Paul Wall

In 2005, hip-hop underwent a transition as the G-Unit gangstas and West Coast messiahs faded from view and a Houston scene full of diamond grills, wood grain wheels and sludgy screw music emerged. There was no better spokesman for this movement than Paul Wall. The scrappy, stubby white kid from Jeresy Village, Tex., was not only a preeminent grill jeweler, a DJ and a music promoter, he was also a damn good rapper. As one half of the Color Changin' Click, he traded bars with Chamillionare and sided with the fabled Swishahouse click/ label. Though the Color Changin' Click dissolved in 2003, Wall's stock skyrocketed after his guest spot on the Mike Jones anthem "Still Tippin'." Capitalizing on the buzz, he released his major label debut, The People's Champ, in the summer of 2005. The album was a hit thanks to single "Sittin' Sideways." The rapper's slurred raps, broad smile and quick wit endeared him to pop audiences, and soon he would be collaborating with Diddy, Bun B, Brooke Hogan, and Nelly, among many others. When the follow-up to The People's Champ arrived in the early spring of 2007, Wall was positioned in the upper-echelons of the Southern Rap universe.