![]() ![]() In 2000, he signed a deal with Universal. His first handful of albums sold more than 1.5 million units, a tremendous number for an independent artist. Newsweek and Texas Monthly lauded him as one of the next great Hispanic musicians, and his singles started getting constant airplay in Houston and around Texas. Gaining the support of DJ Screw, the preeminent figure in Houston's hip-hop scene, Coy began to rise. " was the Mexican, for real," says Matt Sonzala, a Houston hip-hop historian and former DJ for 90.1 KPFT, a Houston underground radio station at the time. ![]() In the 90s and early 2000s, the Houston hip-hop scene was coming into its own, and hip-hop radio station 97.9 KBXX was willing to play local, independent talent. In 1995, Coy founded Dope House Records with his brother, Arthur, and chose to rap about life on the streets rather than his faith. His first recordings were Christian rap, which didn't excite Houston crowds the way he had hoped. After dropping out of high school as a 17-year-old freshman, earning his GED, and failing classes at junior college, Coy turned to an array of odd jobs before settling into rap. "I don't think any inmate in TDCJ is as watched as I am."Ĭoy's rise and ugly fall remains a subject of fascination for both his fans and detractors. "I'm still the most watched inmate in Texas," he insists. But he's quick to point out that he's far from a free man. Through his appeals process, he was granted permission to record music under a privacy law in the county jail system. "Part of the real punishment is to be taken away from your livelihood," Coy says, acknowledging that his own livelihood hasn't been entirely taken away during his incarceration. It won't be the first time Coy has released new material from prison as South Park Mexican, or SPM - the stage name that made him both famous and infamous. He's also ready to talk about his upcoming album. On this sweltering August day in North Texas, however, the man across from me is 10 years into a 45-year sentence for sexually assaulting a child. Staring back at me is a former figure of my adolescence someone whose singles were fixtures at middle school dances in suburban Houston all those Friday nights ago. His face is skinnier than it was during his prime, but his thick frame is similar to the way I remember it. His white prisoner uniform is starting to become faded, and white hairs are beginning to bristle from his shaved head. He apologizes, acknowledging that he just got done playing basketball in weather that's approaching 110 degrees in the maximum-security confines of the Iowa Park, Texas, facility, which fluctuates between being the first- and second-largest prison in the state. On his side of the glass, Carlos Coy wipes away the moisture that has fogged up his view in the cramped, white-walled, 6-by-4 visitation room. ![]() This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.Carolos Coy before his incarceration, and during a recent prison interview with the author (Left: Wikimedia Commons, right: Timothy Bella)Ĭondensation trickles down the window that separates me from a ghost. 40 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums tally.Ĭopyright 2002 Associated Press. Through Dope House, Coy released four albums as South Park Mexican in 19, before signing to signing to Universal, where he issued three sets, including 2001’s “Never Change,” which debuted at No. 48 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and has sold 23,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. 8 on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums chart and No. Many of them lied on the stand, he said.Ĭoy co-founded Houston-based Dope House Records, which in April released his latest album, “Reveille Park.” The set debuted at No. He also told jurors that children in seven other sexual assault cases against him had been swayed by a prosecution request for victims to come forward. The 31-year-old could have received up to life in prison from the same jury that convicted him May 18 of aggravated sexual assault of a child.Ĭoy, who was sentenced last Thursday, testified that he did not assault the girl, who was at Coy’s home to spend a night with his daughter last Labor Day weekend. A Houston jury sentenced rap musician Carlos Coy, professionally known as South Park Mexican, to 45 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl. ![]()
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