Originating in the Southern rap mecca Houston, South Park Mexican (SPM) slowly built up his own personally run record label, Dope House Records, for years before eventually signing a distribution deal with Universal Records. With the promising deal in place, SPM stood on the verge of extending his reach outside of the South and becoming one of the first Mexican-American rappers to attain national success. He unfortunately never fulfilled his promise. First, his releases for Universal failed to top the charts during the early 2000s, and then he went to prison in June 2002 after a Houston jury convicted him of sexually assault.