DJ Screw
| 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 | Southern hip hop, chopped and screwed, Country Rap Tunes |
| 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 who was based in Houston, Texas. He was known as a central figure in the Houston hip hop community and was the creator of the now-famous chopped and screwed DJ technique. This creation led to his nickname of "The Originator".
Davis was recognized for his various mixtapes and albums mostly on a regional level, until after his death. His legacy was discovered by a wider audience when Houston hip-hop began reaching a national audience in 2005.
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 foundering; 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.
A 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 permanently derailed those dreams. His admiration of classical music drove him to continue the piano lessons that he had long forsaken. After seven years of hard studies, he was able to play works of art like Etude in C major by Chopin flawlessly by ear. But the call of the turntable was more powerful than the ringing of the keys and so he fell back into the life of DJing. He would take his mother's B.B. King and Johnnie Taylor records and scratch 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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