True" and sat down with Down-South.com to discuss it: "The album is star studded from top to bottom, start to finish." Paul Wall and he also talks about his beef with Chamillionaire: "I aint got no problem with him....But I know if someone come to me and say that they believe in us and think we can be a group and make good music together then I'm down to do it. And I'm sure he probably down to do it too." Read about what he thinks about other rappers grills & The White Rapper show.
Interview by: Will Hustle
Down-South: What it do?
Paul Wall: What it do baby
Down-South: Let me know what's going on. You got a new album coming out. Who all do you got on this new album?
Paul Wall: It's called Get Money Stay True, coming out April 3rd. I got Trina, Juelz Santana. I got Jon B, got my boy Lil keke of course. I got E-Class and Young Redd holding it down. The album is gonna be off tha chain and we also got a first look at my new group Expensive Taste. Me, Skinhead Rob and Travis Barker. Be on there holding it down. Jermaine Dupri is on there too. The album is star studded from top to bottom, start to finish. Production wise my boy Mr. Lee did bout 10-11 songs. T Farris did a few tracks, also Drama Boy, Addict, KLC and Jermaine Dupri and Travis Barker on the production to.
Down-South: That's a super group right there! How did ya'll come together?
Paul Wall: Travis Barker and Skinhead Rob had another group with another guy called The Transplants and they were signed to Atlantic Records where I'm signed. We just met up at the office one day and we just bonded and just became cool. They came to Houston a few times on The Warped Tour, we got to kickin it and hanging out. The Transplants ended up breaking up as a group . Then one time me and my boy Skinhead Rob got to talking and decided why don't we start a group or somethin. Cause we were cool with each other, we all fans of each others music and we just got three different styles. We just came together and Travis did his thang, Rob did his thang, I did my thang and next thing you know we got 30-35 songs wrapped in the can, recorded just all outta fun. We havin fun. Over the course of a couple of years, we got alot of songs together. It's incredible, we got a whole lot of good music, we got different kinds of styles and It's all Hip Hop to the fullest. Travis Barker did the production and then Skinhead Rob you know of course is Hip Hop too but he got his own style. Then you got me. But we all clicked together. We like pieces of a puzzle coming together.
Down-South: That "Blood Diamond" movie, I watched that the other day and I was wondering after coming back from seeing that, what's your opinion on the whole ice movement in hip hop and did it affect your rhymes. Are you still gonna be rapping about ice as much?
Paul Wall: Well for me, jewelry, I want it whenever I succeed as a symbol of success. I want jewelry, I want a grill, I want a piece and chain, I want a watch, earrings... you know whatever. I love jewelry to the fullest. But at the same time people take it to far. I see sometimes people at the grocery store with 10-11 chains on, watches, grill. I'm just like damn, you aint gotta be iced out at the grocery store. I put my jewelry on when I'm going out to a party or going out to have a good time. You don't got to wear the jewelry to sleep. Some people just take it to far. Going over to Sierra Leone was an eye-opening experience. I saw how people lived over there and how people were taken advantage of. The poverty level was wow, amazing. I was just embarrassed to not know anything about it. I aint never heard or seen anything about it then Kanye West got the song about Sierra Leone, so we went over there to go experience it for about a week. And seeing everybody over there get taken advantage of and not knowing that they are. It was just sad to see that. But when we came back it put everything into perspective, like a reality check and let me know what's really important to me. And of course I love the jewelry, the cars, the houses, but my family come first. My wife and my little boy. But I'm always gonna be into jewelry.
Down-South: What do you think about the whole grill movement? Who you think got the livest grill? I know you done seen them all.
