Paul Wall on Grills, Johnny Dang, Nelly & More

“Call me George Foreman, ‘cause I’m sellin’ everybody grills.”

The iconic bar that Paul Wall capped off his verse with on the smash hit “Grillz” wasn’t just some clever wordplay. The legendary Houston rapper was helping move the glimmering mouthpieces around Houston for years before his rap career took off in the 2000s.

After the success of his 2005 album The People’s Champ, and the aforementioned smash hit with Nelly, Paul Wall’s salesman status reached new heights. He became a walking billboard for grills, not just in Houston, but across the country. Even suburbanites that had no clue how to acquire their own were filling their mouths with tinfoil and gum wrappers to create the illusion of diamond teeth.

You can’t discuss Wall’s signature grills without mentioning jeweler Johnny Dang, an icon in his own right. The two have been business partners for 22 years. Since 2016, they have operated Johnny Dang and Co. in Houston, the largest jewelry store for custom grills in the world. A-list clients range from rappers like Drake to superstar athletes like A’ja Wilson. Wall and Dang are the industry’s undisputed kings.

“There’s definitely other grill makers out there that can do their thing, but in my mind there’s not even a number two. It is only Johnny,” Wall tells Complex. “Shout out to my boy Johnny Dang. He’s the greatest.”

The art of grillmaking has drastically evolved. Jewelers aren’t just using diamonds and gold anymore. They’re creating colorful paintings on teeth, and manipulating metals into insane, never-before-seen shapes. “The possibilities are so endless now,” says Wall. “It’s really whatever your imagination is.”

Ahead of the 20th anniversary of “Grillz” and the release of his new album Once Upon A Grind, we got a chance to sit down with Wall to discuss all things grills, from what makes Johnny Dang the GOAT to the studio session that birthed one of his biggest records.

Do you remember the first grill that made you infatuated with grills?
It was really when I heard Fat Pat and Lil Keke talk about having diamonds in their mouth on the Screwed Up Click mixtapes. Before I saw it, I heard it. They talked about it with such confidence. It inspired me to want to see it in person. I remember seeing people in my neighborhood with a lot of gold teeth, but with the diamond grills, definitely Fat Pat and Lil Keke. It just captivated me.

Wu-Tang too a little bit, right?
Man, watching the Wu-Tang videos on TV was crazy. They would take the grills out. I can’t remember who it was, maybe it was ODB, but he took his grills out and put them in a cup or something. I remember being like, “What?” In Houston, we didn’t have grills like that. They were permanent. You’d go to the dentist, they would file your teeth down, and they would get cemented in there. You could get ’em replaced or something, but you’re not taking ’em out. Watching Wu-Tang take their grills out, we thought it was a magic trick.

Then, the New York-style removable grills hit Houston. That’s what the flyer said, “New York style, removable gold teeth.” They weren’t called grills back then. We could get that and not mess up our teeth. It’s not such a big commitment. You could wear ’em for the weekend and take ’em out if you wanted to.

I remember getting my first set of grills. I just wanted some gold teeth. It was something that I saved up for. It definitely changed my life because when you put in grills, and I notice this too as a salesman, you start acting different. You are always smiling. You got a different swag about you. It’s like somebody won the lottery or they got a new car. I remember that feeling. It’s like Superman putting on that cape. You feel a little more powerful.

Did you ever think about getting the permanents and filing your teeth down?
It never crossed my mind too much. But even though mine weren’t cemented in, it was basically like they were permanent. I would wear my grills to sleep, eat with ’em, take a shower with ’em, brush my teeth, and put ’em right back in. I’d have ’em in for 23 hours and 45 minutes a day. 

Getting my teeth filed down, I don’t know. We used to say people who did that got baby shark teeth. I never really wanted those baby shark teeth.

A few years ago, I started drinking a lot of energy drinks and I got 10 cavities or something. I thought my teeth were done for. I’m thinking I’m going to have to get my teeth removed and they going to be like, “Damn, Paul Wall’s on meth.” That’s when I considered getting them permanent, but you can’t clean the grills the same way. When they’re removable, I can drop ’em off at the jewelry store, get ’em clean, and pick ’em up in 30 minutes looking brand spanking new. My boy Johnny Dang was like, “If you go permanent, it is going to make the billboard look dull.” I’m a walking billboard for grills. I got to have them fresh and clean every time I put ’em on.

You and Johnny are like the dynamic duo now. Can you take me back to [when] you guys first linked up? What made you want to build that relationship with him?
We have such great energy together. It is almost like our paths were destined to intertwine. He used to do jewelry repair out of his garage and he would make actual gold teeth for dentists. Eventually, he would make the gold teeth for jewelers. That’s how I came across Johnny.

I was selling grills with someone else, but I didn’t know who made ’em. I would do pop-ups at various record stores in the neighborhood.

This is around the same time my music career was on the rise. With the grills, I never really saw that as a career or a job. I was all over the place doing street promotions, selling grills, rapping, DJing, everything. I was trying to find a way and I didn’t know what my path was.

So I’m passing out flyers, and our whole block was intrigued, but we were a little trigger shy. We were waiting for someone to get a set so we could see what it looked like. I was the guinea pig. I agreed to pass out grill flyers if I could buy grills for wholesale price. I ended up bringing him so much clientele from all the flyers I passed out that he was like, “Man, you got to work for me full-time.” So that’s what I started doing. He showed me how to do the molds, take orders, everything.

