FRIEZE MAGAZINE
November 2010
“The Slowed-Down Tempos of Screw and Its Influence on Contemporary Bands”
by Jace Clayton
Ten years ago this month, one of the great, lazy American geniuses died, at the age of 29, from drinking too much cough syrup. His name was Robert Earl Davis Jr., and I believe he stole the technique that made him famous from the Mexicans. Under the name DJ Screw, Davis earned a living taking other people’s rap songs and slowing them down. Like a good mixtape DJ, he would add EQ, subtle effects and scratches to heighten the impact of each song, but what made him special was his unrelenting commitment to syrupy slowness. Everyone who has mistakenly played a 45rpm single at 33 knows the effect, but by dedicating himself to this process Screw turned what could have been a joke into a rap subgenre, an oft-copied process (countless Southern rap records have ‘chopped & screwed’ versions), based on a technique so simple that it has philosophical heft.
By the 1990s Davis’ style – screw – had become a genre unto itself, and his mixes were selling like hotcakes far beyond his hometown of Houston, Texas. The selling part was important: Monterrey Mexicans had been talking over and slowing down cumbia records for years before Screw came along – something he would have been likely to hear in Houston.
Not all songs sound good screwed; the technique reveals a hidden face whose image can’t be guessed beforehand. The effect is druggy – there’s a subculture of codeine-based prescription cough syrup around screw – and occult. Once screwed, upbeat songs in a major key destabilize into eerie tonalities. Dark tunes get darker. The bass goes viscous. A screwed song urges the listener to internalize its dampened tempo, to stretch the existential qualities of the moment to match the music.
In a world where musical creations (remixes included) constantly shed economic value, the screw approach invests minimal effort into sonic transformation – yet the lazy process radically reconfigures a song. Screw dislocates body from voice – baritone rappers sound demonic, turgid, other and female singers melt into androgyny. If a song’s body is the regular-pitched version where the voice corresponds with the person it came from, then screw severs that connection. Paradoxically, screwed rap sounds more carnal than ever, yet the body is negated to expose the soul – or id, or drug-soaked semi-consciousness. Screw is the opposite of transcendence, music optimized for Houston’s stuck-on-earth car culture and oppressive humidity.
DJ Screw’s swamp gospel continues to spread. A clutch of new bands cite him as an influence; their damaged psychedelia – call it electronic goth, witch house, screwgaze or drag (the neologisms haven’t hardened into place yet) – embraces a screw-compatible mix of murky bass and de-tuned synths…….
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Frieze Magazine article on DJ Screw: “The Slowed-Down Tempos of Screw and Its Influence on Contemporary Bands”, November 2010
Comments
Fuck youll screw was the originator! He didnt steal shit hoeass niggas REAL RECOGNIZE REAL while da fake fade away!!!!
Dj screw was a master of his craft he created his own music for himself that he loved, but when we herd how hard dat sit was we loved it too so u know ni66as had to hate it, but Screw keept makin for us so thank u DJ SCREW u made around da nation u got me screwin da midwest…. I REPPIN 4 U ROBERT DAVICE CHAD BUTLER TUPAC BIGGIE. Prince Marquise
thats bull DJ SCREW was the 1 st and if not then the very best so just deal with it
I LOVE YOU SCREW–U GOT ME THRU PVAMU–Reppin C/O 1992(THOMAS JEFFERSON)–PA,TX.
SCREW IS THE ORIGINATOR–H-TOWN, TEXAS BABY—SOUTHSIDE
I’M FROM PA, TEXAS AND I WUZ INTRODUCED TO SCREW N 1992 BY SUM OAKCLIFF, TX OG’Z–DA DEWBERRY BOYZ–@ PVAMU. THEN BROUGHT THE GRAY TAPEZ BACK TO PORT ARTHUR, TEXAS— THANKS DEWBERRY BOYZ FRM OAKCLIFF, TEXAS–I LOVE Y’ALL–PA, TEXAS. PA, TX BEEN SCREW’D UP SINCE –AND WE KNOW THE ORIGINATOR–FO REAL THO
screwzoo the greatest dj of all time
wish i coulda saw the wood room
Mannn why u had to leave us u go hard long live screw real talk
Man, Screw d’ Genius… Screw took the Muzic from Corporations and gave it back to the People! This Jace Clayton, who the fuck are you? All the false information you spread, gossip, rummors…, talkin bout “You believe…”
Like I said, Who the fuck is Jace Clayton! Like Chuck-D said playa, “Don’t believe the Hype”