| Chopped and Screwed | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Southern hip hop - Codeine effect[1] |
| Cultural origins | Early 1990s, Houston, Texas, USA |
| Typical instruments | Turntables, Mixer, PC |
| Mainstream popularity | Staple of Houston and southern hip hop as a whole. Been on a constant rise since its origins in the early 1990s the more the music spreads. |
| Regional scenes | |
| Houston - San Antonio - Dallas | |
| Other topics | |
| purple drank - psychedelic music - codeine | |
Chopped and screwed (sometimes called screwed and chopped or slowed and throwed) refers to a technique of remixing hip hop music which developed in the Houston hip hop scene in the 1990s. This is accomplished by slowing the tempo down to between 60 - 70 quarter-note beats per minute and applying techniques such as skipping beats, record scratching, stop-time, and affecting portions of the music to make a "chopped-up" version of the original.
Contents |
History
Preceding the early 1990s, most Southern Hip Hop was upbeat and fast, like Miami bass and Crunk. In Houston, a different approach of slowing music down rather than speeding it up developed. Many feel that the slow and mellow feel of Chopped & Screwed music is a symbol of how people lived in Houston. It is unknown when DJ Screw officially made what is known as "Chopped & Screwed" music. Although people around Screw have indicated any time between 1984 to 1991, Screw says he started slowing music down in 1990.[2] There is no debate, however, that DJ Screw did invent the music style. It is thought that Screw came up with the music one day when messing around with his turntables. Screw discovered that dramatically reducing the pitch of a record gave a mellow, heavy sound that emphasized lyrics to the point of almost storytelling. After messing around with the sound for a while Screw started making full length 'Screw Tapes'. At first the music was only referred to as "Screw music," was limited to South Houston, and was seen as laid-back driving music. As Screw's tapes started to gain popularity he started selling his tapes for around $10.[3] Screw was known to feature some of Houston's most renowned rappers from the South Side. This eventually led to the formation of the Screwed Up Click.
Between 1991 and 1992, there was a large increase in use of syrup in Houston.[4] Syrup has been considered to be a major influence in the making of and listening to Chopped & Screwed music due to its effects of slowing the brain down. This gave slow, mellow music its appeal. DJ Screw, however, denounced the claim that you have to use syrup to enjoy Chopped & Screwed music a number of times. Screw, a known user of syrup, said he came up with Chopped & Screwed music when high on marijuana.[5]
In the mid-1990s, Chopped & Screwed music started to move to North Houston and to such people as DJ Michael "5000" Watts.[6] It wasn't long until a rivalry between north and south Houston started over who were the "originators" and who were the "adopters". Michael "5000" Watts always gave credit to DJ Screw as the originator of Chopped & Screwed music. It is also believed that Michael "5000" Watts came up with the term "chopped and screwed". As time passed and a younger generation got into Chopped & Screwed music, there became less worry over who was a originator and who was adopter. In the late 1990s, with the help of P2P groups such as Napster, Chopped & Screwed music spread to a much wider group of people.
In 1999, PSK-13, an associate of DJ Screw and the Screwed Up Click (and was also a member of the South Park Coalition), released a screwed version of his album Pay Like You Weigh 5000 [7] which was one of the earliest examples of a full length album being given the treatment.
On November 16, 2000 DJ Screw died leaving a legacy that has lasted to this day. The medical examiner who performed his autopsy concluded that Screw died from a lethal combination of codeine and alcohol. This hurt chopped and screwed music badly since no one since DJ Screw has met the level of popularity he had. Shortly after the passing of Screw, Chopped & Screwed music spread all over the Southern United States. Later in 2000, the Memphis based group Three 6 Mafia came out with their song "Sippin' on Some Syrup". The song at first was just a minor hit but later became one of Three 6 Mafia's most popular songs.
In 2001, 8Ball & MJG released a screwed version of their album Space Age 4 Eva (2000). The mixing was handled by Michael "5000" Watts of the famed Swishahouse, being the first Chopped & Screwed release on a major label.
In 2003, David Banner released a Screwed version of his album Mississippi: The Album, being a first by an artist from Mississippi.
In 2005, the first Chopped & Screwed albums were added to the I-Tunes shop catalog.
Today it is still common to see Chopped & Screwed versions of mixtapes and albums released along side the regular speed versions, sometimes in a double disc format with one disc screwed and the other regular speed.
Subculture
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2009) |
Chopped and screwed music was created by DJ Screw in the early 1990s. Part of the chopped & screwed music scene is a beverage known as purple drank (the active ingredients being codeine and promethazine); the color purple, which is usually present as a haze in the "drank," has also become a symbolic color or motif to identify chopped and screwed versions of songs or whole albums. The 2007 documentary film Screwed In Houston produced by VBS/Vice Magazine details the history of the Houston rap scene and the influence of the Chopped and Screwed sub-culture on Houston hip-hop.
Notes
- ^ http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/chopped_screwed/index2.jhtml: "Of course, it wasn't just the slower pace of Southern life that was simpatico with chopped and screwed music. It was also the drug culture springing up in Houston at the time — specifically, the one centering on the consumption of the prescription cough syrup Promethazine, which includes codeine. The elixir goes by a number of names — syrup, drank, Texas tea — and its depressant qualities were the catalyst to an illicit subculture built around its abuse and the lethargic beats of chopped and screwed."
- ^ http://ifihavent.wordpress.com/2006/12/05/givin-it-to-ya-slow-dj-screw-interview-from-rappages-1995/
- ^ http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/chopped_screwed/
- ^ http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/chopped_screwed/index2.jhtml
- ^ http://ifihavent.wordpress.com/2006/12/05/givin-it-to-ya-slow-dj-screw-interview-from-rappages-1995/
- ^ http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/chopped_screwed/index2.jhtml
- ^ http://www.amazon.com/Pay-Like-You-Weigh-5000/dp/B00002NDBS/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247915367&sr=1-8
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