02/14/2022
In this sensational oral history, hip-hop historian Walker (Houston Rap Tapes ) offers a riveting look at why “DJ Screw is the stuff of Texas legend.” Born in Smithville, Tex., Robert Earl Davis Jr., aka Screw (1971–2000), was the progenitor of the now-famous “chopped and screwed” technique, which involves slowing down the tempo of a song and spinning the record at different points to create an entirely new remix. Weaving together interviews with family, friends, and collaborators, Walker traces Screw’s ascent through the rap ranks: from his teenage years experimenting with turntables and his mother’s LPs to the flourishing empire born from his underground cassettes in the ’90s. Set against the vivid backdrop of Houston’s hip-hop scene, the narrative’s greatest appeal is its uncut treatment of Screw and his colossal influence: as rapper Will-Lean recalls, when Screw’s 1996 track “Sippin Codeine” was released, “doctors around town started getting loose with prescriptions, and as the tapes gained popularity, so did the drug.” (It was also Codeine—an overdose—that led to Screw’s death at 29.) Though his life was cut short, Walker’s meticulous account underscores the enduring legacy of the rapper’s pioneering music and his awe-inspiring ability to capture “the sound of the streets.” This engrossing work will fascinate fans. (May)
[DJ Screw is one] of the best books of this year...[breaks] every rule of the hip hop biography to rewrite them in a way that suggests something new, and more ambitious for the future of rap scholarship.
Passion of the Weiss - Abe Beame
The '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...he's finally receiving his due in the form of DJ Screw: A Life in Slow Revolution .
[DJ Screw ] delivers not just the story of one individual but the birth of a culture and the rise of a movement. We get to feel the excitement, pitfalls, rivalries and triumphs of a young scene coming into its own...[DJ Screw is] a deeply researched and carefully curated work, devoting as much consideration to Screw’s own story as it does to those he influenced and those who influenced him...Walker’s extensive knowledge of and, more important, his great respect for his subject come across on the page...[Walker's] prose often has the rhythm and flow of poetry.
Washington Post - Santi Elijah Holley
This book is the ultimate word on both [DJ Screw] and his seismic imprint...Walker transubstantiates Screw’s lore into something more permanent and tangible, interviewing just about everyone that ever knew the DJ, along with a number of aficionados and famous fans of his that helped make the Screw tape the hip-hop fetish objects that they have become in the decades since Davis’s death.
Vulture, "The 18 Best Books of the Year (So Far)" - Israel Daramola
DJ Screw single handedly created a hip-hop culture in Houston. Screw’s invention has inspired superstars like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and A$AP Rocky. And via interviews from family, friends, and Chopped and Screwed nerds, he finally gets his due.
Esquire, "Best Music Books of 2022 (So Far)" - Darryl Robertson
To have created music so immersive, and sedated to the point of psychedelia, it was assumed [DJ Screw] had to have been out of his mind, operating in his infamous Wood Room home studio on a different time zone to the rest of us. I’ve honestly lost count of the internet posts I’ve read telling me Screw’s music doesn’t make sense unless you listen to it stoned. Yet what’s so great about veteran writer Lance Scott Walker’s long-awaited DJ Screw ...is how it demystifies all this, treating its subject less like a mysterious campfire tale and more like a human being...[DJ Screw ] is a breezy combination of biography and oral history.
Okayplayer - Thomas Hobbs
This book is an absolute powerhouse...Lance Scott Walker delivers a poignant and personal tale that should solidify and codify Screw’s place in the hip-hop pantheon while also never shying away from who he was as a person in everyday life.
Bearded Gentlemen Music - Adam P. Newton
Every hip hop fan should know not just DJ Screw’s name, but also the deep influence he had on all of modern music...To get the full story of his extraordinary life, author Lance Scott Walker spoke to childhood friends, collaborators, and rap moguls to paint a picture of just how important he was to not just his community, but music as a whole.
"The Best Gifts for Every Music Lover" VICE
Weaving flashes of his own voice into an oral history featuring over 130 of Screw’s friends, family, heroes, students, and more, Walker stitches together a full picture of the iconic DJ’s legacy.
Rolling Stone - Mankaprr Conteh
DJ Screw: A Life in Slow Revolution is an essential book for any hip hop fan. Few artists changed hip hop the way that Screw did, creating a distinct production style that was immediately recognizable and quickly associated with the sound of Houston. As you read this book, you not only get a sense for how that happened and how DJ Screw worked, but you get a sense of how much the greater Houston area latched on to what he was building and made it a part of their identity. It’s a loving and well-researched book that fills in a gap on any hip hop lover’s book shelf.
Scratched Vinyl - Chi Chi Thalken
[A] sprawling story of the man who put Houston rap on the map...In talking to most of the Houston rap world, Walker is able to paint a portrait of the artist that hasn't really been seen before.
DJ Screw: A Life in Slow Revolution offers an overdue look at the life of this titan and his often-overlooked compatriots...the Screw bio lays out a historically informed, nuanced survey of the economic and technological factors that drove an artist’s creations and the Screwed Up Click’s career...A Life in Slow Revolution not only offers Screw the studied biographical record he deserves, but also puts so many of his fellow S.U.C. members, who’d never gotten a high-profile book of their own, squarely within the rap canon: Al-D, E.S.G., Big Pokey, Big Moe, and, of course, Big Floyd.
