Wes Denzel is not from Houston, but he lives just close enough to be a fan of Houston hip-hop. You can definitely hear that influence on his new album, Last Night in Houston, in which the Texas-based rapper pays tributes to the greats of the Bayou City.
In 2006, the St. Louis-born Denzel moved to San Antonio with his mother, a retired Army nurse, when she was stationed there. He was already making music back in St. Louis, right when a local rapper blew up and became one of the era’s biggest hip-hop stars. “When I was about five years old,” recalls Denzel (government name: Wesley Denzel McGhee), “I’d seen Nelly’s ‘Country Grammar’ video and something about it—and being a kid in St. Louis—made me wanna be an entertainer and make music.”
Although he later would be inspired more by the music of Pharrell Williams, Frank Ocean, and a pre-self-destruction Kanye West, Denzel was still a fan of the mixtapes that were coming out of H-Town. “My cousins also moved to Texas, probably a couple years before me,” the 29-year-old recalls. “So, I was always visiting here, and it was around the time of Mike Jones. We kinda had that Houston run in mainstream media.”
Denzel made some visits to the city in the past, playing open-mics during his days as a student at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. And there was that time he competed in an American Idol-ish talent competition that Matthew Knowles (a.k.a. Beyoncé’s father) was judging. “He didn’t end up picking me,” he remembers. “But it was a good experience. It taught me about performing and knowing when to be on and just having the right things in the moment.”
Denzel, who currently works a day job as a contractor for the United States Air Force, has been getting his name out there in the Central Texas music scene, even doing some online performances for Austin NPR affiliate KUTX a couple of years ago. While Denzel’s previous releases suggest more of an emo MC (often dabbling in what he calls “lovey songs”), he worked on one track, “All Summa,” which had him experimenting with a Houston-style sound. “I had that record for a while, and I said, ‘Alright, this is cool, but maybe I’ll try and put out a song by itself to where I kinda did that style.’ It was just a slow-tempo beat and I pitched down my vocals and I had a DJ do some chops on it. I just kind of naturally started making these Houston songs.”
As he continued to find beats that took him back to his childhood, Denzel began composing more tunes reminiscent of the era. He recorded two songs, ”Way We Ball” and “Rockets,” that were influenced by Lil Flip’s Space City anthem “The Way We Ball.” With those three tunes, Denzel felt he could make a whole album dedicated to Houston rap. “I ran it by some Houston people and they were just liking it,” he says. “I just wanted to see, just because they’re out there every day, if the music resonated with them or made them feel that kind of nostalgic, 2004-2005 feel that I was going for.”
The cover art for Last Night in Houston by Wes Denzel
Jonathan TurnerDaniel released Last Night in Houston earlier this month on all streaming platforms. (The cover art, which shows Denzel sitting on steps, was shot at POST Houston.) The album does sound like a salute to the Houston hip-hop of the past 20 years. The first half covers those peak years when artists like Paul Wall, Slim Thug, and Bun B were dropping slab jams with a bit of that chopped-and-screwed flavor. Later songs bring to mind the music of experimental, contemporary artists like Travis Scott and Don Toliver.
Denzel admits that Last Night in Houston is a concept album, but Houston isn’t the only concept he had in mind. While the first few songs are “very Houston,” later tracks have him getting back in his emo groove. “It’s kind of a story of me taking a trip to Houston and then coming back home,” he says. “By the time you get to [final track] ‘Some Know,’ I’m back in the San Antonio-Austin area.”
Now that he’s released the album (which, according to the artist, will have a chopped-and-screwed version coming soon), Denzel hopes to perform the tunes in Houston in the near future. They went over well at a recent SXSW show, but how about in the city that inspired them? “I would love to [play them in Houston],” he says. “I’ve been talking with some friends and thinking about doing one of those open mics to see how it’s received there. I just hope that they feel that it’s a genuine record and that it gives them a little bit of nostalgia to that time when Houston was really running in that mainstream.”
Last Night in Houston is available to download and stream now.
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