Dissecting Slim Thug – “Welcome 2 Houston”

The Slim Thug song, Welcome 2 Houston, appears on the southern emcee’s 2009 studio album, Boss of All Bosses.

It is heavily feature-assisted, with the Houston-centric guest list consisting of Chamillionaire, Mike Jones, Bun B, Paul Wall, Yung Redd, Lil’ Keke, Z-Ro, Mike D, Big Pokey, Rob G, Trae, Lil’ O and Pimp C.

Facts, observations, oddities, disputes:

• It’s the longest track on this album (play time: 8:57). Save for three exceptions (Leanin’, Associates, She Like That), it is more than twice the length of other album tracks.
• A posthumously released verse by Pimp C sees the song out. The quality and characteristics of Pimp C’s vocal tracks are noticeably different to the other rappers’. However, his verse was overwhelmingly likely recorded for this song; it is eight bars in length, which matches every other verse on the track (but no others on the album), and the perceived microphone differences are evident moving from rapper to rapper — verses were recorded at multiple locations. Also, Pimp C has no track record of recording single utility verses to be used on later projects. The verse ends on a dominant note, and eight-bar verses are not the norm in traditional song form, especially in rap, where “sixteens” (sixteen-bar verses) are the standard.
• Cities, localities, streets and towns mentioned by performers on this song: Sunnywood, Acres Home, Northside, Sharpstown, Braeswood, Alief, Woolfair, Clear Creek, Spice Lane, West Bellfort, Fondren, Airport, Sandpiper, South Park, Southwest, Denver Harbor, West Airport, Channelview, Port Arthur, I-610, I-10, Highway 59, I-45, the Belt (Beltway).
• Most frequently used word longer than three characters: H-Town (11).
• Beats per minute (BPM, tempo value): 79 bpm.
  • The most up-tempo song on the album is I’m Back (87 bpm); the least, Hard (just 55.5 bpm).