Houston TX's woozy chopped n' screwed sound has permeated throughout mainstream rap for years now, but its origins still remain scattered across local mixtapes and the collective memories of those who lived the scene firsthand. Every year on this day, the city pays respects to the pioneers: an unofficial holiday sparked by a 1996 cypher so definitive that Drake remixed it for his So Far Gone mixtape. We asked Houston DJ OG Chase B to offer some words on the day and what it means for his city.
People from Houston have some of the strongest hometown pride you'll ever witness, and most people outside of the city respect the culture but don't really understand it. June 27th started as a 35 minute freestyle from DJ Screw featuring the Screwed Up Click, to celebrate close friend D-Mo's birthday. It turned into a local holiday for us to pay our respects to DJ Screw, Fat Pat, Big Moe, Big HAWK and the rest of the Click. To put it simply, June 27th is Memorial Day for Houston Hip-Hop. The radio stations will be dropping Screw and Houston classics all day, there's events all over the city. It's a beautiful day to be from the H. Rest in peace to the legends. OG CHASE B