dj screw tapes

padraig (u.s.)

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
so he made something like 250 mixtapes, and I'm just wondering where the best place to start is. at the beginning? was there some kind of peak at some point? is it all just equally good?

I never got into much southern rap beyond dungeon family, rap-a-lot and various other houston/memphis/atl/etc random bits but lately I've had this urge to go back and check out this dude's work which seems to be at the center of a bunch of modern music innovation (kind of like dub + its production techniques were for music of the early-mid 80s), plus I'm always into things that are sludgy and weird...

I don't know if this is the right forum for this question but it's the only only music forum I even halfheartedly follow. also I feel like there are probably some dissensus people who could point me in the right direction. any recs appreciated.
 
grizzleb

grizzleb

Well-known member
All Work No Play is one of my favourites. Most people I know who dig Screw, their favourite stuff is the stuff they first heard. He's great and totally under-appreciated. Listening to normal hip-hop doesn't sound so laid back after the bold Screw....
 
padraig (u.s.)

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
I should be clear that I've heard bits + pieces of screw here + there. what i'm looking for is a more comprehensive breakdown. which may not exist I dunno.

also I'm not just coming at screw from a rap angle, I've also been well into weird sometimes (well often) drugged out sludge etc metal forever, and sludgy weird hardcore bands (mitb, etc) and as I said pretty much anything slow + heavy + weird.
 
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stephenk

Well-known member
june 27th is essential - it starts with a good half hour of guys freestyling over the same languid beat, and then breaks into some screw choices - tupac, steel pulse...

two two liters follows a similar format - 52 (!) minute freestyle by big duck and big jut, then c-bo, 380, ice cube, and a gorgeous sade screw to close out...

for me, the best screw tapes have a little of everything - freestyles from his friends, choice raps, and then something random like a phil collins track.
 
grizzleb

grizzleb

Well-known member
I've got/had about 30 mixtapes and they're all pretty good. Difficult to recommend a 'weird' or 'fucked up' mix to check out, it's a pretty singular sound that has hip-hop at its core. I'd like to have heard all of it, maybe there is some really strange ones out there...
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
noz has been writing a bit about Screw on tumblinerb.com lately, hasn't he?

love this, wot he posted


interesting/boring fact: I really enjoy 'screwing' my own productions on cool edit, I find that it often makes them sound a LOT better than they do at their proper speed. Especially if you drown them in reverb. I like the fact that the effect is 'out of my hands' when I mess with the tempo of a recording like that to a certain extent... it allows me to distance myself from what I've made (in a sense its different to what I made anyway). I dunno, not expressing it very clearly I suppose. Its very interesting the effects you get slowing music down a lot (see; that Justin Bieber song slowed down a thousand times to sound like a glacial abstract thing). Sometimes it can just be nice to bathe in gorgeous chords/sounds (i.e. 'Bonita Applebum''), that woozy, druggy effect...
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
incidentally, one of the best things about Odd Future (specifically Tyler/Earl) for me was that DJ Screw-influenced (I presume) wooziness... The aggro ''Radicals''/limp Lex rip-offs on ''Goblin'' didn't really interest me at all.


sorry, clogging up your thread with sputum. I would also like some recommendations so i'll shut up now.
 
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stephenk

Well-known member
stephenk said:
june 27th is essential - it starts with a good half hour of guys freestyling over the same languid beat, and then breaks into some screw choices - tupac, steel pulse...

two two liters follows a similar format - 52 (!) minute freestyle by big duck and big jut, then c-bo, 380, ice cube, and a gorgeous sade screw to close out...

for me, the best screw tapes have a little of everything - freestyles from his friends, choice raps, and then something random like a phil collins track.
Click to expand...

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<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qEHPgKaGoX8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
you

you

Well-known member
wow - people are still into screw? I thought I was way behind on this - I love his slowed down guitar solos over stuff - currently downloading the whole lot....
 
grizzleb

grizzleb

Well-known member
Corpsey said:
noz has been writing a bit about Screw on tumblinerb.com lately, hasn't he?

love this, wot he posted


interesting/boring fact: I really enjoy 'screwing' my own productions on cool edit, I find that it often makes them sound a LOT better than they do at their proper speed. Especially if you drown them in reverb. I like the fact that the effect is 'out of my hands' when I mess with the tempo of a recording like that to a certain extent... it allows me to distance myself from what I've made (in a sense its different to what I made anyway). I dunno, not expressing it very clearly I suppose. Its very interesting the effects you get slowing music down a lot (see; that Justin Bieber song slowed down a thousand times to sound like a glacial abstract thing). Sometimes it can just be nice to bathe in gorgeous chords/sounds (i.e. 'Bonita Applebum''), that woozy, druggy effect...
Click to expand...