Paul Wall: Nelly always show alot of trends with tha grill. I've made alot of them for him but he fucks with a lot of different jewelers around the world. So everytime I see him with a new grill whether it be made from me, my boy Johnny Dang, or whomever, Nelly always got a new trend going on. My boy Fat Joe got the Puerto Rican flag, my boy Chingo Bling got the Mexican flag. Chingo the one who started it off with the flags. Now everyone want one with they flag representing where they heritage is from. T.I. had the rose gold grill, which is still the most expensive grill I've ever made, $30,000. So every time I see someone with a new grill it just inspires me to come up with a new idea for someone. I wanted to do a grill for The Game in all rose gold with three red rubies cause he always flossin the red. And Snoop, I wanted to do a blue one for him but I already did that one with Nelly. But it's somethin I really wanted to do for Snoop so he also got one with yellow gold and yellow diamonds for the Lakers. I'm always comin up with ideas for people so when I let them know, they just run with it and before you know it, they startin a new trend.
Down-South: So what did you think about the whole white rapper show?
Paul Wall: It was a straight up history lesson. Comin from Texas you know we got a whole different history for hip hop. Our history start off with DJ Screw, Rap-A-Lot, that's our history. Just to see the whole entire hip hop history start in the Bronx with everyone just chillin and partying. Then next thing you know, it's history is amazing. Them fools on the show were blessed to go to the back yard. I been to the Bronx but to actually be in the back yard were it all started with Kool Herc and them. I would love to go there one day. I would love to have a chance to meet all the pioneers that are now inducted into the hip hop hall of fame. I'm not a New York hip hop expert, I'm a down south hip hop expert so I would love to get to know where it all began.
Down-South: What did you think about the talent? What did it do for the white rapper?
Paul Wall: I think it definitely segregated hip hop because if you make it as "oh you a white rapper, you a black rapper, you a Hispanic rapper, you a Puerto Rican rapper, that limits you. But if you look at it as just "I'm a rapper" or just a musician then that's different. But I just feel like the people on the show actually just put themselves in a box, they are now known as the white rapper even though I happen to be white, I don't want to be known as a white rapper. I want to be known as a dope rapper, off tha chain, throwed rapper who just make good music.
Down-South: Ever since Pimp C spoke about you and Chamillionaire speakin on the “Knockin Doors Down” remix, everybody wanna see that album, Paul Wall & Chamillionaire. It's gonna be a classic, It would make millions! What would it take to get you and Chamillionaire to do another album?
Paul Wall: I'm down to do it. I aint got no problem with him. I saw him down there at the Grammy's and gave him a hug and told him congratulations. I was happy for that boy he won the Grammy. I was real real happy for him. Congratulations to him, much success to him, god bless him. But I'm down to do it. For me, it's alot of record labels out there that see the money they could make and they looking at it like that for the wrong reasons. If we could find an A&R or a record label that believes in us as a group, they feel like we could really make good music together again, someone who really believes in us then I'm down to do it. But if it's just a record label trying to play on the gimmick that we used to have beef, now let's do a record together type shit - than I aint wit it.
Down-South: I would love to see ya'll back together again. That album would be a classic. But fuck that gimmick shit.
Paul Wall: See and I aint with it. I even had my label Atlantic come to me and ask for me and Chamillionaire to do a song together just to play off that we had beef, I aint with that gimmick thang. Now if they was comin at me like "I think we need to get Chamillionaire on a track. He's a throwed rapper, a throwed lyricist, he come up with some great hooks and we think ya'll mash good together. We want ya'll to do a song together" Then that would be a whole different story. I'd probably try to get him up on my album. They don't come at me like that though. They come to me and say we need to use this gimmick and hype it up, the fact that ya'll had beef, to get him on my album. And see I aint with that and I know it's probably the same with him and I know he aint with that gimmick neither. But I know if someone come to me and say that they believe in us and think we can be a group and make good music together then I'm down to do it. And I'm sure he probably down to do it too.
Down-South: So the beef is officially squashed, that's old shit. So that's official?
Paul Wall: I aint go no problem with him, or anybody. I aint got no problem with nobody man, god bless 'em all.
 
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