High With The Blanksta - Music

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. He Was The Main Mix Tape Mixer For The Huge Screwed Up Click. He 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. He 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. What Originally Was Only A Fad Of Houston Chopped And Screwed Music Started Getting More Widespread Attention With The Introduction Of P2p Programs Such As Napster In The Late 90s. This Ultimately Led To DJ Screw Getting Recognition Across The Country And Being Known As One Of Biggest Faces In Modern Hip-Hop. Www.Screwedupclick.Com. 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 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 Houston-Based Record Store Screwed Up Records And Tapes. Oddly Enough He Preferred To Release His Mixes Almost Exclusively On Cassette Though Fans Often Recorded The Mixes And Traded Them Via The Internet In Addition Countless "screwed" Remixes Of Popular Rap Anthems Were Widely Available On Napster Thanks To His Cultish Following. Yet It's Hard To Imagine 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 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 Screw's Popularity As His Music Was Especially Considering Some Of His Tape Titles Syrup & Soda Syrup Sippers Sippin' Codeine Etc. Still 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 Semi-Successful Rappers Such As Big Pokey And Lil' Keke Along With About 30 Others Were Known Locally. Ironically When Screw Was Found Dead In His Studio Of A Fatal Heart Attack At The Tender Age Of 29 On The Morning Of November 16 2000 The Houston Chronicle Published A Story Stating That Police Suspected 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 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. - Jason Birchmeier All Music Guide read less