I was doing this last week on some of my old tracks. I thought it had the exact effect you say. Worth noting that the Bieber isn't 'screwed' per-se but timestretched, which is different.
 
D

dave quam

Well-known member
my favorites are:

June 27th (the 30 minute big moe freestyle is like the highlight of screw tapes)

On a Pint (A lot of good funk and disco tracks, like Anita Ward "Ring My Bell", Tom Tom Club Genius of Love, ect)

Purple Potion (a later one, just solid)

3 in the morning part 2 (this is probably my favorite one, especially Big Moe Sippin Codine)

In the Zone (starts with Phil Collins In the Air Tonight)

Late Night Fuckin Your Bitch (all R&B/slow jams, kinda like the precursor to Og Ron C's Fuck Action series)

Straight Wreckin (this one is BUGGED! Half of it is Lil Keke and Fat Pat spittin over the Juicy instrumental, with fucked up echo and delay on their mics. They sound soooo fucked up too)

Weed and Hennessy (Solid, has Rita Marley - I Wanna Get High on it, which is a fav)

2 2 Liters (the 50 minute freestyle. You need a blunt for this one)
 
padraig (u.s.)

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
grizzleb said:
Difficult to recommend a 'weird' or 'fucked up'
Click to expand...

I guess I should clarify, I forgot I'm dealing with dissensus where most people probably of think things that 99% of the world would painfully obscure as entryist fluff. weird maybe isn't the best word as it kind of implies some kind of avant wankery thing (like drill n bass to jungle) whereas screw, even he wasn't making huge top 40 hits, was clearly in the mainstream consciousness of rap. I mostly just mean having a genuinely unique, and unusual, that really doesn't resemble anything else even after you can identify influences + contemporaries. as far as "fucked up" I don't want to reduce screw - or anyone - to just drug music but at the same time clearly it is drug music just as much as Sleep or the VU or whatever pilled-up old ardkore record you want to dig out, I mean clearly drugs (or rather, one particular drug) were a huge influence on the guy literally to the end of his life.

mostly anyway I just wanted a bit of a starter's guide. thanks to grizzleb, stephen, dave and everyone for the recs this is pretty much what I was looking for tho further opinions are always welcomed of course. dissensus pulls through after all...
 
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padraig (u.s.)

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Corpsey said:
noz has been writing a bit about Screw on tumblinerb.com lately, hasn't he?
Click to expand...

noz always writes about screw. or, there are a few anchoring points that noz always comes back around to eventually; dungeon family, freestyle fellowship, everything houston, in more recent years lil b, etc. if you dig back through the cb blog archive there was even an (awesome) outsidaz week back in like 2005 or something. still easily the best internet rap writing imo, tho I'm probably not the dude to ask.

lol at the dude who was like are people still into screw. people are still into classical music made by guys who died in like 1682. I didn't know there was an expiration date.
 
blacktulip

blacktulip

Pregnant with mandrakes
By some strange coincidence I also decided to get his discography online over the last few days and listen to a few of the titles that I've seen people boosting online.

My favourite so far is Staying Down, but 3 'N Da Mornin' parts 1 and 2 are maybe the obvious starting points.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
3 'N The Morning Part 2 thirded/whatever. I always preferred the ones from artists I'd never heard of - the big hits screwed usually got tired real quick. Still have affection for his vesion of G Thang tho - G-funk slowed down does sound gooood...
 
blacktulip

blacktulip

Pregnant with mandrakes
padraig (u.s.) said:
lol at the dude who was like are people still into screw. people are still into classical music made by guys who died in like 1682. I didn't know there was an expiration date.
Click to expand...

Actually I can totally see where he was coming from. Screw was major fashion news a few years back - I thought those people had moved on to Ecuadorian Zaguafluff, Elgar mash-ups and Oasis Anthology, etc. by now.
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
DJ Screw obviously wants you!

This is like the dope fly funky fresh manoeuvre :

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