All Work No Play
| DJ Screw | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Robert Earl Davis Jr. |
| Also known as | The Originator, Screwzoo |
| Born |
July 20, 1971 Smithville, Texas, U.S |
| Origin | Houston, Texas, United States |
| Died | November 16, 2000 (aged 29) Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Genres | Chopped and screwed, Southern hip hop, psychedelic hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | Disc jockey, rapper |
| Instruments | Turntables, vocals |
| Years active | 1983–2000 |
| Labels | Screwed Up Records, Bigtyme Recordz, Wreckshop Records |
| Associated acts | Screwed Up Click, Z-Ro, Trae, SPM, Lil' Flip, Chamillionaire, Slim Thug, Pimp C, Lil' Keke, Fat Pat, Big Pokey, Big Hawk, Botany Boyz, Southside Playaz, UGK, Big Moe, South Park Coalition, K-Rino |
Robert Earl Davis Jr. (July 20, 1971 – November 16, 2000), better known by his stage name DJ Screw, was an American hip hop DJ based in Houston, Texas, and best known as the creator of the now-famous chopped and screwed DJ technique. He was known as a central and influential figure in the Houston hip hop community and was the leader of Houston's Screwed Up Click.
Davis released over 200 mixtapes and was recognized as an innovator mostly on a regional level until his death of codeine overdose in 2000. His legacy was discovered by a wider audience around 2005, and has gone on to influence a wide variety of artists.
DJ Screw was born in Smithville, Texas. His father, Robert Earl Davis Sr., was a long-haul truck driver based in Houston. His mother Ida May Deary (who had a young daughter from a previous marriage), came to the area to be with her mother when her son was born in 1971. She returned to Houston, but the marriage was floundering; soon it would be over, and she and her kids moved to Los Angeles for a couple of years, then back to Houston, and returned to Smithville in 1980 when Davis was age nine.
When young, DJ Screw had aspirations of being a truck driver like his father, but seeing the 1984 hit break dancing movie Breakin' and discovering his mother's turntable attracted him to music. His admiration of classical music drove him to resume piano lessons. After seven years of practice, he was able to play works like Chopin's Etude in C major by ear. His musical interest shifted as he took his mother's B.B. King and Johnnie Taylor records and scratched them on the turntable the way DJs did, slowing the spinning disc and then allowing it to speed back up, playing with sound.
Davis began buying records of his own and would spin with his friend Trey Adkins, who would rhyme. "Screw had a jam box and he hooked up two turntables to it and made a fader out of the radio tuner so he could deejay." Adkins said if Robert Earl didn't like a record, he would deface it with a screw. One day Adkins asked him, "Who do you think you are, DJ Screw?" Robert Earl liked the sound of that and, in turn, gave his long-time friend a new name: Shorty Mac.
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Wikipedia