When Mike Jones, Slim Thug and Paul Wall first cut “Still Tippin,” they weren't looking for superstardom, just a good road hit. But with the classic track, the three Houston MCs — and the people behind them — pushed Houston into a hip-hop center.
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“Still Tippin'” received its major release on November 12, 2004 — although it had hit the streets and clubs of Houston over a year prior. But Jones had spent years just trying to make it as an artist. By his side were his mother and grandmother, who were his biggest supporters on his creative journey — and inspired the famous “Who? Mike Jones!” adlib.
“I was trying to go to the club and play my music,” Jones says Bulletin board. “People were making fun of me, like, 'Are you Biggie?' I'm like “I'm Mike Jones.” and he'd be like, “Who?” And my grandma and my mom said, 'Throw it back in their faces.'”
Jones was discovered by Swishahouse founder and president Michael Watts in the late '90s after artist manager – then A&R man – T Farris suggested Watts get him to rap on Swishahouse mixtapes. At the time, Watts says Jones played freestyles and mixes in strip clubs for women to dance to. “I went over there to go check on him,” Watts recalls, “and I said, 'Hey, why don't you come in the studio and lay down some freestyles?'
Jones would later cut a few tracks for the Swishahouse crew before signing in the early 2000s, but his breakthrough in Houston would come in the form of “Still Tippin”—in its original 2003 iteration.
The song first appeared on Swishahouse The Day Hell Broke Loose 2 mixtape, not necessarily as a Jones single, but a compilation track comprised of the Swishahouse roster. “The song was so strong, we ended up working with Asylum. So we used this song that was hot in the streets as a single for Mike Jones,” says Watts.
The original version of “Still Tippin'” had a verse by Chamillionaire instead of Wall, and leads to a different instrumental. Watts recalls that the artists didn't want to rap the beat we know and love today — consisting of a percussive downtempo loop and a hypnotic sample of Giachiono Rossini's “Willam Tell Overture” by the South German Philharmonic Orchestra and Alfred Scholz. “Nobody originally wanted to rap on that song,” says Watts. “So what I did was, I remixed it, put the hook on it, put Slim, Mike and Paul's verse on it, and that's how this song came out.”
Jones remembers it differently, crediting the master version's producer for creating the simple but memorable loop we know today. “Shout Salih Williams. That was him,” says Jones. “It was his idea. Like 'let me create it from this vibe' and we just did what we did.”
One of the biggest factors in the song's rise was its music video. Before the days of YouTube, Vevo and TikTok, the “Still Tippin” visual became a late-night after-hours video staple BET Uncut word of mouth.
The video is pretty simple, with the rappers driving through the streets of Houston in Escalades and cars decked out in rims and dubs. Notable moments include a callback to Jones' strip club days and Slim receiving street head (oral sex while driving) — both of which were cut from the daytime version. But scandalous moments aside, Jones believes the music and car culture portrayed in the video is what made it a classic.
“That was a good song that both sides of the city of Houston could come together and ride,” says Jones. “We took the south side with the red cars [and] we took the north side with the candy blue cars.”
The video was directed by John “Dr. Teeth” Tucker, a Cincinnati native who became an advocate of Southern hip-hop after attending Texas Southern University in Houston. After college, Teeth worked as a producer at BET's Rap City — and often raved about fellow Southern hip-hop artists.
“These guys were going platinum without a deal, because they were making this music between Louisiana and Oklahoma and Texas — and they were going on tour,” Teeth recalls. “And I was telling people about UGK and the Southside Players and DJ Screw and Swishaouse. I was telling them about these guys back in Texas — and up north, man, New Yorkers feel like hip hop starts with them and ends with them. They weren't trying to hear anything about the South.”
As Teeth became more invested in southern hip-hop, he continued to document and highlight these artists—and later, he made UGK's Bun B the southern correspondent for Rap City. He also created his “The Booth” segment Rap City: Tha Bassment, where artists honed their freestyle skills and featured a fair share of southern acts.
Teeth eventually left BET and returned to Houston to pursue a career as a music video director. Upon his return, he recalls meeting a man named Wally, who was doing distribution for Swishahouse. Wally urged Teeth to meet with Swishahouse CEO G-Dash to discuss shooting videos for Swishahouse for DVD distribution. When he met G-Dash, Teeth said he would shoot a video for Mike Jones for $30,000. However, according to Teeth, “He didn't want to put the money down.”
G-Dash, Teeth and Wally later met, with Wally interceding. Teeth eventually agreed to make the video, capturing various aspects of Houston's street culture. In parts of the video, Watts can be seen spinning “Still Tippin'” on a turntable as a woman dances to the track. According to Teeth, this woman had been recruited by a local strip club.
“I chose her because she drew all the attention to the strip,” says Tate. “People were drawn to her and she had an energy about her. He was like a moth to a flame.” For Teeth, everything about the video was intentional — not for mainstream success, but for Houston rap fans. “I said, 'Let's make it for your fans, because the DVDs were heavy and we can make a DVD around it and sell it if we can never get it to BET.'
Jones also expected to be a hit in Houston, so he felt comfortable wearing a shirt with his personal phone number — (281) 330-8004 — on it. This also came at the suggestion of his grandmother, who passed away in 2003, before the video was officially released.
“I didn't want to give out my phone number at first,” says Jones. “My grandmother said, 'Do something no one else is doing.' Be personal to fans. Give me your phone number.” And I said, “Dude, I'm not going to give out my phone number.” I finally gave my phone number. I thank God for giving me this direction.'” Today, the phone number has been reactivated as a fan hotline.
To the surprise of Teeth and the Swishahouse crew, the song became an instant hit — so much so that Teeth had to cut a second version for rotation on MTV channels, as well as BET's Countdown of the Day 106 & Park. Fortunately, Teeth had plenty of plans to comply with the networks' requests. “I hate it 106 & Park edition,” Teeth jokes. “Asylum didn't give us the money to go back and re-shoot what we shot before, and we shot on an older film camera.”
Since its release, “Still Tippin'” has reached No. 60 on the Billboard charts Hot 100 and has been certified platinum. The video also earned a nomination in the MTV2 category at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards.
“This song is so personal to me because when you look at this video, it's 100% a vision that God gave me. To put the city I live in on the map and pay homage to the pioneers of the Houston sound,” says Teeth. “And to me what makes it so great is that it was nominated for a viewers' choice award. It's more than what he did on the charts. It's what people connect with and I'm really proud of that.”
To this day, “Still Tippin” continues to have an impact on hip-hop. Artists like ASAP Rocky, Lil Uzi Vert and Normani sampled the track in their own projects. The song is also a staple at any Texas event.
“If it didn't blow up anywhere else, we knew it would blow up in Texas,” Jones says. “Everyone is big on rides and cars. We still tip and people from where we are understand the language.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/mike-jones-still-tippin-20th-anniversary-story-1235826528/
