Did “Clean Rap” end Chamillionaire’s career?

Hip hop in 2005 will forever be known for the Houston invasion. For years, the Southern hip hop scene had been dominated by Atlanta. Then, one after another, the Houston rappers took over. The most notable rapper from the city at this time was Chamillionaire. He also had the best label deal of all of the other rappers.

Late in 2005, his first single, “Turn It Up,” was released to radio. Featuring the most-successful rapper from Houston, at the time, Lil’ Flip, the song was a moderate success. The song built some buzz, but no one knew who Chamillionaire was until he released his next single. His follow-up was the Billboard Hot 100 number one single, “Ridin’.”

His debut album, The Sound of Revenge, was known for its hardcore content. Behind the success of the second single and the offense that the album showed on some tracks, it became a platinum success. By 2006, the biggest rap artist on the Universal Motown label was Chamillionaire. They were determined to market him as much as they could.

In an attempt to strike while the iron was hot, the label pushed Chamillionaire to release his second album before the end of 2006. Not rushing the creative process, he began recording his new album in 2006, but he did not rush to get it out before the end of the year. This led to a minor dispute between himself and the label.

After the Don Imus comments, Russell Simmons, the founder of Def Jam asked all of the rappers to clean up the content of their music. Most rappers ignored the message, including Jay-Z, who was the CEO of Def Jam at the time. One of the few rappers to oblige was Chamillionaire. Not only did he clean up his music and his videos, he felt the need to mention that over and over.

When he finally released his sophomore album, Ultimate Victory, the album sales were only a fraction of that of his debut. Still, he showed a lyrical growth between albums. The only thing that he did differently was change the contents of his lyrics. Fans of hip hop want to hear those offensive lyrics. His first album provided just that, while his second album did not.

Is Chamillionaire’s change in lyrical content the reason that he is going on two years and he is still trying to secure a release date for Venom, his third album.