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DJ Screw

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

DJ Screw, born Robert Earl Davis Jr. in 1971, was an American hip hop DJ from Houston, Texas, and the inventor of the chopped-and-screwed technique. He grew up in Smithville, where as a child he wanted to be a driver like his father. The 1984 film Breakin' and his mother's turntable led him to music. He began as a DJ at the age of twelve and from 1990 made his characteristic slowed-down mixes.

Music and breakthrough

That slowed-down style became his most important work in 1991 and 1992. The mixes began as special compilations for friends. Later he put them on sale, and fans from Dallas and Waco queued outside his house in Houston. He started a business of his own, Screwed Up Records and Tapes, and led the group Screwed Up Click. He released more than 350 mixtapes. In 2000 he died of a codeine overdose, aged twenty-nine. A wider audience only discovered his legacy around 2005.

Influence

What DJ Screw did is best heard as a sound that has been slowed down. The tempo drops, the voices become deeper and the whole acquires a heavy, dragging atmosphere. Many later artists adopted that style.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to one of his mixtapes, such as Diary of the Originator: Chapter 354. Notice how the slowed-down tempo and the deep voices change the familiar songs.

Discography

Studio albums

Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsSouthern hip hop and crunk