Houston hip hop

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Houston, Texas has long been the focus of an independent hip-hop music scene, influencing and influenced by the larger Southern hip hop and gangsta rap communities.

1 Screwed & Chopped
2 Notable Artists
3 Notable Groups
4 Labels
5 See also

[edit] Screwed & Chopped

The style was developed in Houston, Texas, which remains the location most associated with the style. The late DJ Screw, a South Houston DJ who is credited with the creation of and early experimentation with the genre. DJ Screw began making mixtapes of the slowed-down music in the early 1990s. Originally, this process involved mixing two copies of the same record, slowed down either on the turntables using pitch shift or later through use of an after-mixer device. Phasing, Flanging and echo effects were originally the result of the two records being played at millisecond intervals.

Some Houston-area artists (e.g. Ganksta N-I-P, Big Love and Willie D) began to incorporate the slowed tempo into rap songs. Willie D's song Die, from the album I'm Goin Out Lika Soldier, featured a slowed-down sample of the line "All I have is my balls and my word" from Scarface (film), well before chopped and screwed gained more mainstream acceptance.

The genre was associated with both the use of marijuana and the consumption of "syrup," which contains the prescription drugs codeine and promethazine. This has been credited as influencing the genre's psychedelic style. DJ Screw made a significant number of mixtapes (purported to be in the thousands), usually with a theme. This provided a significant outlet for MCs in the South-Houston area, and helped local rappers such as Lil' Flip, E.S.G., UGK, Lil' Keke and Z-Ro gain regional and sometimes national prominence. Early tapes were often screwed and chopped versions of instrumentals over which rappers would later freestyle, but later tapes were mostly vocal tracks with occasional toasting or freestyle intermissions.

By the time of Screw's death in 2000, the genre had become widely known throughout the southern United States. Currently, the style is exemplified in the music of Swishahouse DJ Michael 5000 Watts and Chamillitary DJ OG Ron C . Their work has helped establish current rappers Chamillionaire, Paul Wall, Slim Thug, Mike Jones and rap groups such as The Color Changin' Click and the Screwed Up Click. More major recording labels have embraced the genre, and chopped and screwed albums occasionally outsell the unmixed version.

2005 saw the return of Houston as a leader in Southern rap with Houston artists such as Mike Jones, Slim Thug, Chamillionaire, Bun B of UGK, and Paul Wall experienced great commercial success.