Friends since childhood, Paul and Chamillionaire broke into the music industry by doing promotions for various southern hip-hop entities such as Cash Money Records under the group name “The Color Changin’ Click”, also known as “The CCC”. Eventually, they got jobs doing promotions for Swishahouse. While there, they recorded a demo for Swishahouse that gained a lot of attention, and listners wanted to know who made it. Paul and Chamillionaire kept asking Swishahouse CEO Michael 5000 Watts to let them get a couple of verses on some mixtapes. However, they were constantly put to the side for other artists, and when they did get a chance to perform, they weren’t getting paid well. Eventually, Paul and Chamillionaire decided to break out on their own and left Swishahouse.
The Color Changin’ Click signed with Paid in Full Entertainment, a record label owned by the Madd Hatta, and released Get Ya Mind Correct in 2002. It was an instant hit in Houston, selling over 200,000 copies independently and getting nominated by the Source as one of the finalists for the indie album of the year in 2002.
However, disputes over money and artistic direction led to friction between Paul and Cham. They were set to release their second album, Controversy Sells, but the lingering issues led the group to split before the album saw the light of day. Controversy Sells did eventually get released in 2004. Paul decided to return to Swishahouse, while Cham started his own label, Chamillitary Entertainment. His younger brother Rasaq, Yung Ro, 50/50 Twin, and OG Ron C are signed to the label.
While Chamillionaire and Paul Wall have since ended any friction toward each other (after performing Ridin’ on BET’s 106 & Park, Chamillionaire confirmed that he and Paul Wall had settled all problems towards each other, citing that it had taken “so long” to get to where they were in their success), Chamillionaire has contemplated working with his estranged business partner again and even touring together. |
