Lance Scott Walker - Houston Rap Tapes: An Oral History of Bayou City Hip-Hop

I remember my baby hair with my dookie braids

Frenchys, Boudin in the parking lot

Shout-out to Willie D

I was in that Willie D video when I was about 14

Lookin crazy

Shout-out to Pimp C

You know we used to sneak and listen to that UGK

Didnt do your girl, but your sister was alright, damn

In ya homeboys Caddy last night man, haha

Hold up, Texas trill

H-town going down, man

BEYONC, Bow Down/I Been On (2013)

HOUSTON RAP TAPES

NEW EDITION

An Oral History of Bayou City Hip-Hop

LANCE SCOTT WALKER

FOREWORD BY WILLIE D

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS

AUSTIN

Copyright 2018 by Lance Scott Walker

All rights reserved

First edition, 2018

Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to:

Permissions

University of Texas Press

P.O. Box 7819

Austin, TX 78713-7819

utpress.utexas.edu/rp-form

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Walker, Lance Scott, 1973- author. | Dennis, William James, 1966- writer of foreword.

Title: Houston rap tapes : an oral history of Bayou City hip-hop / Lance Scott Walker ; foreword by Willie D.

Description: New edition. | Austin : University of Texas Press, 2018.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018008702ISBN 978-1-4773-1717-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)ISBN 978-1-4773-1792-1 (library e-book)ISBN 978-1-4773-1793-8 (non-library e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Rap musiciansTexasHoustonInterviews. | Rap (Music)TexasHoustonHistory and criticism.

Classification: LCC ML3531 .W36 2018 | DDC 782.421649097641411dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018008702

doi:10.7560/317174

Bow Down

Words and Music by BEYONCE KNOWLES and CHAUNCEY ALEXANDER HOLLIS

Copyright 2013 WB MUSIC CORP., OAKLAND 13 MUSIC and U CANT TEACH BEIN THE SHHH, INC.

All Rights on behalf of Itself and OAKLAND 13 MUSIC Administered by WB MUSIC CORP.

All Rights Reserved

Used by Permission of ALFRED MUSIC

Bow Down (I Been On)

Words and Music by Chauncey A. Hollis and Beyonce Knowles

Copyright 2013 SONGS OF UNIVERSAL, INC., U CANT TEACH BEIN THE SHHH, INC. and BEYONC KNOWLES PUBLISHING DESIGNEE

All Rights for U CANT TEACH BEIN THE SHHH, INC. Controlled and Administered by SONGS OF UNIVERSAL, INC.

All Rights Reserved Used by Permission

Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard LLC

Contents

Willie D

Lance Scott Walker

Foreword

WILLIE D

I cant stand writers, reporters, and so-called journalists who stick microphones in the face of people and dont know what theyre talking about. That happens a lot in hip-hop, the whore of the music industry. Because its so easy to get inpun intendedmany newcomers go for instant gratification. They would rather rape the game to get paid than to get to know it intimately and fall in love.

Fortunately for hip-hop enthusiasts and those interested in a unique narrative on H-town culture, authors Lance Scott Walker and Peter Beste arent hip-hop rapists. They are homegrown Texans and passionate nurturers of the art, seeking to feed the urban spirit of the biggest city in the South to our hungry bellies with this opalescent collection of interviews conducted between 2005 and 2017 with numerous members of the Houston rap community. To read Al-B of the pioneering battle rap group Royal Flush recount early battle rap stories at the Rhinestone Wrangler nightclub alone is worth buying two books; one to have on hand and one as a replacement tucked away in a safe or wherever you hide your valuables. Because trust me, like a fool walking out of the bank with a moneybag, you will get jacked.

When I performed in Helsinki, Finland in 2007, I had no idea that DJ Screw was so popular there and that K-Rino was selling out clubs in the UK. Thanks to the easy accessibility of the internet, many artists from Houston who may not have enjoyed mainstream success are now seeping into the consciousness of hardcore rap fans.

Whats beautiful about Rap Tapes is that the authors speak to everyone the same way. Whether they sold one million records or one, homage is given. Its important that the writers of hip-hop history reserve a space to document Scarface, Z-Ro, and Bun B among the best to ever do it. It is equally important to magnify the talents and contributions of their predecessors Romeo Poet, Raheem, and Ricky Royal, which is thankfully achieved.

The topics in Rap Tapes are as diverse and incendiary as the individuals who tell them. Readers are taken on a virtual ride through some of Houstons toughest neighborhoods like Fifth Ward, Third Ward, South Park, and the Southside. Issues of gentrification, crime, healthcare, drugs, and more are discussed in detail, no sugarcoating.

Houston Rap Tapes flows more like a bunch of fellows who havent seen each other for ages, hanging out on the block reminiscing, rather than a calculated literary guide to Houstons history. Although the latter will get you a book deal, it is the firsthand knowledge shared by those who lived the stories and their own unique worldviews that will connect the book to an audience beyond Houstons city limits.

Poet Jos Saramago said, Human vocabulary is still not capable and probably never will be of knowing, recognizing, and communicating everything that can be humanly experienced and felt. I agree, but in relation to much of the indiscreet answers and information from H-Towns rap community, Houston Rap Tapes brings us vicariously close.

For those who need convincing past this introduction, allow me to leave you with the immortal words of the homie Pimp C, Yall shoulda listened to Andre, bitch, we got somethin to say!

Preface

LANCE SCOTT WALKER

In the process of compiling Houston Rap, the photo and oral history book to which this serves as companion, we had to leave a lot out. In fact, most of the material that photographer Peter Beste and I began gathering in 2004 and 2005 didnt make the cut. Peter shot thousands more photos than we could ever include, and I had to boil hour-long interviews down to a paragraph or just a few lines. The length of those quotes preserves the context for the most part, but nothing compares to the full text of the conversations.

And its important stuff in those conversations. Plenty of Houstons rap history has been documented over the years, but even more of it only survives as unwritten stories. As Houstons landscape is further developed, and so much of its physical history is erased in favor of strip centers and condominiums, those stories work to keep that history alive. Gentrification may have rendered parts of some Houston neighborhoods unrecognizable, but the fabric of the communities who once resided there remains strong, spread out as it may be. Houstons like that.

It is an enormous city, the fourth largest in the nation and one of the fastest growing, with an infrastructure that divides it up into smaller cities that really are their own towns. The neighborhoods of Fifth Ward, Third Ward, and South Park and its surrounding Southside area are all known as the birthplace of Houston rappers, but aside from that, they really couldnt be more different. Their histories are unique, the vibe in the streets is different, and of course, so are the people.

Your city is only as big as the parts of it you allow yourself to see. These are perspectives from some of Houstons marginalized corners. In the culture, the slang, and the history, you see something revealed that is inimitably Houston, but there are neighborhoods like Fifth Ward, Third Ward, and South Park in a lot of American cities. The struggles laid out here and the feelings expressed may be unique to the individuals who tell the stories, but we can all relate. Through the years-long process of making these two booksdoing photo shoots and interviews at backyard barbecues, in private living rooms, leaning against cars in the Texas sun, in corners of nightclubs, out under the street lights, or through countless late-night phone conversationsrap music took a backseat to the human element that opened up. The men and women interviewed here are known as rappers, producers, DJs, radio personalities, and the like, and we learn Houstons history through their own, but we also learn about their passions, regrets, memories, and hopes.