Letoya gets boost from Houston Hip Hop Stars

By: Janine Coveney

LeToya says she had to include some serious hometown hip-hop flavor on her first solo album, LeToya. Houston rap stars Paul Wall, Bun-B, Slim Thug, Mike Jones, Killa Kyelon, and Rick Ross all make appearances on the new album.

The singer and songwriter says that she definitely wanted to give the new project a little bit of "chopped & screwed" flavor. She adds that she had watched most of these artists develop their careers, and they had supported her while she was coming up with Destiny's Child.

LeToya told us: "I come up listening to them and seeing them around town doing their thing. They've been on their grind, some of them, 16 years old, selling their albums out of the trunk and performing around town and just being like local super stars. But I'm so proud of them 'cause they've done so well and now they've made this screwed & chopped thing like an international kinda thing. And they had also watched me and watched some of the things I been through, so, you know, a lot of them were like brothers to me. Like, 'Hey, man, we gon'get on it, sis! We gon'get on it!' And they did."

LeToya was expected to attend the Music Of Black Origin, or MOBO, Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London Wednesday night.