Paris Texas is an alternative hip-hop duo from Los Angeles, California, made up of Louie Pastel and Felix, two artists whose very different childhood experiences eventually brought them together. Louie Pastel is from Compton, while Felix grew up in South Central Los Angeles, and although they came from different parts of the city, both grew up surrounded by Black Los Angeles culture and developed a strong connection to music from a young age. Louie was particularly drawn to creative expression as a child; before music became a serious interest, he was into drawing and, by around eight or nine years old, wanted to become an actor. He later received a guitar for his birthday in high school and became heavily interested in alternative and guitar-based music, particularly post-hardcore, math rock and other sounds that were outside the mainstream. Felix, on the other hand, was immersed in hip-hop much earlier. He has recalled listening to rap because his older sister played it around the house and even taking her music player to listen to artists such as Jay-Z and Ludacris. By high school, Felix was already writing rap lyrics in his notebooks and experimenting with recording music, although he was initially very private about it and did not consider himself someone who had “earned” the title of a musician. Outside of music, both have described themselves as relatively goofy and unconventional people who grew up feeling somewhat misunderstood by the people around them. Louie has spoken about being called “whitewashed” because of his love for rock music, while Felix experienced similar reactions to the way he spoke and the things he was interested in. Ultimately, Paris Texas grew out of two young men from Los Angeles who were raised around different sides of the same culture, discovered that their differences actually complemented each other, and turned a friendship built on music, movies, humour and shared experiences into one of the more unpredictable alternative hip-hop duos to emerge from the city.
Four: Heavy Metal
“HEAVY METAL” is the debut single by Paris Texas, released on February 17, 2021, and it was the song that immediately announced the arrival of the Los Angeles alternative hip-hop duo. The track was written and produced by Paris Texas themselves, with the duo’s Louie Pastel and Felix handling the songwriting and production. The song has garnered over 17M streams on Spotify and over 1.4M views on its official music video on YouTube. The lyrics are also packed with pop-culture and anime references, clever wordplay and deliberately bizarre imagery, giving the track the manic personality that would become central to the Paris Texas identity. Commercially, “HEAVY METAL” did not become a conventional chart-topping mainstream hit, but it created an enormous amount of attention for a completely new act; contemporary coverage described the song as taking listeners by surprise and generating a wave of online speculation about who Paris Texas were. Felix later admitted that the reaction “took everybody by storm” and that he had not expected it, while Louie revealed that he initially worried about the production because the song had no bass. Despite that concern, the combination of the music and visuals helped the track become their breakthrough introduction, earning coverage from outlets including NME, Loud And Quiet and EARMILK and establishing Paris Texas as one of the more unpredictable new acts in alternative hip-hop. “HEAVY METAL” was eventually included as the seventh track on Paris Texas’ debut mixtape, BOY ANONYMOUS, which was released on May 14, 2021. In that sense, “HEAVY METAL” was more than just their first single; it was the chaotic opening statement that established the sound, attitude and visual world that would define Paris Texas.
FYI
- Paris Texas are deliberately protective of their identities, performing almost entirely through their pseudonyms, Louie Pastel and Felix, rather than publicly centering their real names. The duo has explained that the pseudonyms allow them to treat Paris Texas as its own world and give them the freedom to separate different parts of their personal lives from their artistic identities.
Three: girls like drugs
At number three is “girls like drugs,” released on September 22, 2021, as a single before appearing on Paris Texas’ Red Hand Akimbo EP. Written by Adrian Waller and Olawale Onayemi, better known as Felix and Louie Pastel, and produced by Paris Texas themselves, the alternative-rap track explores the unhealthy and increasingly parasocial way some men view and obsess over women, particularly through the internet and social media. Garnering over 15.7M streams on Spotify and over 966K views on its official music video on YouTube, Louie explained that the idea was about men having so much access to women’s lives that they begin creating fantasies and relationships with people they do not actually know, comparing that obsession to the effect of a drug. Critics particularly praised the duo’s ability to blend rap and rock without sounding like either genre exclusively; EARMILK, while noting the deliberately outrageous title, highlighted the track’s crunching guitar stabs and bass-heavy production, while NME described the duo as a thrilling and gloriously unpredictable force in alternative hip-hop. Although it did not receive a major Grammy or mainstream award nomination, its critical reception and sustained streaming numbers helped establish Red Hand Akimbo as the duo’s breakout project, with their label describing the EP and songs such as “girls like drugs” as the releases that cemented their distinctive rock-meets-rap identity.
