Biography of DJ Screw, Legendary Hip-Hop Producer Who Pioneered the ‘Chopped ‘n Screwed’ Sound, Due in May
Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe “chopped and screwed” sound has become such a staple of hip-hop that most fans probably don’t even wonder where the slowed-down, stop-start sonic approach came from — and thus, the late DJ Screw, a.k.a. Houston native Robert Earl Davis Jr., is one of the truly unsung heroes of the genre.During the 1990s, he developed the revolutionary mixing technique from his Houston home, adding new rhythms to instrumental tracks, slowing them down and bringing in local rappers to freestyle over the tracks.