The Houston Astros are much more likely to boot scoot to country music than bob their heads to hip-hop.
But that hasn’t stopped two rappers from Houston — the new rap hotbed — from putting a baseball twist on their latest hits to pay homage to the Astros’ first World Series appearance.
Chamillionaire’s remix of “Turn It Up” and Paul Wall’s remix of “They Don’t Know” have been getting heavy local radio rotation, and both songs were played Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park during Game 3 against the Chicago White Sox.
“Making the song was a natural for me because I’m such a big fan,” said Wall, who remembers watching the Astros as a child from the $1 upper deck seats at the now defunct Astrodome.
Wall and Chamillionaire are former partners turned bitter rivals, so it’s no surprise that they would have dueling Astros anthems.
“I just wanted to give some encouragement to the team,” said Chamillionaire, whose debut album, “The Sound of Revenge” comes out next month. “Because I know that in my world of hip-hop a lot of people pay attention to baseball. I just wanted to be a part of this history.”
Straying from his teammates — who keep country music videos playing on the clubhouse TVs — third baseman Morgan Ensberg was excited about the raps and couldn’t wait to hear them. “That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard,” he said.
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Wall (real name Paul Slayton) names all 25 players on the active roster as well as manager Phil Garner and owner Drayton McLane in his 2 1/2-minute song. He also mentions Astros fan and former President George Bush.
“Last year it was all a dream, but this year they did their thing,” Wall raps. “The Astros are baseball’s kings.”
Wall wrote the song while riding home from a show the night the Astros won the National League championship. Chamillionaire’s uptempo song, which was released first, is less specific but just as supportive, featuring lines like “Houston is the best if you don’t know then you’re delirious.”
Chamillionaire (real name Hakeem Seriki) said his record label asked him to include the players’ names but he resisted.
“Music’s designed to be timeless,” he said before the Astros fell behind in the series 3-0. “You never know, that record could get played again down the line. I didn’t want it to only be relevant for that time.”