Swishahouse

Founding

Swishahouse was established in Houston in 1997 by DJs Michael “5000” Watts and OG Ron C, with G-Dash later joining Watts as a business partner. It grew out of the Acres Homes and Rosewood neighborhoods on the city’s north side. The company began as a mixtape operation, releasing chopped and screwed tapes that slowed down rap and R&B records and cut them up, a style that answered DJ Screw’s work on Houston’s south side.

Rise

The Swishahouse compilation “The Day Hell Broke Loose 2” (2003) included “Still Tippin’” by Mike Jones and Paul Wall with Slim Thug. The song was issued as a single on November 12, 2004, after it gained attention through an explicit video shown on BET: Uncut and then through major radio play late that year. A second single, “Back Then,” followed in February 2005. Its success brought national distribution in 2004 through Asylum Records, part of a Warner Music Group program for independent labels. Mike Jones also signed to Warner Bros. Records and Paul Wall to Atlantic Records, with Swishahouse remaining on their releases.

Key releases

Mike Jones’s “Who Is Mike Jones?” came out on April 19, 2005 through Swishahouse, Asylum and Warner Bros. It debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 with 181,000 copies sold, topped the rap and R&B albums charts and was certified platinum within two months. OG Ron C’s “F-Action 40” followed in May 2005. Paul Wall’s “The Peoples Champ,” released on September 13, 2005 through Swishahouse, Asylum and Atlantic, debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 with 176,000 copies sold and was certified platinum. In 2006 the label released “The Day Hell Broke Loose 3,” issued as a Swishahouse presentation of DJ Michael “5000” Watts on CD, and worked with Dope House Records on South Park Mexican’s “When Devils Strike,” which also came out in a chopped and screwed version.

Legacy

The 2005 success of Mike Jones and Paul Wall was a central part of the wave that brought Houston rap to national audiences in the middle of the decade. Artists associated with the label include Slim Thug, Chamillionaire, Archie Lee and Coota Bang, along with its founding DJs. Swishahouse remains active, and its archives are held at Rice University’s Woodson Research Center, where they have been available since at least 2012. The label’s mixtapes remain a primary record of north side Houston rap and of the chopped and screwed format outside DJ Screw’s own circle.