On Thursday (March 17) throughout an informative panel at South by Southwest 2022, DJ Screw’s household, associates, and shut collaborators mentioned the life and legacy of the late Houston Hip-Hop pioneer. Titled “How DJ Screw Hatched His Personal Houston Rap Scene,” the dialogue included Derrick “D-Reck” Dixon, founding father of Wreckshop Data; OG Ron C, co-founder of Swishahouse Data; DJ Screw’s older sister and chief of Screwville, Michelle Wheeler; and Lance Scott Walker, writer of the soon-to-be-released DJ Screw: A Life In Gradual Revolution.
“His love for music, it simply developed proper there on Harris road the place we lived,” remembered Wheeler. “His chopped and screwed [style]… [It] was very fascinating, to look at him develop his music expertise and watch him scratch up my mama’s data as a result of he didn’t like a tune, or regardless of the case could also be. As a substitute of placing it again within the sleeve and placing it again on the shelf, he actually simply [makes record scratch sound], my mama couldn’t hearken to it anymore, or if she did it skipped. To look at him develop that and him develop that approach, for me, it was one thing that you just’ll by no means, ever neglect.”
She added later, “For Screw… you recognize, you sit again and surprise, I want he was right here to see this unfold, but when he was right here, this wouldn’t be unfolding like this.”
Collectively, the panel reminisced on the hyper creativity and musical mindset DJ Screw lived with and mentioned how his legacy lives on by way of not solely Houston rap artists however in Hip-Hop tradition basically. OG Ron C mirrored on how DJ Screw pioneered new territory for DJs who aimed to raise their passions into full-time careers.
“At the moment, DJing, it wasn’t actually a well-liked factor,” OG Ron C remembered. “You’ll be able to’t make a residing off of DJing. That’s what we had been instructed. When she [Wheeler] was saying DJ Screw made a option to show that incorrect, that was touching for me. That is what I needed to show to my folks, too. Like, no, I’m gonna make a residing off being a DJ, if I gotta be the primary one to show youngsters and present everyone [in] the world you can make a residing doing what you like to do, what your ardour is to do.”
A number of movies are in improvement that’ll discover the life and legacy of DJ Screw. D-Reck gave an replace on the progress of these initiatives, and the information was confirmed to VIBE by producer/filmmaker Isaac “Chill” Yowman, who was within the viewers throughout the SXSW panel.
“It’s coming,” responded D-Reck when requested about potential motion pictures and documentary movies. “The advantage of Screw’s story is that his story is about 10 years in Houston music… I’m trying ahead to popping out. I take a look at it prefer it’s going to be our Straight Outta Compton, as a result of there’s no approach you possibly can inform a narrative with out telling so many intricate characters that got here alongside the best way. That motion it was a lot extra than simply music. It was an entire tradition, an entire language, a lingo, and all the things else about it.”
He continued, “Quite a lot of analysis, [a] lot of effort and vitality went into getting this far.”
DJ Screw handed away in 2000 from what was labeled a codeine overdose in his studio. In his profession, he launched a homegrown motion that created the “chopped and screwed” fashion and sound. Born Robert Earl Davis Jr., Screw launched over 350 mixtapes and led the collective Screwed Up Click on with artists together with Massive Hawk, Massive Moe, E.S.G., Fats Pat, Lil Flip, Lil Keke, and Trae Tha Reality.