The Odd Couple: Paul Wall & Termanology Interview

” data-lazy-type=”iframe” src=”data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODdhAQABAPAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAEACAkQBADs=”>

You never know how a remix is going to go because sometimes the original is just so good, it’s a risk to do it again, but these worked. So this year has been huge for hip-hop, the 50th anniversary. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2024 when it’s not as marketable. What are your thoughts on that? 

Paul Wall  I think it’s dope that people are getting honored. It’s definitely a bandwagon kind of thing. It’s similar stuff you see when there’s protests going on for any issue. If it gets to be something that the brands get behind, then it’s the thing to do. 

It’s interesting seeing hip-hop be disregarded in terms of the other music genres to now being celebrated and being the premier style of music worldwide—not just in America. It’s very interesting to see as a fan of hip-hop, to see it grow. I definitely anticipate some of the brands falling off because they’re just here temporarily. They’re not there to support the hip-hop acts—they’re just there to ride the wave a little bit. But I feel like there’s some momentum because it’s brands who historically had closed the doors to hip-hop. Being it’s the 50th year, it’s opened the door to do stuff with hip-hop acts, and now you can see the momentum with those things too. 

We see a lot of hip-hop artists in commercials now. 

Paul Wall  Some of the brands that have been resistant to using hip-hop artists or beats for their commercials now include hip-hop, so I can see it carrying over and growing from that. 

I remember hearing De La Soul’s “The Magic Number” in Spider-Man, and it made me realize our age group is in control now. 

Paul Wall  The double standard that used to be there, where they used to say, “OK, I don’t want to use this particular song because that artist was arrested in the past.” Even if it was arrested for possession of weed or something small, that would be the excuse a lot of brands would use to not incorporate hip-hop. It’s not as scrutinized now.

I think Snoop Dogg is the perfect example. He was charged with murder at one point (but later acquitted) and is now selling Grubhub, Tostitos, and smokeless fire pits. 

Termanology  Now he does Kidz Bops! 

Paul Wall  He’s such an icon for us. If I see Snoop promoting something, I’m gonna support it. His brand, like his Snoop brand himself, everything he aligns himself with is a hit and successful. It’s always something dope. And you always see him treated fairly, and that’s something we as supporters of his brand expect. If we see one of these companies screwing him over, we riding with Snoop.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career? 

Paul Wall  I learned just to focus on yourself. Just what you said with Snoop, watching him pivot even from Death Row to No Limit, that was a time where he thought his career might be over. To see him have tremendous success at No Limit and starting his own brand, seeing that huge amount of success is such a huge inspiration to keep going and to put your best foot forward. 

The universe has a way of working it out for you as long as you keep trying. The path will eventually reveal itself. That’s what Snoop has done. Both of us have a long career. For me, there have been plenty of times… when Chamillionaire and I went out separate ways, that was it. It was over for me. Every record label told me that was it. They told me to go ahead and start booking my DJ gigs again. There were often times people wouldn’t see the vision I had and I didn’t see the vision that others had. When the vision is successful, it teaches you sometimes you just gotta be open-minded. 

I gotta remember I’m doing what I love to do. This is my dream job. This is something that I literally prayed for every day of my life and still do. This is something that I don’t take for granted at all. I treat every verse I write the same, no matter who it’s for, and every concert I perform. This is for sure a job, so we try to be as professional as we can, but this is an absolute honor to do verses, interviews, performances, and all that. 

Termanology  It’s a good career, and there’s definitely some perks with it. You can wake up whenever you want, provided you’re not on tour. You can go to work when you want. But me and Paul, we both got the same work ethic, so we’re working every day. We’re in the studio, we’re brand ambassadors, we’re running record labels and promoting music and beverage companies. We’re always busy. The only time we got for ourselves is probably to spend with our kids and our family. I think having a good attitude in this game gets you far. 

You have to love what you do.

Paul Wall If we won the lottery right now, we’d still be putting music out. 

Termanology  We definitely love it. We both could be doing other things at this point in our career. We’re doing 19-track albums rapping like we’re 19. 

That’s a lot of songs. 

Termanology  Twenty songs is a double, triple album these days. People are putting out seven-track albums because I believe that’s all you need to get a Grammy nomination. That’s what Kanye West did with those Nas, Teyana Taylor, and Pusha T albums. 

You guys are machines. I want to circle back to Snoop Dogg. He always credits Master P for saving his life after he stopped him from doing a Death Row diss track. That was a pivotal point in Snoop’s career, where he could have gone one way or the other. Have you been at a crossroads where you had to make a decision that could have altered your life completely? 

Paul Wall  Absolutely. My whole career, I tried to avoid mentioning other rappers’ names in songs or subliminally dissing other rappers. If I say something about somebody, it’s more what is represented in whatever I’m speaking on. 

I’ve tried to stay away from speaking other people’s names negatively just ’cause once you put it on wax, you can’t take it off. You might not feel the same way now as you do later on. And also, I didn’t come up in battle rap circuits, so it was a little different. Even in the battle raps, you don’t hear them talking about the other person, calling their name unless they’re doing it creatively to diss ’em some type of way. But there was definitely times, one I can specifically think about was when me and Chamillionaire went our separate ways, neither one of us really mentioned each other. He had his beef with Mike Jones on wax, where they had a rap beef on wax, and I wasn’t really included in that. Neither one of them mentioned my name really or brought me into it, so I didn’t get in it. But even before that, when me and him were having our issues, we always tried to understand each other. I think it was just an unspoken rule. 

We grew up with each other. I’ve known him since I was five years old. We kept our personal thing private. We didn’t put it out publicly. We both understood that fans got a kick out of us having a beef, even though they’re a fan of both of us. It’s like wrestling where you want to see the fight because it’s entertainment to you. 

Paul Wall  Oh, absolutely. 

That’s probably part of it. 

Paul Wall Definitely. I remember Pimp C and E-40, both of them being the only two people in the world that would come to me and come to him and say, “Y’all trippin’. There’s way too much money out there. The opportunity is here now and y’all guys grew up together. You guys need to figure that shit out. Don’t put that shit on wax. Keep it to yourself. Keep it player.” 

They both told us that. When Pimp C got out of jail, that was the first thing he said: “What’s up with you and Chamillionaire.” I’d tell him something, and he’d be like, “You’re trippin’. I told him the same thing: “Y’all’s beef is over.” 

So Pimp C was instrumental in your beef not getting any bigger. 

Absolutely. And E-40 as well. He was one of our first mentors who was there for me and Chamillionaire at early, early stages. Bun B was the other one, but Bun B stayed out of it, though. Pimp C went out of his way to tell us we were trippin’. E-40 went out of his way too and gave us a list of all the rappers and rap groups throughout the years that broke up and got back together, and nobody gave a fuck about them. The momentum was gone. He was like, “Is this going to be you or what?”