Lil Flip

Five Artists Whose Careers Were Sparked By The Late DJ Screw

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As we celebrate the unparalleled career of the legendary Robert “DJ Screw” Davis Jr. during the week of his passing almost a quarter century ago, we decided to explore some of Houston’s most revered artists and how their career was founded and expanded due to their connection to DJ Screw. As the known originator of the famous “chopped and screwed” sound and the leader of H-Town’s Screwed Up Click, Screw released more than 350 mixtapes before his untimely passing in 2000. With chopped and screwed as his signature sound, he made tapes which he sold out his Screwed Up Records and Tapes store in Houston, solidifying himself as a businessman and a music innovator.

Here are just some of H-Town’s most respected artists that admittedly wouldn’t be where they are today if it weren’t for the foundation laid by the late DJ Screw.

Trae Tha Truth

Houston-born emcee and activist Trae Tha Truth, along with longtime collaborator Z-Ro in their group ABN, made their ascension in the game as members of the legendary Screwed Up Click, with the 44-year-old dropping 11 solo albums, over 25 mixtapes and now serves as VP of T.I.’s Grand Hustle Records. Trae is also well known for his philanthropy as the founder of both Angel by Nature, a charity aimed at helping the impoverished youth of Texas.

Lil Flip

Named Houston’s “freestyle king” by Screw himself, Lil Flip got his break in the game when Screw heard his debut album The Leprechaun on H-Town based label Sucka Free Records and put him down with the Screwed Up Click. Four years later, Flip signed a deal with Sony Urban Music and dropped his third album and first double-disc CD U Gotta Feel Me, which contained the popular single “Game Over(Flip”, earning him his first platinm plaque of his career.

Paul Wall

Even though Pau lWall repped North Houston and was under Michael “5000” Watts’ Swishahouse Records, his most popular singles, 2005’s “Sittin Sidewayz”, which samples a line from Big Pokey’s verse on DJ Screw’s “June 27th” and Mike Jones’ “Still Tippin” remix featuring Screwed Up Click’s Lil Keke and Big Pokey, set the tone for the duration of Wall’s career. Today, Wall is also an accomplished and proficient mixtape and party DJ, known for producing mixtapes in the famous chopped and screwed style, which was invented by DJ Screw.

Big Moe

Originating from Houston, Texas, and as one of the founding members of the “Original Screwed Up Click,” Big Moe started out in music by freestyling on DJ Screw mixtapes like many of his Houston peers. Big Moe’s debut album, City of Syrup, dropped in 2000). The title was a nod to Houston’s reputation for drinking codeine-laced syrup called “lean” or “sizzurp”, which Moe pours from a Styrofoam cup on the album’s cover. 

DJ Mike “5000” Watts

In the mid-1990s, chopped and screwed music started to move to the north side of Houston by way of Swishahouse Records founder DJ Michael “5000” Watts.  A rivalry between North and South Houston over the true originators of chopped and screwed began to arise, but Michael “5000” Watts always gave credit to DJ Screw as the originator of chopped and screwed music, although Watts has been a proponent of the slogan “screwed and chopped” instead of “chopped and screwed”.

Following the death of DJ Screw, his musical influence spread all over the southern United States. Later in 2000, the Memphis-based group Three 6 Mafia came out with their song “Sippin’ on Some Syrup”. The song debuted as a minor hit but later became one of Three 6 Mafia’s most popular songs.

The 2007 documentary film Screwed in Houston details the history of the Houston rap scene and the influence of the chopped and screwed subculture on Houston hip hop. In 2011, University of Houston Libraries acquired over 1,000 albums owned by DJ Screw. Some of the albums were part of an exhibit in early 2012 and, along with the rest, went available for research in 2013. Today, the chopped and screwed music genre has been added to all forms of streaming services including iTunes, Spotify and has crossed over to receive mass mainstream appeal.

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Bun B and Friends Draws Crowd of 73,000+ For RodeoHouston H-Town Takeover Show

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Bun B Says Tory Lanez Shooting Megan Thee Stallion Was 'Some Whore Sh*t'

As Bun B concluded is performance for Black Heritage Night during RodeoHouston, he knew that he just did something that probably wouldn’t be duplicated. As he rode on the Ford F 150 exiting the NRG Stadium, tears shed as he thanked people for attending. He didn’t just thanked fans for coming out, he thanked them for being apart of this historical night. A night not only dedicated to him, but dedicated to Houston’s entire Hip Hop culture.

“Some artists, myself included, were brought to tears by this opportunity,” Bun told ABC 13. “For many years as an entertainer, I had high aspirations, but the rodeo was never on that list. I just didn’t think that was a place that would be accepting of me and 30 years later, boy was I wrong.”

The Trill OG, told Houston CultureMap that he “didn’t want to didn’t want anyone to have a good reason not to come to this show.” Despite temperatures being in the 40 with a 70 percent chance to rain on March 11, the day of Bun B’s H-Town Takeover concert, everybody still came. He pulled off record-breaking numbers in fact.

His concert drew in a crowd of 73,259 fans, and as of today, that’s the largest crowd of any 2022 rodeo concerts. Another historical milestone attendees witness at RodeoHouston was that Bun B became the first Black male headliner from Houston in Rodeo Houston’s history.

Bun added, “There was a concerted effort to include as many Houstonians in this show as possible.” Let’s just say mission accomplished. The H-Town Takeover concert included the heavy hitters of Houston Hip Hop. Bun brought out, That Girl Lay Lay, Z-Ro, Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Lil Ke Ke, Lil Flip, Tobe Nwigwe, LeToya Luckett, Devin the Dude, Baby Bash, Big Pokey, Frankie J, Willie D, J. Prince, ESG, and  H-Town.

Paul Wall, the People’s Champ, also felt emotional being apart of this.

“It was such a surreal moment,” he said. “Performing in my hometown, with my idols and mentors, at the biggest stage imaginable, and on my birthday at that.”

Wall and Luckett shared birthdays on this date and Bun asked fans to sing “Happy Birthday” to them.

“It’s been difficult to choose my favorite aspect of the show, but the birthday song really touched my heart. Behind my Versace shades, I was holding back a few tears of gratitude,” Wall added.

Along with the star-studded line up, Bun also brought the culture to the rodeo. He brought out all kinds of slabs, with elbows poking and pop trunk waving. Slabs, elbows and pop trunk are all H-town slang for the make up of your car. A slab is slang for your customized car. Elbows are swangers, the Texas Wide Wheel rims that make your car a slab, and pop trunk is the act of waving a trunk. This is accomplished by a a computerized mechanism that allows a driver to open their trunk without a key. This allows the driver to ride with the trunk as high or low as they want.

He also paid respect to the legendary lost rappers of the Houston culture. He paid special homage to Screwed Up Click founder “DJ Screw, the other half of UGK Pimp C, Fat Pat, Big Hawk, and Big Mello.

Bun B honored the legacy of Pimp C in another way as well. He not only recited verse from “Big Pimpin,” and the “International Players Anthem,” but he also made sure he got his own dressing room for RodeoHouston.

Bun B and Pimp C formed UGK – Underground Kingz – as teenagers growing up in Port Arthur and hit it big when their classic album Too Hard to Swallow dropped in 1992. They followed that up with more classic albums like Super Tight in 1994 and Ridin’ Dirty in 1996.

Pimp C died in a Los Angeles hotel room in 2007.

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