Twenty years after the release of his breakout album, The People’s Champ, Paul Wall has graduated to ambassador of the great city of Houston. For the past two decades, the former Swishahouse rapper has pushed H-Town’s diamond-grill wearing, slab-riding, 44 tippin’ culture, and he’s shown no signs of abandoning his campaign. Most recently, Paul linked up with Oakland, Calif., producer DJ.Fresh for the album The Tonite Show, the latest edition to Fresh’s collab project series. Paul and Fresh sit down with XXL for Talk It Up, powered by DistroKid, for an exclusive interview to talk about their new project and hip-hop.
DJ.Fresh Invites Paul Wall to Join The Tonite Show
DJ.Fresh started his The Tonite Show series in 2004, and has done joint projects with a cornucopia of artists like Freddie Gibbs, Curren$y, Raekwon, Trae Tha Truth and more. After producing several tracks for Paul’s previous albums, Once Upon a Grind (2024) and The Great Wall (2023), the two decided to lock in on a joint release.
“I love DJ.Fresh,” Paul says of their working relationship. “He just brings life into the tracks. When he sends me the beats, they speak to you. It’s like he’s transmitting a frequency from another universe.”
DJ.Fresh recorded the entire 13-song album on analog tape and recorded Paul’s vocals on SSL as well as used real musicians to intensify production. It shows on the cohesive project of Southern adult contemporary hip-hop. In 2020, Fresh learned music theory. Five years later, he’s in the top 10 percent of keyboardists in the industry.
Paul Wall and DJ.Fresh Have Been Putting in Work
Fresh has been putting in work in hip-hop since he was 9 years old. “I have a saying: The long way is a short cut,” he says. “It just means this is something we plan to do until we can’t do it no more. It’s a process. We not rushing it. We just trusting it. The more you do work for it, the more it will work for you.”
The rapper plans on doing this until he’s 80. “It’s amazing that you’re not boxed in where you have to do this, you have to sound like this and when you’re this age, you can’t do it anymore,” Paul adds. “I really appreciate that there’s so many different paths and avenues and so many different branches of the hip-hop tree. Not only are the branches strong, the leaves are strong, the fruit that comes from them are strong, and there’s a lot people down there ready to eat the food.”
Drake and 50 Cent Love Houston
Both in and out of music, Paul is a respected figure in Houston, a city that has become a place where some huge rappers who hail from other states are now calling home. A-list celebrities like 50 Cent and Drake have recently bought local residences and been spotted around town.
“We love it. Houston has not typically been known as a city where celebrities would come move to outside of Texas,” Paul Wall shares. “I grew up in an era when people thought Texas was nothing but horses and cows. For there to be major celebrities, icons that are showing love to Houston, moving to Houston, hell yeah, I love it.”
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In addition to their new project, which can be heard below, Paul and Fresh discuss what’s next, taking The Tonite Show on the road, the recording process, Drake and 50 Cent living in Houston, car culture and more in the video. Check it out.