On DJ Screw
I don’t get DJ Screw. I mean, I greatly appreciate his music, but I’ll never fully understand it. How could I? When he passed away I had only just heard of him and his movement, having had a few cursory glimpses of his world by way of Napster downloads. The man had such a unique and immensely community driven impact that any outsider interpretation comes close to pure speculation. There was a time when dudes waited in lines around his block like fiends for his latest tape while we now just wait 60 seconds for a download ticket.
Today Screw is getting more press than ever thanks in part to interlopers who have affected his aesthetic (though rarely his emotionality). This turn of events would be frustrating if it wasn’t always his plan. As he told the Source, in what I believe was his first national press feature, he genuinely wanted to screw the world. The fact that white bisexual heroin addicted art students from the midwest, Sweedish chicks in bird masks and half Jewish Canadian ex-child actors are now biting/sweating/worshipping him only means that he’s succeeded in that mission.*
But focusing on influence alone almost seems like an affront to his talents. Screw wasn’t just a building block or a point on a timeline, the guy made great stand alone mixtapes that still sound as fresh as they ever did. Hundreds of them. We could talk about his slowing technique and I could use words like murky and hazy and invoke drug spirits but you have all heard that already. Instead let’s consider what I think was Screw’s greatest talent as a selector – selection. Where many DJs allow their hands to be tied by hits and “classics,” Screw was only ever beholden to own convictions. He built his own canon. I love, for example, that C-Bo was his favorite rapper. In his world Bay Area mob music and old school New York 808 work outs and the many twisted branches of the NWA family tree and Steel Pulse and Street Military were all interchangeable parts. He found their commonalities and then literally drew out an entirely new genre of music from them. Style is immaterial, it can be borrowed and repurposed and butchered. But honest and reliable taste is a true rarity. R.I.P. DJ Screw.
Related: Ten Screw Tapes
* This is also a nice example, to the date, of the Riley Theorem in action: “Ten years from now it’s gonna be some white kids making music that sounds like Lil Jon and black folks are gonna have moved on, but that music is going to be called the intelligent music.”
Tumblin' Erb
November 16th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
“We could talk about his slowing technique and I could use words like murky and hazy and invoke drug spirits but you have all heard that already. Instead let’s consider what I think was Screw’s greatest talent as a selector – selection.”
when are you going to write the encyclopedia of rap?
November 16th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I agree 100 percent with what you’re saying in the last paragraph here, Noz. But my story absolutely does not focus on his influence alone. The lead and conclusion notwithstanding (You have to understand it was written to be published in a newspaper in a country where more people know who Karin Dreijer Andersson is than know where Houston is), it’s about his experience in Houston, and his role as his region’s central musical curator during his lifetime.
November 16th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
“But my story absolutely does not focus on his influence alone.”
Sorry, it wasn’t my intent to suggest that it does.
November 16th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Great read. Realniggatumblr upp’ed this great collection of DJ Screw C&S’ed 90s East Coast and West Coast two months ago. It’s great – http://realniggatumblr.tumblr.com/post/1249911140/realniggatumblr-presents-throwed-ass-jams-vol-1
November 16th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
I was born in Houston in 1990 and then moved to San Antonio shortly after. I remember when I first got into Dj Screw, and chopped & screwed music all around. when I was in seventh grade, 2 years after his death…I swear to god its the only music we would listen to..my crew and the rest of the school. Even at the young age of 12 and 13…you couldve asked anyone and they wouldve been able to name their favorite screw tape. It was special…and obviously still is. I am glad he is getting the respect he deserves, not as a rap dj or screw dj, but as an artist that went against the grain, and succeeded.
November 16th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
In order to understand DJ Screw you must go way back, but it is possible. Just like it is possible to understand the Bealtes (even though most people cannot really explain why the LOOOOOOOVVVE the Beatles). Screw started back in 92′. Texas rap was not about biting etc, southern rap was/is more narrative based. Like Noz, said, Screw simply picked the songs he liked and put them on mix tapes. He slowed down the songs so we could hear the stories and listen, zone in and out, chop up good lines so we could hear them again, and then let the song “continue to roll.”(Z-RO). H-Town rap is like a puzzle and once you understand it, it totaly makea sense that screw music would come from Houston. It is reflective, cyclical, loyal, and genuine. No wonder it will only go “platinum in the ghetto.” (Lil Keke).
this is an excerpt I wrote on screw a while back–>
Robert Earl Davis, Jr. also known as DJ Screw was a music pioneer from Houston, Texas and legendary founder of the Screwed Up Click. DJ Screw is known for chopping and screwing popular and underground rap songs and putting the songs on mix tapes. Chopping and screwing music consists of substantially slowing down the tempo of a song and scratching parts of the song (bringing back a good line a few times). Take this classic (please click hyperlink). Intellectual property experts and music critics would say DJ Screw was simply taking other artist’s music, altering it minimally, and then re-releasing it for a profit. These “experts” do not understand the “rap game.” Mix tapes are how rap artists promote their music. The punk rock world similarly has “compilations” and “splits.” Further, if DJ Screw screwed and chopped a song, it was the highest compliment a rapper could receive. Put another way, it would be as if I Tweeted a joke, Jerry Seinfeld read it, and then re-Tweeted it. DJ Screw has profoundly influenced mainstream rap culture in a variety of ways. He still gets respect in current mainstream songs (see time 1:24). Drake adopted DJ Screw’s chopped and screwed style in the November 18 song. T Pain and Ludacris even adopted a new meaning for chopped and screwed, with their song called Chopped N Screwed.
