Paul Wall Reflects on Not Realizing He Was White Growing Up: “What Do You Mean?” [Video]

Paul Wall stopped by “The Breakfast Club” to talk about his latest project, “Once Upon a Grind.” During the chat, the conversation took a personal turn when the rapper opened up about discovering his racial identity as a kid.

Video

“I didn’t know I was white ‘til white people told me I was white,” he said, reflecting on an eye-opening moment in school. “They was like, ‘You white. Why you talk and act like that? You white.’ And I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’”

The rapper explained that he grew up in a diverse neighborhood where race wasn’t a big focus.

“All my friends were Black or Mexican or Asian. I lived in a very diverse neighborhood…A lot of everything…So we got a great mixture of growing up in America,” he shared.

Wall even joked about the moment hitting him hard and recounting the discovery to his mother.

“I cried in the car,” Wall shared.

The 43-year-old went on to state that his mom later took a genealogy test and found out she was 3% African-American. Jokingly, he added, “I know she can’t say the N-word; that ain’t enough for her to say the N-word.” However, he clarified that his mother has never used the term nor would she.