Supposedly his entire catalog is coming to streaming services
If you’re a fan of his work (such as myself), this is really cool. For years, YouTube was the only way to listen to his mixes.
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I’m curious, how did you first become aware of DJ Screw? How old were you at that time?
I couldn’t necessarily pinpoint a moment I became aware, just always knew about him given I’m from Houston
However, I have older brothers, one of whom used to actually go to DJ screw’s mixtape shop back in the late 90s to get original copies. I was like 2-4 years old in the late 90s
He threw them all away in the trash for whatever reason a long time ago unfortunately
That’s too bad he threw them away. Yea I was just curious because of our age difference in how you may have first really come to know of him. I knew it would be different than mine.
I remember people having screw tapes in high school, but I only remember them really being listened to by African Americans. I don’t think he had quite crossed over yet in Houston. He died when I was living in Arizona so it just wasn’t news there. Then I’m not sure when I really realized he was a big part of Houston culture probably around 2002 when I was really out and about interacting with a lot of different people across Houston. His legend grew over time.
Yeah Houston’s hip hip history really runs quite deep.
The early days of Houston’s hip hop scene (Geto Boys, Street Military) had more of the East Coast/New York sound. - 80s/mid 90s
UGK was sort of the bridge between the above era and DJ Screw. Sort of a hybrid with east coast lyricism and southern-style instrumentation. - 90s
Then after that era was the DJ Screw era (included artists like Fat Pat, Big Moe, ESG, Big Hawk, Big Pokey) → In my opinion, this era is what I consider to be Houston’s iconic sound and style relative to sounds of other regions in the US, but this era never really materialized commercially because many of them passed away unfortunately before they had a chance to grow. - 90s
And then there was the mid 2000s era which is the era that got the most national notoriety (Paul Wall, Mike Jones, Slim Thug, Chamillionaire, Lil Flip) → This era was reallly hit or miss for me. It Put Houston on the map, and they carried much of the DJ Screw legacy, but they were also very commercial-sounding and pretentious in my opinion. The talent was there, but the execution was just hit or miss - Early - Mid 2000s
Yea, absolutely was more tuned in to the Geto Boys and that area. Bushwick Bill once lived near me, used to see him at the bank or other random places. Geto Boys were major.
Who?
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