November 17th, 2010 at 1:39 am
Nice! So true, consider the B side to the “Screwed Up Texas” tape, one of the last ones (now D.O.T.O. #81):
Comrads – That There
DJ Quik – Don’t Wanna Party With You
Eminem – Drug Ballad
Big Moe, Z-Ro, Tyte Eyez – City of Syrup
Ice Cube – Waitin to Hate
Icey Hott & Klondike Kat – Ghetto Love
Daz Dillinger – Baccstabbers
I guess it’s harder to talk about than his sonic imagination, but Screw was just as brilliant with his selections on any given tape.
November 17th, 2010 at 2:28 am
WORD UP CB RAPS! I LOVE YOU!
November 17th, 2010 at 4:52 am
I love you too, nico.
November 17th, 2010 at 5:28 am
“Style is immaterial, it can be borrowed and repurposed and butchered. But honest and reliable taste is a true rarity.”
maybe im just drunk and its 5am but this is the realest shit u ever wrote man
November 17th, 2010 at 8:40 am
i’m late, but goddamn i never read that riley theory post. that’s some real shit dude.
November 17th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Yeah he had his own cannon he played from, there’s a good number of songs that I considered skippable in the context of the albums they appeared on, but given the right placement on a screw tape and a 2-3 minute instrumental interlude getting cut up, I’d hear them in a whole new light.
That’s always the mark of a good dj btw, but few manage to pull it off regularly, much less develop a whole new form in the process.
November 17th, 2010 at 9:59 am
You are a gift to the world, Noz, even though I disagree with some of the things you say. No homo.
November 17th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
“Yeah he had his own cannon he played from, there’s a good number of songs that I considered skippable in the context of the albums they appeared on, but given the right placement on a screw tape and a 2-3 minute instrumental interlude getting cut up, I’d hear them in a whole new light.”
This is a great point.
November 17th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
‘“Style is immaterial, it can be borrowed and repurposed and butchered. But honest and reliable taste is a true rarity.”
maybe im just drunk and its 5am but this is the realest shit u ever wrote man’
Nah, you’re not just drunk. That is some real shit. The most interesting artists create their own world. Just like Screw. R.I.P.
November 17th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Never knew that C-Bo was his favourite rapper, but it makes sense since most of the Screw tapes I’ve heard have a song by him on them.
Prefer the Screwed version of ‘Bo’s Autopsy to the real version.
November 17th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
white bisexual heroin addicted art students from the midwest: ?
Swedish chicks in bird masks:?
Half Jewish Canadian ex-child actors: Drake
Who is the bisexual and the Swedish chick?
November 17th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Midwest H= Salem
Swede= Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife/Fever Ray
I was under the impression from that Screw doc that a lot of tapes were based on homies requests… that doesn’t invalidate saying he’s a G-selector, but it just doesn’t seem that far away from the critiques you’re placing on others superficial works…
November 17th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
i have a bunch of screw tape rips but i am no expert on the man…
did he ever chop and screw anything that couldn’t be considered hip hop or r&b? are there any single songs out there in any of his mixes outside of these genres? and complete non hip hop mixes?
November 17th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Listen to some Led Zeppelin right now and I think if Screw got his hands on some of their albums it would sound pretty good.
November 18th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Screw could Screw anything, mayne. I get how you can put new/better dimensions to a rap song, cause Screw understood the songs better than the people who made it, sometimes, just like people pointed out. But when I heard him do it to a Bob MArley song many years ago, I understood that he was a musical genius, period.
On the “swedish chick” , I figure the lil’ brother’s the one who got it from Screw, even though I’m sure he could mention quite a few other inspirations as well for that vocal landscape.
November 18th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
what the hell is going on with bands like Salem, White Ring and Oneotrix Point Never. There is a huge movement of these art house kids co-opting the screw sound and even adding their own raps and gunshots. Is it meant to be a big ironic joke?