I was giving my homeboys the same wholesale price for grills. Everybody on our block was shining. Next thing you know, I’m selling everybody grills. My boy was like, “If you pass out flyers and promote my album, I’m going to take you to the man who actually makes the gold teeth.” It was Johnny. That cemented it like, “Okay, I’m going to do this for life because now I’m linked up with the actual plug.”

Now, Johnny and I have been around the business so long that people are bringing their kids and grandkids to us. Then Johnny opened up a store and the rest is history. Working with Johnny and selling grills changed my life.

In 2005, your love for music and grills merged together. Nelly’s “Grillz” came out and became a nationwide phenomenon. Did you imagine it becoming as big as it has?
There was no anticipation on my part that it was going to be a phenomenon or something. It was Nelly, so I knew it was going to be a hit, but I never expected it to be what it was. I had made songs about grills and none of them did anything. So when he reached out to me to get on the song, I was like, “Hell yeah.” Of course I’m going to do a song with Nelly. This is the top artist in the world. Jermaine Dupri produced it too. Who doesn’t want to do that? And me being a businessman, I knew that if we got a song with Nelly about grills, that it was going to be a billboard.

We recorded the song the week that my album The People’s Champ came out. My album was number one in the country. It went platinum. It was a big deal. I was doing nonstop press. I come from Houston where we don’t have these types of opportunities. So I’m trying to take advantage of every opportunity I got.

It was a different day and age back then. I remember telling Nelly, “Yo man, send me the song. I’m in New York.” Nelly called me like, “Nah, if you don’t come to Atlanta and come to Southside Studios with me and Jermaine Dupri, you’re going to regret this for the rest of your life.”

I’m at Southside Studios with Nelly, Jermaine Dupri, some of my homeboys from Houston, the world-renowned Bryan-Michael Cox. They really pumped me up and gave me a huge amount of confidence that I did not have when I first walked through the door. There’s platinum plaques on every inch of the wall. You couldn’t fit a piece of paper between the plaques. They got a stack of plaques on the ground that won’t fit on the wall. They got diamond plaques, number one records, Grammys. I recorded “Still Tippin” with a T-shirt over the microphone. Southside Studios was the first time I’d ever been in a studio of that caliber.

Nelly got a type of energy that is contagious. He’s wired up and he says, “All I need you to say is ‘What it do baby? It’s Paul Wall, baby.’” He got me so hyped. When he put his arm on my shoulder, it was like the same feeling I felt when I was at the Grammys and Beyoncé walked by. All of a sudden, a touch from an angel on my shoulder. I was like, “What is this energy? Did a nuclear power plant explode or something?” It was like the picture by Michelangelo where they touching fingers. That’s how I started my verse. “What it do baby? It’s the ice man Paul Wall.”

The song changed my life. It was a four-minute commercial for me and Johnny. Big salute to my boy Nelly. Thank you for giving me that opportunity. It put us at the forefront of being the top grill salesmen in the world.

What’s your favorite line from the song?
Probably the first line because Nelly gave it to me. He sparked it. But also “Call me George Foreman, ‘cause I’m sellin’ everybody grills.” That one gets talked about the most, even though I said that same bar in another verse. No one ever brings up that I double dipped the bar. On the song “Chunk Up The Deuce” with Lil Keke, I said the same thing. “I’m selling more grills than George Foreman.” I was a little nervous about saying that bar again. In those days, hip-hop critics were a little more critical, especially if you’re recycling bars. That was considered a lack of talent or being lazy. But I felt like the bar went over people’s heads the first time, so I had to do it justice. Maybe now I’m going to get some flack for it. [Laughs]

Other than you, which rapper has the best grills?
Megan Thee Stallion. It’s basically the same thing I got, but in rose gold. The way they sit in her mouth, I just love them. It’s called the Honeymoon set. There’s at least one carat on every tooth. There’s a wedding ring on every tooth. A close second and third, Quavo got a crazy set and BabyTron got a crazy set. It looks like church windows. Of course, Johnny made ’em.

Other than Johnny, is there a grill maker that piques your interest?
There’s a lot of grill salesmen out there. But the funny thing is, Johnny’s got at least 500 wholesale clients around the world. Some people are selling you a grill that we’re making. We are not in competition with nobody. There’s definitely other grill makers out there that can do their thing, but in my mind there’s not even a number two. It is only Johnny. Shout out to my boy Johnny Dang. He’s the greatest. If you got the money and the opportunity, you’re going to Johnny. You’re not going to anyone else.

Is there any city bigger than Houston when it comes to grills?
I think Houston is most known for grills. So many of the rappers from Houston rocked grills to help popularize them on a mainstream level. But also we have a lot of grill salesmen. 

If I think about other cities, LA sells a lot of grills. The Bay Area sells a lot of grills. New York, the Mecca, of course. Maybe New York even more than Houston just because this is where it started. Florida is definitely known for their grills. They have a very unique style. Same with Louisiana. And then of course Atlanta. I remember Lil Jon was our first celebrity client. We did the open face with the diamonds around it, with the fangs. He wore them on his album cover and all the magazine covers.

You can go all around the country. You got places like Detroit and Cleveland where there’re a lot of people that rock grills. But of course, I’m from Houston. I’m going to say Houston is number one.