Here's the link:

http://www.click2houston.com/news/4678518/detail.html

But here's the article:

Texan Paul Wall Shines In Sea Of Rappers
Major Label Debut Set To Be Released

POSTED: 11:52 am CDT July 2, 2005
UPDATED: 12:39 pm CDT July 2, 2005

HOUSTON -- Twenty-five grand worth of diamonds and platinum sit in Paul Wall's mouth and syrupy Texas slang drips out of it.

While he prepares for the summer release of his major label debut, "The People's Champ," and basks in the spotlight of his appearance on Mike Jones' hit ode to cruising, "Still Tippin'," the Houston rapper keeps busy by selling jewel-encrusted teeth to his celebrity friends.

And whatever he's doing, he wants people to know where he's from.

"A lot of me is just Texas, because I represent Texas to the fullest, of course," Wall told The Associated Press in a recent interview at his studio. "You hear that in my music and in my slang and the way I talk and the way I rap and the music I make."

The rapper, whose real last name is Slayton, relies on a dizzying array of local vernacular to describe everything from attractive females (honey dips) to rims (swangaz) and tires (vogues).

He's also on a crusade to sell the rap world on screw music -- Houston's hypnotic, slowed-down style of rap.

"Screw is the backbone of Texas music," Wall said. "Screw music just represents everything that our culture is here in Texas. Everything isn't screwed down here, but the screw type of style kind of holds it all together."

Wall, 24, began doing street promotions for Houston DJ-turned-Swishahouse Records boss Michael "5000" Watts about 10 years ago and last year he officially joined the label, which is also home to Jones.

"He's a ferocious worker," Watts said. "I've seen him grow a whole lot over the past few years. He found his own identity and his stuff now has more of his personality."

Wall got involved in the business of making teeth a few years ago to supplement his income and help his burgeoning rap career. The creations are mouthpiece-like pieces that cover a row of teeth.

"Me doing the grills promoted the fact that I rapped," he said. "With celebrities and high-profile clients I saw it as a networking tool and it opened up a door for me to talk to a celebrity."

Through the store, TV Jewelry, where he teamed with jeweler Johnny Dang, he has helped ice the grills of celebrities like Kanye West, Nelly, Cam'ron, Lil' Wayne, Chingy, Brooke Valentine and Z-Ro. He made a $30,000 rose gold set for his buddy, platinum-selling rapper T.I.

It has worked into his plan to separate himself from the overabundance of wannabe rappers.

"I kind of always promoted myself as an entity," he said. "As just Paul Wall. As opposed to promoting myself as Paul Wall the rapper. I made people be interested in me. By that they wanted to know what I was about -- the total package of everything."

Wall, who hosts a show on XM Satellite Radio, released a handful of regionally successful independent albums with fellow Houston rapper Chamillionaire before a bitter split. He went on to sell more than 70,000 copies of his 2004 solo release "The Chick Magnet."

His raps cleverly combine street bravado and boylike charm, an uncommon approach to the common themes of money, cars and women.

Watts calls his sound "southern and funky," and Wall said it's all about the slow, laid-back vibe of Houston.

His album, scheduled to be released by Atlantic Records this summer, will have appearances by Lil' Wayne, B.G., T.I. and Freeway. A screwed and chopped version will also be released. The first single, "Sittin' Sideways," is getting some broadcast radio play and is in heavy rotation on satellite radio.

Upbeat and friendly, Wall has a contagious smile -- even without the 20 carats of princess-cut diamonds it houses.

He loves to brag about his gaudy grill, making frequent references to it in his songs.

"Say cheese and show my fronts, it's mo' carats than Bugs Bunny's lunch," he growls in "Sittin' Sideways." On another song he boasts, "I'm a walking nightclub, cause there's a disco ball in my mouth."

As a white kid growing up in suburban Houston, Wall never thought he'd make it as a rapper. And he never dreamed he'd cause a scene like the one that unfolded at a recent video shoot for "Sittin' Sideways."

A parade of candy-colored cars with dazzling rims, led by a bright purple station wagon with longhorns on the hood, snaked down a Houston street. Hydraulics helped the station wagon bounce past hundreds of people lined up five to 10 deep hoping to be included in the video. Posters emblazoned with Wall's face covered nearby light posts.

"I always thought the reality of it is, I'm not going to be famous, more than likely," he said. "I'm not going to be rich. I'm not going be able to make money off this. So, one, what can I do if it doesn't work? Two, what can I do to try to better my odds?"

So Wall, who graduated from high school a year early, enrolled at the University of Houston to study mass communications. He dropped out three years later when his music career began to take off.

Life wasn't always so good for Wall, who said his father's heroin addiction left his family broke. His mother, who he says imbued his work ethic, remarried when he was about 10 and things improved from there.

"My mom always trained me to work and work hard," he said. "She instilled in me that if I don't work, I don't get paid.

Nobody is going to give me anything. So it's up to me to get wherever I want to get."

And right now he's exactly where he wants to be.

"I'm floating on Cloud Nine right now," he said. "I'm just loving it. I'm eating it all up."