The Ultimate Dirty South Rap Collection
DJ Screw
DJ Screw
Biography
DJ Screw, born Robert Earl Davis, Jr. (July 20, 1971 – November 16, 2000, was a central figure in the Houston hip hop scene. His innovation included the trademark technique of slowing down the basic tracks of a cut when he remixed it.
DJ Screw was born in Bastrop, Texas to Robert Earl Davis, Sr. DJ Screw had lived in Smithville, Houston, and Los Angeles; at one point his father took him to Houston in order to keep him from trouble. There DJ Screw lived in a working class, mostly African American neighborhood near Hobby Airport described by Michael Hall of Texas Monthly as “hard-edged.” DJ Screw dropped out of Sterling High School during his 10th grade year and focused on music.
DJ Screw began deejaying at age 13, and started his trademark slowed down mixes in 1984. During the early 1990s, he invited some of Houston’s most renowned rappers from the south side of the city to flow on his Screw tapes. This eventually led to the formation of the Screwed Up Click.
After spending most of the 1990s as an infamous local phenomenon in Houston, TX, DJ Screw suddenly found himself gaining sudden notoriety before his unfortunate death in late 2000. The Houston DJ made a name for himself primarily because of his uncanny mixing style, which found him pitching down his records to a lumbering and quite eerie pace. Over the course of the ’90s, what began as novelty actually became a rather lucrative venture for DJ Screw, who produced hundreds of mix tapes, with some estimates projecting his total number of tapes topping over a thousand; furthermore, he sold the tapes at his record store, Screwed Up Records and Tapes.
Yet it’s hard to imagine DJ Screw’s legacy being what it is if not for his role as an adamant advocate of “syrup sippin’,” a Southern rap phenomenon involving codeine-infused cough syrup — the resulting intoxication induces a hallucinatory state where everything slows down and becomes the senses swirl. As marijuana was to early-’90s gangsta rap, LSD was to late-’60s psychedelic rock, ecstasy was to late-’80s rave — and so on — the syrup sippin’ advocated by DJ Screw’s trippy hip-hop mixes led to a small drug movement within the late-’90s Dirty South genre, reaching its zenith with Three 6 Mafia’s hit “Sippin’ on Some Syrup” in 2000. It’s hard to deny that this phenomenon wasn’t as important to DJ Screw’s popularity as his music was (especially considering some of his tape titles: Syrup & Soda, Syrup Sippers, Sippin’ Codeine, etc.) Still, DJ Screw did serve as a leader for Houston’s burgeoning rap scene; his home studio, The Screw Shop, functioned as the home base for what was loosely referred to as the Screwed Up Click, including rappers such as Big Pokey and Lil’ Keke, along with about 30 others were known locally.
Ironically, when DJ Screw was found dead in his studio of a fatal heart attack at the tender age of 30 on the morning of November 16, 2000, the Houston Chronicle published a story stating that police suspected DJ Screw of overdosing on the same syrup that he so adamantly advocated. Weeks later the theory proved valid, making the artist the victim of his own self-promoted phenomenon. More unfortunate, though, was the loss of DJ Screw to Houston’s fledging scene, which seemed on the verge of being nationally recognized as a Southern rap mecca. His legacy lived on, though, since his trademark mixing style was by no means exclusive, as countless imitators had arisen in the South by the time of his death, the most noteworthy being the Swisha House and Beltway 8 record labels.
