Start 2 Finish

Having emerged as part of Houston\'s codeine-drenched Swishahouse collective in the late ’90s, Paul Wall doesn\'t exactly conjure thoughts of classic boom-bap. And yet he seamlessly adopted neo-Golden Age soundscapes on *Give Thanks*, his 2019 project with Massachusetts producer Statik Selektah. The two join forces again on *Start 2 Finish*, only this time, Wall raps alongside Termanology, a frequent Selektah collaborator who also appeared on *Give Thanks*. Throughout *Start 2 Finish*, the two MCs merge their respective regional tendencies, with Wall\'s impenetrable Southern drawl and candy-coated fly-guy talk balancing Termanology\'s energetic East Coast rhyme-slinging on tracks like “Ask Permission.” Subdued yet stylish, the Pete Rock-produced \"Recognize My Car” evokes parking-lot pimpin’ and a vaguely sinister cool, playing out like a more dangerous version of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Bonita Applebum”—the logical outcome of pairing H-Town swagger with dusty jazz and soul samples.