Color Changin’ Click: Chopped Counter-Culture

In the early 2000s, Houston’s rap scene was a bubbling cauldron of innovation, with chopped & screwed anthems, car-rattling bass, and a DIY mixtape hustle that reshaped hip-hop in the south. While names like UGK, Scarface, and Slim Thug dominated headlines, one crew operated in the underground, pushing boundaries with their own twist on the movement.

Orchestrated by Swishahouse co-founder DJ OG Ron C the group consisted of Chamillionaire, Paul Wall, 50/50 Twin, Lew Hawk, Lil Ken, Rasaq and Yung Ro. Many of the lineup being childhood friends or even related in the case of Chamillionaire and Rasaq.

DJ Screw

No discussion on early 2000s Texas rap music can be had without a mention of DJ Screw, a quick run down for the uninformed: DJ Screw was the innovative DJ that had the idea of slowing down records after slowing down his mothers B.B. King records on the family turntable.

This led to Screw slowing down popular rap records and ‘chopping’ them, mimicing the way that turntablist DJs would scratch the record. Even though Screw wasn’t the first to do this even within Houston as peers such as DJ Darryl Scott were doing this beforehand, but never experimenting with the sound or gaining as much traction as DJ Screw - which led this sub genre of slowed down music to be labelled Chopped & Screwed.

So what does this have to do with the Color Changin’ Click? Well OG Ron C took inspiration heavily from DJ Screw, in contemporary discussions some people even hold the opinion that OG Ron C and his label co-founder Michael “50,000” Watts were manufactured by the industry to dethrone DJ Screw and halt his influence on the underground. In reality there was just beef between the two camps, when OG Ron C debut with his own variation on the Chopped & Screwed style, dubbed Chopped not Slopped, DJ Screw didn’t approve of the name and this lead to some tension between the two Texas powerhouses.

Chopped not Slopped

After DJ Screw tragically passed away in November 2000, the Chopped not Slopped style being released on the Swishahouse label took over with the aforementioned solo signees of the label coming together to create the Color Changin’ Click in late 2000. With a logo drawn by the pseudo-leader of the group Chamillionaire and a name inspired by both the color changing lizard, a chameleon, and the car scene of the south at the time - with crazy, almost color changing, paint jobs being the peak of street credibility and tied deeply with hip-hop culture.

Where DJ Screw was slowing down other artists hits to make them his own, the CCC were dismantling these beats to make them anew under this chopped not slopped umbrella, the first tape released by the group consisted of freestyles over the most recognisable rap beats of the time - The Next Episode, The Real Slim Shady, Ms. Jackson - just to show a few.

Nowadays there is still some controversy over the name Chopped & Screwed, some people hold the opinion that calling this slowed down style anything other than Chopped & Screwed is a form of cultural dilution - taking the legacy away from DJ Screw. Whilst on the other end of the spectrum there are purists of the genre that believe anything not mixed by DJ Screw is underserving of the name.

The Mixtape as an Art Form

As an outsider looking in, you might listen to these tracks and think its a gimmick that gets old quick - which for many artists this may be true. This is where the CCC set themselves apart from the usual artist of the time, where Eminem may have put out 3 albums over the 2000 - 2004 period the Color Changin’ Click squeezed out 14. Taking into consideration that the group only formed at the back end of 2000 this averages out at a release every 3 months, something which nowadays is unheard of and its more common for an artist to put out a new project every 3 years instead.

This enabled the group to constantly keep on top of the current hit songs and release their own versions while the original was still on the charts, not only leading to a chokehold on the Houston scene but mimicking the output of their predecessor DJ Screw which no doubt contributed to their prominence.

Not to say there weren’t other groups formed and doing the same thing, fellow Houston based groups such as the Dirty South Rydaz or Freestyle Kingz were following a similar pattern - but the ability of the artists in the CCC lineup put them leagues above the rest, in addition to both of the founders of the Swishahouse label having a heavy influence as on-air personalities for Houston radio stations which meant even the weaker CCC releases were getting significant airtime.

Punchline Rap

You would be forgiven for reading all of the above and still wondering what the big deal is - at a glance the Color Changin’ Click is just slowed down rap music that you could recreate in a few minutes on a smartphone app. Now while this does hold some truth for this sub-genre as a whole, there is a reason members of the CCC went on to become Grammy winners or nominees for their other musical pursuits.

Now you won’t see the level of lyricism you may hear in an Aesop Rock record of the time or the socio-political commentary of a Nas tape but this isn’t a style of music that lends itself to deeper meaning - it’s the theme music of candy-coloured paint jobs, diamond grills and Pimp My Ride style TV screens in your cars interior.

With this preface in mind, more comedic lyrics that you could almost describe as punchline rap make more sense - such as:

“You might not watch MTV or Carson Daily, but you can watch them tv's in my car son, daily.”

“Might pull my cash out Chamillionaire’s a damn grouch, screens recline and lay down like a fat man on a black couch”

“My trunk jumps, got more hops than kangaroos, so much leather inside my car that my horn moos.”

These serve not only to show the creative wordplay of the CCC but also the general topics you will hear in any given track, while it’s hard to imagine that Eminem would rap about car TV screens and leather interiors (although he did it once) it’s the majority of the CCC content. Reinforcing the general image the clique was going for - not taking themselves seriously with punchlines every other breath but also encapsulating the braggadocious flexing expected of any rap music of the era.

The Breakup & The Legacy

Following the career path of many great rap groups before them, the Color Changin’ Click had no lack of drama to tear them apart. The two arguable leads of the group, Chamillionaire and Paul Wall had their own duo project outside of the CCC - and creative differences between the two tore their friendship apart in 2005. At the same time Chamillionaire had issues with fellow Houston artist and frequest Paul Wall collaborator Mike Jones, resulting in the crude but clever nickname ‘Dike Jones’ and multiple diss tracks between the beef. This internal beef concluded in Chamillionaire splitting from the Swishahouse label and creating his own Chamillitary Entertainment - taking Rasaq, Yung Ro, 50/50 Lil Twin and OG Ron C with him. Paul Wall enjoyed the musical success of his solo album ‘The People’s Champ’ and is still releasing mixtapes today with the same throwed style.

Chamillionaire went down a similar path, releasing solo mixtapes and albums throughout the 2000s and 2010s, earning a Grammy, multiple BET Awards and an MTV Award in 2006 for the track ‘Ridin’ - which even the casual rap listener has heard. Whereas Paul Wall was nominated for a Grammy in the same year for the track ‘Grillz’ - in which he is a feature alongside Nelly, Ali & Gipp. Following on from the CCC breakup, members took on business ventures as a side-hustle, Chamillionaire has made millions investing in tech start-ups - Lyft, Maker Studios (now Disney) and Cruise Automation (now GM) being just a few. He joked in an interview that he wants to become a Chabillionaire, which doesn’t seem too far fetched. Paul Wall went on to head multiple philanthropic pursuits, co-owns Houston jewellery store ‘Johnny Dang and Co’. with long time business partner Johnny Dang, and most recently has launched his own brandy in collaboration with Paul Masson.

It begs the question of why write anything about the Color Changin’ Click at all, since they never took off as a group and their members outside of Paul Wall and Chamillionaire are almost irrelevant nowadays, but their impact on Houston rap is etched in the culture. The CCC never reached the commercial heights of the likes of fellow Houston pioneers UGK or Geto Boys, but their influence can still be heard in the music of artists today. In a world where DJ Screw’s tapes are now preserved in museums, it’s time CCC got their flowers too. Because without them, Houston’s rap scene wouldn’t have been nearly as colorful.