Paul Wall’s 5 Best Gems From “The Cipher” Q&A: “There Were A Few People That Didn’t Want Me & Chamillionaire In Swishahouse” [Audio]

[The one and only Paul Wall, baby, recently sat down with hip-hop personality and SOHH Correspondent Shawn Setaro on his popular “The Cipher”podcast. Listen to the full interview and check out five gems Paul dropped during the Q&A.]

His feelings when he was a kid about the possibility of becoming a rapper:

“I looked at being a rapper like a dream to go to the NBA – it don’t really happen too often. So I was realistic about, what is my Plan B? Rapping was really just something I did for fun.”

On how some of the Swishahouse members didn’t like him and Chamillionaire at first:

“There was a few people that didn’t want me and Chamillionaire in Swishahouse. Really, that pushed Michael Watts over the edge to put us on his tapes. ‘Cause he was like, man, y’all don’t run this – this my shit. I’m running Swishahouse. I decide who gets on the tapes, not y’all.”

On how his style has changed:

“[At first], it was too many words for my verses, because I was thinking too hard and putting too much into it. Eventually, I got better. I actually prayed that God would help me get better, and I just worked on it. I listened to people I liked and said, let me see how they do their delivery. People like Lil Keke and Slim Thug were the main people I listened to, in terms of their delivery.”

On his attitude towards music early in his career:

“We didn’t go to school for this. We knew how to hustle. The music aspect of it was always secondary to the hustle. The music was just the product that we’re hustling. So we’d go in the studio and whip the product up, and go hustle it. At first, we didn’t really look at it as a serious art form and everything, like we do now.”

On his trip to Sierra Leone for the 2007 documentary Bling: A Planet Rock:

“My manager, he kinda didn’t want me to go. He was like, ‘I don’t know, man. Paul’s gonna go out there rapping like Slim Thug and he’s gonna come back rapping like Lupe Fiasco.’”