{"id":21782,"date":"2026-02-04T18:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/2026\/02\/04\/michael-5000-watts-swishahouse-founder-and-houston-hip-hop-legend-dies-at-52\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T18:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:05:13","slug":"michael-5000-watts-swishahouse-founder-and-houston-hip-hop-legend-dies-at-52","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/2026\/02\/04\/michael-5000-watts-swishahouse-founder-and-houston-hip-hop-legend-dies-at-52\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael \u20185000\u2019 Watts, Swishahouse founder and Houston hip-hop legend, dies at 52"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael “5000” Watts, Houston Hip-Hop Legend, Dies at 52<\/h1>\n

Michael \u201c5000\u201d Watts, a Houston hip-hop legend and founder of the Swishahouse record label, died Friday. He was 52.<\/p>\n

Watts died after developing Torsades de Pointes, a life-threatening abnormal heart rhythm condition, his family said in a statement. He had been hospitalized for almost a week for \u201csome tremendous health issues,\u201d his family said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

He leaves behind a wife, five children, and two grandchildren.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe truly appreciate the love shown to Michael throughout his career and we ask for continued prayers as we navigate through this very hard journey,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

News Roundups<\/h2>\n

Catch up on the day’s news you need to know.<\/p>\n

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Watts’ Career and Legacy<\/h2>\n

Watts began his career at 14, before eventually founding Houston-based record label Swishahouse in 1997. The label represented several Houston artists, including Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Mike Jones, and Chamillionaire.<\/p>\n

Social media users on Friday shared their condolences for Watt\u2019s family, remembering the Houston artist as a pillar of the community and a pioneer in Southern hip hop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll never forget standing outside the Record shop in Bay City in 95\u2032 on Thursday for you to pull up with new swisha house tapes,\u201d one user wrote. \u201cYou\u2019ll be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other News<\/h2>\n

Cornyn campaign targets Paxton\u2019s alleged affairs as GOP Senate primary fight grows uglier<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

The men traded insults over a news report about campaign spending.<\/p>\n

\"Former
\nIdentity politics bites back in Texas Democratic Senate primary<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

Racial tensions over Talarico\u2019s alleged comment to influencer jeopardize the party\u2019s chances in Texas.<\/p>\n

\"Crockett
\nTexas school districts could face probes over ICE protests and walkouts, TEA warns<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

Gov. Greg Abbott called for an investigation amid students walkouts in the Fort Worth area and protests in Austin school district.<\/p>\n

\"A
\nDallas ranked Texas\u2019 top big city for singles in new study<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

SmartAsset says 45.8% of residents age 15 and older are single and have never been married.<\/p>\n

\"Students
\nVoucher applications open. Find schools in D-FW taking Texas Education Freedom Accounts<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

The Texas education savings account program will give some students about $10,000 in public money to pay for private school.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

Michael “5000” Watts’ passing has left a void in the Houston<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael “5000” Watts, Houston Hip-Hop Legend, Dies at 52 Michael \u201c5000\u201d Watts, a Houston hip-hop legend and founder of the Swishahouse record label, died Friday. He was 52. Watts died after developing Torsades de Pointes, a life-threatening abnormal heart rhythm condition, his family said in a statement. He had been hospitalized for almost a week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":21784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/55HOYJIK2NBSJFCKHQ2BSRARXM.png?auth=8cdaf8da5f37b8e70125b65554e33b85a58c160bdec310234ec567e520d06c54&quality=80&width=1200&height=630&smart=true","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21782"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21785,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21782\/revisions\/21785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}