As the years passed and his daughters Isys and Soul grew up and went off to college, hip-hop became less of a priority to Ian Johnson, aka Money Waters, aka Money Wah Wah. By 2021, he wasn’t exactly retired from music, but Johnson was more focused on parenting and taking care of his family following his parents’ deaths.
Hip-hop had given him the opportunity to share stages with legends of the genre and to travel the world. He independently released a couple of albums, 2001’s The Porch and 2006’s Swalhaggin, that garnered critical and underground respect in Southern rap, if not Billboard chart-topping sales. His signature drawling flow over live instrumentation gave him an instantly recognizable sound and made for some memorable dynamic performances in the first decade of this century. If his career in music had already peaked, he had plenty of which to be proud.
Then last year, a producer friend, Bonefide Holywater, invited him to his downtown studio.
“He played me a few tracks, and I just started, like, throwing up lyrics, man,” the rapper says. “Literally throwing them up. I didn’t understand it, but I couldn’t hold it in. I couldn’t hold my peace. … I had to get out what I had to get out.”
Money compares it to the Old Testament story in which God takes drastic measures to get a message across to Jonah. Here was an unmistakable sign that it was time to get back to hip-hop. Despite all his experience and a few gray hairs on his chin, he still considers himself a new artist.
“Even though I’ve been here for a while, ain’t nobody know me as far as like these new generations,” he says. “I accept that. I anticipate that, and I want that.”
He didn’t go the route of packing The Porch II with features from hot upcoming rappers to reach those new audiences, though. Instead, Money is using this release to honor legendary OGs from Dallas and beyond. Collaborators include Big Tuck, Young Bleed, Devin the Dude and Special Ed, to name a few. Gator Main, Kottonmouth and Mr. Lucci trade verses on “SALLAD,” with none other than The D.O.C. introducing each one, as if to bless the record.
DJ Snake, of Nemesis fame, produced one single, “Wah Wah,” and mixed the rest of the album. He accompanies Money when we meet up for an interview, chiming in from time to time to put into context just how important some of the guests on the album are. His enthusiasm about the project is contagious.
“It’s easy for me to mix this record,” Snake says. “It’s got something for everyone.”
Huey Rawls directed the “Wah Wah” video, and it went so well that Money asked him to direct an ambitious concept for the next video, “SALLAD.”
“The one thing I never got chance to do on The Porch album is work with other artists from my city,” Money says. “For the most part, the DFW has been a place where we only deal with our own neighborhoods or section. So when I started working on The Porch II album, I reached out to the most respected artists of the city and we created a new city anthem called ‘SALLAD’ featuring The D.O.C. of NWA, Gator Main [from Oak Cliff], Mr. Lucci [North Dallas] and Kottonmouth [South Dallas/Bonton]. ‘SALLAD’ [produced by DJ B Down] is our own word for money: ‘We don’t toss our “sallad” in the air, we keep our money in our pockets roun’ these parts’.”
“The Porch always symbolized a perspective or viewpoint of life down here in the South … When you look out on your porch, the world has a lot to see and decipher. And everyone’s porch is different.” – Money Waters
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The video has even more legends than the song, and filming it turned out to be something like a local hip-hop reunion and meet-and-greet.
“Mr. Pookie, George Lopez [founder of DSR, Dirty South Rydaz], Gylo, Lil Wil, Bo-bo Luchiano, Jay Holland, Limp Legg, E-Rock, Big Pharoah, Mayhem, Ghetto Priest, Uptight, Pikahsso, Kimbo Greedy [formerly of Redrumm Records], King Kartel [Loaded & Kris Boss], Greedy Lucchese [formerly of Kabaal] and BloFly came through and showed love,” Money says. “It was like a DFW hip-hop version of The Godfather mafia meeting with all the five families. Everyone came ‘suited and booted,’ with no drama, just love and general respect for each other. It was one of the dopest nights of my life.”
The video concept called for a mob sit-down in a speakeasy, and Money found an ideal setting for the shoot, New Artisan Distilling Co., makers of Roxor Gin and “the world’s first botanical bourbon.” The artists and the New Artisan owners got along so well they decided to strike up a promotional partnership, another instance of things seeming destined to work out. (So far, so good on that front: the New Artisan tasting room is where I sat down with Money and DJ Snake to talk over a few old fashioneds — very good ones, I must say.)
The Porch II even includes a feature from Fort Worth “Fool Wit It” rapper Twisted Black. That collaboration is most impressive, at least considering that Black, aka Tommy Burns, is still locked up on a federal drug conspiracy charge. Money won’t reveal how they managed it and jokes by saying, “I’d have to kill you if I told you.”
But the logistical difficulty of getting a verse to Money from Beaumont Federal Prison wasn’t even the most challenging appearance to nail down for the album. That distinction would go to the Right Reverend of the Blues, R.L. Griffin, on “The Rooster” — an homage to the “Hens” ritual at Griffin’s venue Blues Palace 2, wherein he invites ladies from the audience to shake it onstage.
“I neeeed,” Griffin sings on the chorus of “The Rooster,” as he has onstage for decades for the song Money calls “his bread and butter” every Saturday night, “I need another hen.”
“That was the hardest song to get done,” Money says. “It took me three years just to talk to him, just to ask him and say — and at first he said, ‘Man, son, I don’t do rap. I don’t do hip-hop, son.’” Money pauses to laugh, and continues, “But as soon as he heard the song, he said, ‘Oh, OK, I can do that.’”
As the name Money Waters, a play on the moniker of the master Muddy Waters, suggests, his music draws on the blues, and it’s especially pronounced on “The Rooster,” with its Bo Diddley beat. He is a student of the genre, and has much respect for the momentous impact Griffin has had on Texas music, so he recognized the importance of Griffin’s blessing. But Wah Wah’s Texas hip-hop, backed with live instrumentation from the Blaq Top Funk band, is more indebted to funk, soul and the gospel music he’s heard in church his whole life. In fact, it just sounds like Dallas.
“The Porch always symbolized a perspective or viewpoint of life down here in the South,” Money says. “When you look out on your porch, the world has a lot to see and decipher. And everyone’s porch is different. What I see on my porch may not be what you see on yours, but we all have one. The Porch I and II reflects those views and perceptions.”