The sort of history from below that Walker pursues [in DJ Screw ], organised around dialogues with Screw's family and friends, and framed by some light touch narration, seems appropriate. This is the story, after all, of a folk hero who rarely left his hometown...and who resided outside the circuits of official culture...As a written form, oral history suits the circumstantial nature of Screw's artistic development too...It's a form that also serves here to dispel some enduring myths, especially the oft repeated function of Screw's sound to a function of intoxication.
An amalgam of firsthand accounts from the people closest to DJ Screw, from family and close friends to members of Screwed Up Click (the popular hip hop collective he founded)...While the book’s narrative ultimately ends in tragedy, readers are also exposed to the beauty, brotherhood, generosity, and passion for music that dominated DJ Screw’s life...Told in detailed and intimate language, each person Walker interviews helps personify the kind of man and artist DJ Screw was, no matter what name you might have known him by.
Houstonia Magazine - Shelby Stewart
Walker does scrupulous research in the form of a broad span of interviews with nearly everyone who knew the seminal Houston DJ.
New York Amsterdam News - Jordannah Elizabeth
[Walker] has made the story of rap in Houston accessible for those who weren’t there to experience it...Walker is discreet, taking up only as much space as necessary to put order to his narratives and leaving the rest for witnesses and participants to fill in. His work is a portrait of a time hard to remember now, even for those of us who lived it...and it deserves a place alongside such classics of American oral history as Please Kill Me , The Other Hollywood , and Meet Me in the Bathroom.
The Baffler - Adrian Nathan West
[Walker] uses Davis’s story to cobble together the history of Houston hip-hop’s early days...he makes Screw an oral history, rounding up quotes (many from firsthand interviews) from the men and women who were there...Even in death, J Dilla and DJ Screw continue to be two of the most influential figures in hip-hop. And Charnas and Walker use their biographies to remind both diehards and novices why that is — and to give the performers hella flowers in the process.
Los Angeles Review of Books
DJ Screw: A Life in Slow Revolution is a worthwhile biography and oral history, even for those who already know the story of Screw's short, impactful life....this book is a worthy topography of Screw’s life, from its humble start to its tragic end.
Texas Monthly - Chris Vognar
Walker...manages to harness the flashlike life and career [of DJ Screw] and slow it down to create a clearer representation of a crucial 20th-century artist. Through hundreds of interviews with family, friends and collaborators spanning thousands of hours, Walker presents Screw’s work not as an incredible moment of combustion but rather what the title implies: a slow revolution.
Houston Chronicle - Andrew Dansby
Weaving flashes of his own voice into an oral history featuring over 130 of Screw’s friends, family, heroes, students, and more, Walker stitches together a full picture of the iconic DJ’s legacy.
03/01/2022
In this fascinating oral history chronicling the life of DJ Screw, written 22 years after his death, Houston rap historian Walker (Houston Rap Tapes ) explores the artist's electrifying "chopped and screwed" technique and how it vastly changed Houston's trendsetting hip-hop culture. Walker relies on the vivid stories of Screw's family members and contemporaries and sorts through archived interviews to paint a detailed picture of Screw's techniques, his motivations, and his fearless experimentation. Readers learn how Screw discovered at a young age that he could manipulate the music of others, reinventing songs by slowing them down, mixing and scratching them, and often adding his own vocal shout-outs at the end. By 23 he was receiving attention outside of Houston, culminating in recognition at the 1999 Justo's Mixtape Awards. Screw converted his art form into a sustaining business, opening Screwed Up Records & Tapes and single-handedly extending the life of cassette tapes. VERDICT Walker's years of research and personal expertise about Houston's music scene will help cement Screw's legacy as an innovator who still inspires.—Lisa Henry
★ 2022-02-15
Walker, a Texas native now based in New York and author of Houston Rap Tapes , gives us a definitive portrait of Robert Earl Davis Jr. (1971-2000), aka DJ Screw. Though the format might seem jarring at first, the narrative picks up as the rhythm and pace of the prose take over. With testimony from more than 100 people who knew DJ Screw well, the text offers an engaging, documentarylike conversation about his life and work. Screw began scratching up records at a very young age, and he became a breakaway sound alchemist after slowing down a recording of the 1985 Mantronix hit “Fresh Is the Word.” From there, his artistry and popularity skyrocketed, and he continued to develop singular styles and methods. “Screw took everybody’s favorite songs and ripped them wide open, tearing into the fabric of the original sound, decompressing, adding earth, adding sky, adding voice ,” writes Walker. “People describe songs on Screw tapes as being more emotional. Maybe that was the point—to open up the music until it bleeds.” His mixtapes became some of the most sought-after music in the area; in one day, he could make up to $30,000 in tape sales. Eventually, Screw branched out into entrepreneurial ventures, including a record label and two stores. Although the testimony of others guides the book, during the useful transition sections, Walker’s authoritative voice returns. Screw’s friends credit his love of music with keeping him off the streets and out of trouble when he was young, but it couldn’t save him in the end. His inability to sleep, poor diet, and substance abuse issues led to his death at age 29. More than two decades after his death, however, Screw’s influence can still be heard and felt in Houston and beyond.
An insightful portrait sure to engage DJ Screw’s longtime fans and newcomers alike.
