Big Floyd And The Influence Of Houston Chopped N Screwed Music

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2020

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In a Rolling Stone article titled “He Shook The World: George Floyd’s Legendary Houston Legacy”, writer Charles Holmes reveals the musical past of the man who has become an international symbol for justice since his murder. Known as “Big Floyd” in his Houston community, he was part of the city’s Screwed Up Click, a hip-hop collective centered around the now-legendary producer DJ Screw. This underground scene created a style of slowed-down “chopped and screwed” hip-hop that seeped into mainstream hip-hop, and has even been appropriated by bubblegum Top 40. In this episode we unpack how this chopped and screwed sound took over pop and shine a light on George Floyd’s involvement with the Screwed Up Click. MORE Read Charles Holmes’ Rolling Stone article: '”He Shook the World': George Floyd's Legendary Houston Legacy” SONGS DISCUSSED DJ Screw - Sittin On Top Of The World ft. Big Floyd Mike Jones - Still Tippin’ Mikes Jones - Back Then Chamillionaire - Ridin Chamillionaire - Roll Call Paul Wall - Sittin Sidewayz Nelly - Grillz ft Paul Wall Kanye West, Paul Wall - Drive Slow Drake - November 18th A$AP Rocky - Purple Swag The Weeknd - Initiation Beyoncé - Bow Down THE SCOTTS - THE SCOTTS Travis Scott - Sicko Mode Travis Scott - R.I.P. Screw DJ Screw - In The Air Tonight E.S.G. DJ Screw - Swangin and Bangin DJ Screw - Screwed Up Click - Red pt 2 DJ Screw - 3 In The Morning DJ Screw - June 27th Freestyle DJ Screw and Lil’ Keke - Pimpin Tha Pen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Switchdown Pop, I'm musicologist Nate Sloan.
0:16.8	And I'm songwriter Charlie Harding.
0:19.0	Over the past few days, musicians have been remembering George Floyd.
0:22.7	He was also known as Big Floyd, for his contributions to an underground Houston hip-hop scene called
0:28.5	the Screwed Up Click, who made music that ended up reaching the whole world.
0:34.0	You can hear Floyd freestyling on a track called Sitten on the Top of the World.
0:37.7	Today, we call that slow-down sound, chopped into screw'd, and it comes from Houston,
0:58.0	where Floyd grew up.
0:59.6	Over the years, this chopped and screwed style is seeped into all of hip-hop and even bubble
1:04.9	gum top 40.
1:05.9	We're going to shine a light on Big Floyd's involvement with the Screwed Up Click in the
1:10.6	second part of our conversation today, but first, we're going to talk about the rise
1:14.3	of chopped and screwed in mainstream pop and where the sound came from.
1:19.2	We first learned about Floyd's connection to the scene and in an article titled, He
1:22.4	shook the world, George Floyd's legendary Houston legacy, and we're excited to welcome the
1:27.2	author of that piece to the show.
1:28.8	Hey, guys, my name is Charles Holmes, and I'm a staff writer at Rolling Stone.
1:34.4	Charles, thanks so much for being here.
1:36.4	To kick things off, where would most listeners outside of Houston have first encountered
1:43.2	this woozy chopped and screwed sound?
1:48.1	It depends how old you are.
1:49.6	I would say for, I'm 27, so the first time I really heard chopped and screwed was Swish
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox Media Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox Media Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.