Two: BE WHAT I WANT
“BE WHAT I WANT” by Kenny Mason featuring Paris Texas, was released on May 11, 2026 as the tenth track on Mason’s third studio album, BULLDAWG. The 3-minute-41-second track brings together two artists known for blurring the boundaries between hip-hop, punk and alternative rock, making Paris Texas’ appearance a natural fit for Mason’s genre-bending sound. The song was written by Kenny Mason, Paris Texas, Edwin Green, Dilip Venkatesh and Shane Moran, with production from Adrian, Dilip, DvDx and Shane Moran, while Mason and Paris Texas provide the vocals. “BE WHAT I WANT” is particularly notable because it leans heavily into rock, with distorted guitar and a harder, almost punk-influenced energy rather than a conventional rap production. Pitchfork specifically singled out the track as one of the more overtly rock-oriented moments on BULLDAWG, describing its sound as having a “buzzsaw” quality and highlighting Shane Moran’s contribution; the publication also praised the album overall for Mason’s ability to fuse rap and rock without diluting either style. The track garnered over 1.1M streams on Spotify and over 50K views on YouTube. It is still too early to call the song a major hit because it was released only in May 2026, but its significance for Paris Texas is that it represents their latest recorded appearance and places them alongside one of alternative rap’s prominent genre-blending artists on a major 2026 album.
Awards/Nominations
- Paris Texas has received recognition from several independent music and visual-media award platforms.
- In 2023, the duo earned a nomination at the UK Music Video Awards for Best Alternative Video – International for “BULLET MAN.” Their album MID AIR was also nominated for Self-Released Record of the Year at the 2024 Libera Awards, which celebrate independent music and artists.
- In the visual-media space, “BULLET MAN” went on to receive a Silver Award at the 2024 Clio Music Awards in the Music Videos category. While Paris Texas have yet to receive a nomination from major mainstream ceremonies such as the Grammys, BET Awards or MTV VMAs, these recognitions have established the duo as a notable force within independent and alternative music.
Discography
Paris Texas currently have one studio album:
* MID AIR (2023)
One: FORCE OF HABIT
Released on April 14, 2021, “FORCE OF HABIT” is widely regarded as Paris Texas’ biggest commercial hit to date. The track was written and produced by Paris Texas and later appeared as the eighth track on their debut mixtape, BOY ANONYMOUS. Lyrically it explores the repetitive nature of ambition, excess and everyday life, with the phrase “force of habit” becoming a reflection of the behaviours and attitudes they have become accustomed to. Commercially, “FORCE OF HABIT” stands above the rest of the Paris Texas catalogue, having garnered over 22.6M streams on Spotify and over 1.7M views on its official music video on YouTube, making it their most-streamed song as of 2026. It also has the distinction of being their most-played song live, having been performed at roughly 62% of their recorded concerts, demonstrating that its impact extends beyond streaming numbers. Upon its release, The FADER praised the song’s unusual blend of alternative rock and abstract hip-hop, while AFROPUNK highlighted its ability to capture the feeling of being trapped in the routines of everyday life and described the accompanying video as almost an art film. The song’s sustained streaming performance, strong critical reception, popularity in their live shows and status as the record that first demonstrated the full potential of their alternative rap sound all make “FORCE OF HABIT” the clearest choice for Paris Texas’ biggest hit of all time.
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