Rap Superstar’s Cool New Houston Store Gets National Magazine Love

A Surprising Election Twist —

By Chris Baldwin // Nov 14, 2016

Johnny Dang with business partner and rapper Paul Wall

A rapper’s new Houston store is drawing major New York media buzz. Only, it’s coming from a rather unexpected source.

The New Yorker — the storied literary magazine that tends to look at the sophisticated side of life — gives a shout out to Paul Wall and TV Johnny’s grill store, which specializes in the diamond and gold encrusted caps that go over your teeth and other high-end bling, in its newest issue. The new Richmond Avenue store’s referenced in a story on Karen Civil, a social media marketing superstar who did her best to make Hillary Clinton seem more relatable and cool (not every campaign is a winner). In the piece, Wall texts Civil, wondering if she’ll make the opening of his Houston store.

Wall made a gold grill engraved with Civil’s name for her birthday, which happened to fall on election day. OK, Civil didn’t end up getting her candidate elected, but she will walk away with a heck of a keepsake. Just ask University of Houston football coach Tom Herman, the grill’s life a good life.

Of course, PaperCity readers know all about Paul Wall and his buddy TV Johnny’s new store because of Matthew Ramirez’s extensive reporting on the opening. As Ramirez details, Johnny Dang & Co. Fine Jewelry “will be the new go-to for every rapper, athlete, and cool rich person” who hits Houston.

You can add social media millennial whisperers to that list.

Civil’s main gig is creating marketing campaigns for hip-hop artists and music companies. She did her best to push Clinton outside of her comfort zone when the campaign reached out to her. She got Hillary to use a Snapchat superstar’s catchphrase “Booming!” and noticeably upped the number of rappers making appearances at Clinton campaign stops.

Apparently, there are limits to what even a social media star can do in places like Michigan, Florida and Pennsylvania however.

Civil still has a grill waiting for — and Houston’s most interesting new store has a bit of surprising national magazine publicity. Maybe, that’s not a total loss.