DJ Screw‘s impact on Hip-Hop is larger than a longhorn grazing in the Texas sun. Born Robert Earl Davis Jr., the Houston native’s homegrown sound has transcended the city’s wards to gain international fame. Remnants of its syrupy, chopped-and-screwed grooves are found in some of the genre’s biggest hits of today.
Megastars like Drake, Travis Scott, and A$AP Rocky have helped introduce DJ Screw and the Screwed Up Click to a global audience and built on a legacy set in motion by the late deejay and producer in the ‘90s.
While much of the music by the artists he’s influenced is widely accessible, Screw’s own catalog has remained just short of mythical to most rap fans. Official releases have been absent on digital streaming platforms (DSPs), and physical copies of his classic Screw Tapes have been far and in between.
That is, until Michelle “Red” Wheeler, DJ Screw’s sister and head of his estate, and her team embarked on the mission to finally make his music available on DSPs. That mission, which she says began in mid-2025, was completed this past Friday (May 29), when Wheeler and the estate released DJ Screw Originals (Volume 1), a compilation album composed of material from across Screw’s catalog.