Discography |
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DJ Screw - 3 'N The Mornin' (Part One) |
Bigtyme Recordz | 1995 |
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DJ Screw – Bigtyme Vol II All Screwed Up |
Bigtyme Recordz | 1995 |
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DJ Screw - 3 'N The Mornin' (Part Two) |
Bigtyme Recordz | 1995 |
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DJ Screw - I Wanna Get High With Da Blanksta |
Bigtyme Recordz | 1996 |
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DJ Screw & The Screwed Up Click Presents Dead End Alliance - Screwed For Life |
Dead End Records | 1998 |
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DJ Screw - All Work No Play |
Jam Down Records | 1999 |
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DJ Screw - The Legend |
Bigtyme Recordz | 2001 |
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DJ Screw & The Screwed Up Click - Soldiers United 4 Cash: The Soundtrack |
TJ Music, Reliant Entertainment | 2002 |
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DJ Screw - Sentimental Value |
Wreckless Entertainment | 2002 |
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DJ Screw - As The World Turns Slow |
Wreckless Entertainment | 2002 |
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DJ Screw - All Work No Play Vol. 2 |
Reliant Entertainment | 2002 |
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DJ Screw - June 27 |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2004 |
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DJ Screw - N 2 Deep |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2004 |
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DJ Screw - The Final Chapter |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2004 |
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DJ Screw - Flows From The Lost Grey Tapes |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2004 |
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DJ Screw - 11 • 16 • 00 |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2005 |
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DJ Screw - Playaz Nite |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2005 |
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DJ Screw & The Screwed Up Click - Soldiers United For Cash Vol. 2 |
Starz Music | 2005 |
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DJ Screw - Anniversary Day |
Wreckless Entertainment | 2005 |
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DJ Screw - The Greatest Hits |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2005 |
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DJ Screw - June 27 |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2007 |
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DJ Screw - June 27 (Limited Edition) |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2007 |
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DJ Screw - 11 • 16 • 00 Volume 2 |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2007 |
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DJ Screw - 11 • 16 • 00 Volume 3 |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2008 |
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DJ Screw & The Screwed Up Click - Fallen Soldiers |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2008 |
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DJ Screw - 11.16.09 |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2009 |
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DJ Screw - Forever |
Music Access Inc. | 2013 |
Guest Appearances |
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3-2 - The Wicked Buddah Baby |
Rap-A-Lot Records | 1996 |
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DJ DMD - Eleven |
Inner Soul Records | 1997 |
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Botany Boys - Thought Of Many Ways |
Big Shot Records | 1997 |
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Point Blank - N-Tha-Do' |
Bigtyme Recordz | 1997 |
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Rashid - The Game |
E&R Records | 1997 |
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Lil' Keke - The Commission |
Jam Down Records, Breakaway Entertainment | 1998 |
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K-Rino - No Mercy |
Electric City Records | 1999 |
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PSK-13 - Pay Like You Weigh |
Nightshift Muzik | 1999 |
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Point Blank - Bad Newz Travels Fast |
Bigtyme Recordz | 1999 |
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C-Note Of The Botany Boyz - Third Coast Born |
Big Shot Records | 1999 |
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Lil' O - Blood Money |
Game Face Entertainment | 1999 |
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Botany Boyz - Forever Botany |
Big Shot Records | 1999 |
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DJ Screw & The Screwed Up Click Presents Southside Playaz - Street Game |
Laftex Records | 2000 |
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H.A.W.K. - Under H.A.W.K.'s Wings |
Dead End Records | 2000 |
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Big Moe - City Of Syrup |
Wreckshop Records | 2000 |
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Tow Down - By Prescription Only |
D.I.M.E. Records | 2000 |
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DJ DMD - Thirty-Three: Live From Hiroshima |
Inner Soul Records | 2001 |
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D-Drew - Down South Still Holdin' |
Ice Bird Entertainment | 2001 |
