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American Music Series
DJ Screw: A Life in Slow Revolution
DJ Screw, a.k.a. Robert Earl Davis Jr., changed rap and hip-hop forever. In the 1990s, in a spare room of his Houston home, he developed a revolutionary mixing technique known as chopped and screwed. Spinning two copies of a record, Screw would “chop” in new rhythms, bring in local rappers to freestyle over the tracks, and slow the recording down on tape. Soon Houstonians were lining up to buy his cassettes—he could sell thousands in a single day. Fans drove around town blasting his music, a sound that came to define the city’s burgeoning and innovative rap culture. June 27 has become an unofficial city holiday, inspired by a legendary mix Screw made on that date. Lance Scott Walker has interviewed nearly everyone who knew Screw, from childhood friends to collaborators to aficionados who evangelized Screw’s tapes—millions of which made their way around the globe—as well as the New York rap moguls who honored him. Walker brings these voices together with captivating details of Screw’s craft and his world. More than the story of one man, DJ Screw is a history of the Houston scene as it came of age, full of vibrant moments and characters. But none can top Screw himself, a pioneer whose mystique has only grown in the two decades since his death.
312 pages, Hardcover
Published May 17, 2022
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522 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 1, 2022
DJ Screw is a personal hero of mine, stemming from a collective obsession that my friends and I had for his music back in high school. Middle-of-the-night drives to nowhere in my friend’s corolla were oft punctuated by tracks off 3 n the Mornin’, Endonesia or Bigtyme II - hazy, languid songs served as soundtracks for hazy, languid days. Contemplative songs on these tapes like UGK’s “One Day” and Point Blank’s “My Mind Went Blank” took an exceptionally melancholic quality when Screw slowed them down to a thing of ethereal beauty; others, like E.S.G.’s “Sailin’ da South,” became even more menacing and exciting as the man behind the tables showed off his ability to layer, scratch and chop like a god.
It’s perhaps trite but I think not hyperbolic to say that both contemporary popular and underground music (not that there’s much distinguishing the two nowadays) would not be the same without Screw, and his influence is only increasingly felt in a flattened musical world. I’ve seen artists from the deepest recesses of avant-garde music begin their set with a sample of a Screw tape. Rappers from Canada and Sweden wearing Houston’s influence on their sleeve. Now-ubiquitous “internet-borne” visual aesthetics owed to music that was derived directly from Screw’s style.
What we have here is a comprehensive, humanizing and immensely gratifying narrative of Screw’s (and Houston’s) life, music and legacy, which is both completely deserved and long overdue given his importance. Vital.
It’s perhaps trite but I think not hyperbolic to say that both contemporary popular and underground music (not that there’s much distinguishing the two nowadays) would not be the same without Screw, and his influence is only increasingly felt in a flattened musical world. I’ve seen artists from the deepest recesses of avant-garde music begin their set with a sample of a Screw tape. Rappers from Canada and Sweden wearing Houston’s influence on their sleeve. Now-ubiquitous “internet-borne” visual aesthetics owed to music that was derived directly from Screw’s style.
What we have here is a comprehensive, humanizing and immensely gratifying narrative of Screw’s (and Houston’s) life, music and legacy, which is both completely deserved and long overdue given his importance. Vital.
May 19, 2024
Deep. Detailed. Passionate.
An absolute powerhouse. It's part biography, part journalism, and part labor of love. Lance Scott Walker brings his formidable talents and connections to bear on the most important figure in Houston music in the last 50 years.
DJ Screw, the stage name of Robert Earl Davis, Jr., was a producer, remixer, rapper, entrepreneur, and so much more. Over the course of the '90s, he became an icon in the Houston music community by creating and distributing his Screw Tapes wherein he slowed down, distorted, and weaved together various beats, loops, hooks, and voices into a mellifluous whole that was perfect for Houston's car community and clubs. He was also known as a brother, friend, uncle, and all-around respecter of people who managed to unite members of disparate Southside Houston groups into a wide-ranging collective called Screwed Up Click.
Across this soaring story, Walker brings together the essential voices from DJ Screw's life. Spanning personal interviews, other journalistic endeavors, lyrics, and material written by Screw, the book paints a rich picture of a man who was driven by his craft to deliver music to the people. He achieved this through the freestyles recorded on his Screw Tapes, investing in the careers of his friends and acolytes, and reppin' the city of Houston whenever possible. He was a fierce friend and passionate creator who passed away far too soon.
If you are interested in the man behind the "chopped and screwed," "slowed and throwed" sound that has worked its way into contemporary hip-hop and R&B over the last 20 years, then you should read this book. Not only is it the story of DJ Screw, but it's the story of his family and the people, artists, and creators who comprised Screwed Up Click. It's a love letter to a man, his sound, and his city.