November 18th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
I’m just sayin if u ain’t from TEXAS u not suppose 2 understand how we do things. Tired of fools gettin on here wit there lil internet storys talkin down like they know Whut we bout fools thank drank just came out and shit I remember hearin storys bout how my moms and pops use 2 SIP when u from here sippin is just the way of life down here. Me myself I remember when alot of these rappers can out they wouldn’t even get no play down here unless that man slowed it down. I hate my nigga is known 4 the wrong shit all I can say is my nigga u did it u SCREWED THE WORLD now everybody know who DJ SCREW is. Got everybody tryin 2 b like us there will never b another SCREW. TEXAS IN THA DOOR GET WIT OR GET ROLLED OVER.
RIP my nigga.
November 18th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
ya’ll ever notice that Bobby Hill kinda looks like DJ Screw.
November 18th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
I also happen to think screw is up there with the best of them. i ain’t from texas and I don’t know what those dudes are thinkin but I love these screw tapes… legendary.
November 18th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
I feel his muzik is pretty on point for the modern fast world… everyone needs to slow down
shit it just sounds so fuckin smooth, best shit to get high to, best shit to fuck to, its ethereal
November 18th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
i like fuckin to dj screw’s mix of the westside connect’s THE WORLD IS MINE. yea.
November 18th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
it’s amazing to see people from all walks of life appreciate and intepret screw’s music in their own way. but i think C&S music really highlights something important – sometimes there is no totally accurate way to analyze or describe something with words. the music gives you feelings, and thoughts come from those feelings. not the other way around. that may sound like an analytical cop-out. but really you could write 100000000 words on screw and never convey his awesomeness properly. or you could take your audience on a blunt ride through some backroads while they have some personal shit on their mind, put on a dj screw CD, and watch it just click.
November 19th, 2010 at 11:33 am
From Houston and we still have Screwed Up Sundays. He’s remembered through every and any rapper from or who knows about Houston. We still sip that lean and still jam to them screw tapes. It ain’t an everyday thing but it’s still part of the lifestyle, culture. People are bastardizing Screws legacy in their own way but that happens to everything you just accept it and move on. I don’t know no white bisexuals or Swedish chicks though.
He did his thing, he started a movement, he’ll be remembered for that and through that. Appreciate it, RIP my nig.
November 21st, 2010 at 5:01 pm
[...] On DJ Screw – Noz pays tribute to DJ Screw for his abilities as a selector and consequently, a canon builder. [...]
November 22nd, 2010 at 9:00 am
@hypo , if you feel screw represent texas, be happy people like him.
2. If you think texas is the only place you can get proper high you wrong
November 24th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
if you gopt screw tapes you better hold on to them because i guarantee you in the near future there going to worth some bread. shit i’d give somebody $20 for that after da kappa and that mike watts shit.
November 25th, 2010 at 12:07 am
@mr shiggity: hold up are you serious? i have been dreaming of the day post-Screw screwtapes become valuable…
November 25th, 2010 at 12:26 am
also is it just me or does none of this witch house stuff actually sound like Screw or the Houston stuff surrounding Screw? all I hear is SCARY GOTH stuff, somewhat reminiscent of SCARY TRIPLE-SIX Memphis beats (which is dope, don’t get me wrong) but that’s about it. are any of the bisexual Swedish broads dropping straight up FUNKY ASS SHIT for your system? because that’s what they should go for if they really want to evoke the Screwdup Syrup Spirits or whatever.
November 28th, 2010 at 4:59 am
DJ CLUE & DJ SCREW=GREATEST DJ’S OF THE 90′S
November 29th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
the last few sentences of this piece are really special. this is one of the best things i’ve ever read of yours
December 4th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
On rare occasions I come across DJ Screw cassette tapes that date back to his first attempts at choppin & screwin. Its not the easiest music to listed to, unless you got some syrup in ya. lol
Never knew C-Bo was his favorite west coast rapper, thanks for the knowledge!
December 6th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Screwston Texas represent!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv3SEsnCEUE
December 20th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Screw was only ever beholden to own convictions
While this is true its also false what isnt understood in this logic is; Screw was truly and embodiment of his environment our culture our beliefs. Texas or houston music was more connected to the west people could get fucked up for listen to biggie or have an opinion other than what you were hearing on those screw tapes IN our society and in that time the underground was the mainstream
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:16 pm
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
What so unfortunate about DJ Screw is that most don’t understand what it was that he doing. Most just hear “slowed down” rap. They don’t get that he was spinning two records, and it was SELECTION and mixing that made him famous. Dude had mad turn-table skills too. I never would have known who Mac Mall, Mac Dre, C-Bo, Conscious Daughters, etc were if Screw hadn’t exposed me to Bay Area rap. When Screw finally got some real studio time, the stuff he dropped was SICK. I remember listening one of his CD’s with headphones on, and I seriously discovered another layer of music that I hadn’t heard before. Screw would take H-Town rap songs that were pretty good; and remix them (not just slow them down) and turn them into CLASSICS. These are good examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SNDoLXYtpc&playnext=1&list=PL7503473145DF1F73 The guy was fucken GENIUS.