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DJ DMD - Fourty-Four: 3rd Coast Classics Vol. 1 |
Inner Soul Records | 2002 |
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Chris Ward & Big Pokey - Mob 4 Life |
Mobb Style Entertainment | 2003 |
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K-Rino - Ten Year Run (1993-2003) |
Black Book International | 2003 |
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Point Blank The Bull - Just When You Thought It Was Safe |
Wreckless Entertainment | 2004 |
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Fat Pat - Since The Gray Tapes Vol. 2 |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2005 |
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Lil' O - Blood Money: The Retold Story (Deluxe Edition) |
Bar None Entertainment | 2006 |
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Lil' O - My Struggle My Hustle (The Lost Tapes) |
Bar None Entertainment | 2006 |
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C-Note - Texas Hold 'Em |
SoSouth | 2010 |
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Screwed Up Click - The Take Over |
Double Tap Entertainment | 2014 |
Compilations |
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Down South Hustlers - Bouncin' And Swingin' |
No Limit Records, Priority Records | 1995 |
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Various - Young Southern Playaz Vol. 1 |
Brutal Records, Priority Records | 1996 |
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Various - King George Presents Playas & Hustlas |
Highness Records, Me & Mine Entertainment | 1997 |
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Poetic-1 & D-Diggs - Sex, Drugs & Rap |
Mobb Status Entertainment | 1999 |
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Various - Realest Ni@@as Down South |
Rap-A-Lot Records, Priority Records | 1999 |
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Various - Straight From The Streetz Presents The Houston Hard Hitters Vol. 1 |
Paid In Full Entertainment | 1999 |
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Various - Somethin' For The Whodi's |
Priority Records | 2001 |
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Fat Pat - Greatest Hits |
Wreckshop Records | 2001 |
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Various - Al-D Presents Unconditional Luv: A Memorial To DJ Screw |
Power House Records, Fukusumi Music Group | 2002 |
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Various - Caught Up Down $outh: The Untold Story Vol. 1 |
First Degree Records | 2002 |
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Various - Platinum Players: The Game Is To Be Sold Not Told |
Irie Productions | 2002 |
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Big Moe - Classics Vol. 1 |
Wreckshop Records | 2004 |
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Various - SoSouth - Texastonez, Vol. 3 |
SoSouth | 2005 |
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Big Moe - The Best Of |
Wreckshop Records | 2007 |
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Various - K-Rino And The Texas All-Stars (South Park Coalition) |
Black Book International | 2011 |
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Lil C - Best Of Lil C |
Brickmade Entertainment | 2013 |
Remix |
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E.S.G. - Ocean Of Funk |
Perrion Entertainment | 1994 |
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E.S.G. - Sailin' Da South |
Perrion Entertainment, Priority Records | 1995 |
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Aggravated - Accept |
Aggravated Records | 1995 |
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Down South Hustlers - Bouncin' And Swingin' |
No Limit Records, Priority Records | 1995 |
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Al-D - Home Of The Free |
Jam Down Records | 1996 |
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DJ DMD - Eleven |
Inner Soul Records | 1997 |
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Lil' Keke - Don't Mess Wit Texas |
Jam Down Records | 1997 |
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Lil' Keke - The Commission |
Jam Down Records, Breakaway Entertainment | 1998 |
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Various - Realest Ni@@as Down South |
Rap-A-Lot Records, Priority Records | 1999 |
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Lil' Flip - The Leprechaun |
Sucka Free Records | 2000 |
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Point Blank The Bull - My Personal Screw Tape |
Wreckless Entertainment | 2003 |
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Fat Pat - Since The Gray Tapes |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2005 |
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Fat Pat - Since The Gray Tapes Vol. 2 |
Screwed Up Click Entertainment | 2005 |
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UGK - The Bigtyme Way |
RBC Records, Bigtyme Recordz | 2011 |
Production |
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Al-D - Home Of The Free |
Jam Down Records | 1996 |
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Various - 5th Ward (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Vol. 1 |
Fishbowl Records | 1997 |
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Various - King George Presents Playas & Hustlas |
Highness Records, Me & Mine Entertainment | 1997 |
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DJ Screw & The Screwed Up Click Presents Southside Playaz - Street Game |
Laftex Records | 2000 |
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Mike-D. Aka Bosshog Corleone - His Greatest Flows: My Gift To The World |
Corleone Family Entertainment | 2003 |