An absolute powerhouse. It's part biography, part journalism, and part labor of love. Lance Scott Walker brings his formidable talents and connections to bear on the most important figure in Houston music in the last 50 years.
DJ Screw, the stage name of Robert Earl Davis, Jr., was a producer, remixer, rapper, entrepreneur, and so much more. Over the course of the '90s, he became an icon in the Houston music community by creating and distributing his Screw Tapes wherein he slowed down, distorted, and weaved together various beats, loops, hooks, and voices into a mellifluous whole that was perfect for Houston's car community and clubs. He was also known as a brother, friend, uncle, and all-around respecter of people who managed to unite members of disparate Southside Houston groups into a wide-ranging collective called Screwed Up Click.
Across this soaring story, Walker brings together the essential voices from DJ Screw's life. Spanning personal interviews, other journalistic endeavors, lyrics, and material written by Screw, the book paints a rich picture of a man who was driven by his craft to deliver music to the people. He achieved this through the freestyles recorded on his Screw Tapes, investing in the careers of his friends and acolytes, and reppin' the city of Houston whenever possible. He was a fierce friend and passionate creator who passed away far too soon.
If you are interested in the man behind the "chopped and screwed," "slowed and throwed" sound that has worked its way into contemporary hip-hop and R&B over the last 20 years, then you should read this book. Not only is it the story of DJ Screw, but it's the story of his family and the people, artists, and creators who comprised Screwed Up Click. It's a love letter to a man, his sound, and his city.
July 4, 2022
“Screw made music that sounded like how driving through Houston felt”
I’ve been interested in Screw since I got into hip hop in high school. The slowly lumbering beats banging are like nothing else. This book is a great history of the man and his music. I learned a lot Screw and Houston in general. The interviews with tons of different people feel like a Screw song with seven features on the lineup, a great touch that really made the book feel like an oral history.
I’ve been interested in Screw since I got into hip hop in high school. The slowly lumbering beats banging are like nothing else. This book is a great history of the man and his music. I learned a lot Screw and Houston in general. The interviews with tons of different people feel like a Screw song with seven features on the lineup, a great touch that really made the book feel like an oral history.
Read
November 26, 2022'I'm just bringin' it to you in a different style where you can hear everything and feel everything. Give you something to ride to.'
August 7, 2025
One of the best, made me interested in houston culture as a whole
March 25, 2024
An icon! Revolutionized music. 🎶 RIP legend.
September 6, 2023
RIP Screw!
Great book, part oral history, part historical review or the whole subculture that was promoted and supported by DJ Screw's vision and dedication.
The thing that comes across throughout the text is that Screw not only brought to life a whole new way of hearing hip-hop, he cared so much about his folks and community, that the only way he saw to justify his vision was uplifting and bringing up all his crew. This is the best case scenario for any music.
Love the whole bunkered down spaces for creation, when DJs, musicians, artists(!) just like sequester and marinate on ideas...Beastie Boys in LA, Stevie Wonder pre-Songs in The Key of Life, JDilla in his basement! etc. All these intense focused spaces/times became subculture hives for whole new movements and transitions in vision for the artists. Screw's houses (and eventual stores) reminded my of the Jamaican dub shops (King Tubby's, Perry's Ark, etc.) incubators of a new vision where creators and the community are growing together to manifest a new sound or sensibility. As Andre 3000, said way back in the Source Awards, "South got something to say..." and DJ Screw's chopped and screwed aesthetic is certainly proof of this unheard voice from the South.
The aftershocks of Screw's chopped and screwed tapes are still reverberating in the present, the previously inconceivable slowing of a track met the local sensibilities of Houston, and have informed so much of production in the modern era.
So very happy DJ Screw had this coda to his life's work, that it included many voices of peers and friends, that it continued to uplift artists who rapped on Screw's mixtapes and surfaces their contributions to the scene as well. A truly well deserved biography of some unsung heroes of hip-hop.
Great book, part oral history, part historical review or the whole subculture that was promoted and supported by DJ Screw's vision and dedication.
The thing that comes across throughout the text is that Screw not only brought to life a whole new way of hearing hip-hop, he cared so much about his folks and community, that the only way he saw to justify his vision was uplifting and bringing up all his crew. This is the best case scenario for any music.
Love the whole bunkered down spaces for creation, when DJs, musicians, artists(!) just like sequester and marinate on ideas...Beastie Boys in LA, Stevie Wonder pre-Songs in The Key of Life, JDilla in his basement! etc. All these intense focused spaces/times became subculture hives for whole new movements and transitions in vision for the artists. Screw's houses (and eventual stores) reminded my of the Jamaican dub shops (King Tubby's, Perry's Ark, etc.) incubators of a new vision where creators and the community are growing together to manifest a new sound or sensibility. As Andre 3000, said way back in the Source Awards, "South got something to say..." and DJ Screw's chopped and screwed aesthetic is certainly proof of this unheard voice from the South.
