Paris, Texas' Ro$ama Delivers a New BigXThaPlug Collab and It's Good

The last time we caught up with Paris, Texas' own Ro$ama, he was going back and forth with BigXThaPlug as rap's Godzilla on "Beast Mode."

The rising Texas rapper has been on the grind for years, gaining an audience for his high-octane flow and expert ear for soul samples. After signing with BigX’s 600 Entertainment/UnitedMasters in 2022, he has been a close lieutenant to BigX, helping him build the presence of 600 Entertainment with Meet the 6ixers alongside his labelmate Yung Hood. On Friday, May 2, he's finally branched out on his own with Orange Tape, a seven-track EP with features from That Mexican OT, BigXThaPlug and Duke Deuce.

"Microwave" is typical for a BigX and Ro song: a brass-heavy beat, competitive rapping and memorable one-liners. Their friendship dates back to high school. But many don’t know that it was Ro$ama who encouraged BigX to start rapping and take it seriously. “It was his voice,” he says. “It was one of those voices that when you speak, people listen.” They went from recording in closets and going half on studio time together to becoming one of the most dynamic duos in hip-hop, a chemistry that Ro$ama describes as “like tennis, we just bounce off each other.” It's not a coincidence that the video for "Microwave," filmed in Palm Springs, California, during their first Coachella weekend, shows them competing in a tennis match. They improve each other's rap skills like iron sharpening iron. Out of the two, Ro$ama always impresses with his guest verses, which can be heard on previous tracks like "Strange Fruit" and "'02 Lakers."

Another rapper Ro$ama sounds good with is That Mexcian OT, who appears on "Show Me the Money." He explains that he made the song last November, but never finished it. "Me and OT got a good relationship," he says. "So one day he was like, 'Yo send me an open (verse).' I went back and listened to some songs and I forgot about that one. That one was still open. I sent it to him and he liked it."

That Mexican OT reps the Houston sound, but he is originally from Bay City, Texas. Ro$ama didn't know that fact about him either. "When he did the song, I just learned that he was from Bay City. I thought he was from Houston," he says. "When he said that on the song, we had talked about it. I was like, 'Dang, you just as country as me!' He started going down through what he do on his off time and his free time. I started going down what I do during my off time and my free time. We damn near do the same thing. That made it way better."

Orange Tape is named after his favorite color, orange, which signifies energy, brightness, encouragement and vibrancy. The EP is packed with head-nodding jams like "Shit Popper," putting a Southern twang to the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony flow. He hopes to fulfill his mission to shine more light on talent coming from East Texas.

"East Texas to most people is unknown if you don't really know about Texas," he says. "When I first moved to Dallas, they said I had an accent or whatever. Now that I've been in Dallas for so long, it went away for a little bit."

"I just feel like East Texas needs to be known," he continues. "We just not country. We got a whole bunch of talents, sport-wise, music-wise, anything-wise. We don't have a lot of notoriety coming out of there anyway, so for me, someone who comes from there, I just want to let people know about Paris, Texas."