The aftershocks of Screw's chopped and screwed tapes are still reverberating in the present, the previously inconceivable slowing of a track met the local sensibilities of Houston, and have informed so much of production in the modern era.
So very happy DJ Screw had this coda to his life's work, that it included many voices of peers and friends, that it continued to uplift artists who rapped on Screw's mixtapes and surfaces their contributions to the scene as well. A truly well deserved biography of some unsung heroes of hip-hop.
January 12, 2023
Another great piece of work by Lance Scott Walker that thoughtfully chronicles a massive culture, discography, and history of chopped and screwed music. Told through various interviews by those who surrounded DJ Screw, this book really has it all. A must read for hip hop and rap heads, it includes lots of information on the rappers in S.U.C. and Houston rap in general. I picked up LSW's Houston Rap photo book while reading this as well and felt like the connection he makes in all the books is a great dedication and chronology of Screw. RIP Screw.
March 28, 2024
This book made me cry! I don’t know what’s more moving, that DJ Screw pushed through so much through sheer passion and vision or the community that surrounded and collaborated with him. His nurturing spirit, wisdom, and compassion for others and inner depth shine through anecdotes from his family and peers. I am so glad I read this book - not only because DJ Screw has been my favorite producer for over a decade but also because it proves that miracles happen…they just take courage and heart!
September 13, 2025
Rap music owes its evolution to southern influences like DJ Screw. This book is beyond a biography, it’s a unique detailing of the history of chopped and screwed music from its origins until today. There are echoes of DJ Screw’s genre creation baked into the fabric of the rap industry, and that sort of impact deserves to be acknowledge and understood. Read this book, connect the dots, loudly play the mixtapes in between, and most importantly: stay all screwed up.
August 22, 2022
DJ Screw was a complete original and is a surprisingly enduring influence on contemporary music and culture some 20 years after his untimely death. I'm glad this book exists and i learned a lot about the culture of Southside Houston and the drank and the slabs and the incredibly slow music that soundtracked it. That being said- the book could have benefitted from a stronger editorial hand.
November 25, 2025
I’m normally not one for oral histories, but this ended up being an engrossing read. DJ Screw was such an influential figure, and I didn’t realize that he was such a recluse during his heyday. That makes the oral history approach much more effective, especially with screw now being gone for a quarter century.
October 26, 2022
SCREW
September 20, 2023
Incredibly well researched book. I wouldn’t usually pick up an oral history but this was Interesting. Screw screwed the world up!!!
December 12, 2025
HE REALLY SCREWED THE WORLD!!
Educate yourself on the history of that slowed and screwed music you love
LONG LIVE DJ SCREW
Educate yourself on the history of that slowed and screwed music you love
LONG LIVE DJ SCREW
November 22, 2023
My favorite read of the year!!
For any music & culture lover, this book is a must read.
I grew up listening to down south music and was heavily into the chopped and screwed movement. Though this isn’t 100% attributed to DJ Screw, he was before his time with his influence on music in Houston and the south that was recognized much later.
Listening to people speak about DJ Screw and his love for music is astonishing. The way he found something new in the turntables and begin to craft his own style is amazing. He was able to do this at a young age and you could see the talent from a mile away. It’s amazing what someone can do that has an ear for music and a visions that others cannot see.
More than this, he was a connoisseur of music and set a trend for heavily coveted mixtapes and converging old school music with currently lyrics of Houston artists.
Screw still lives to this day in samples from artists like Travis Scott, Drake, Paul Wall, Bun B, and many others.
DJ Screw is an icon and set the stage for a lot of what rap & hip hop is today.
For any music & culture lover, this book is a must read.
I grew up listening to down south music and was heavily into the chopped and screwed movement. Though this isn’t 100% attributed to DJ Screw, he was before his time with his influence on music in Houston and the south that was recognized much later.
Listening to people speak about DJ Screw and his love for music is astonishing. The way he found something new in the turntables and begin to craft his own style is amazing. He was able to do this at a young age and you could see the talent from a mile away. It’s amazing what someone can do that has an ear for music and a visions that others cannot see.
More than this, he was a connoisseur of music and set a trend for heavily coveted mixtapes and converging old school music with currently lyrics of Houston artists.
Screw still lives to this day in samples from artists like Travis Scott, Drake, Paul Wall, Bun B, and many others.
DJ Screw is an icon and set the stage for a lot of what rap & hip hop is today.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews