Sound Machine
Sound Machine
Staying True to DJ Screw
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Staying True to DJ Screw

Pod #6: Will & John chat with Houston recording artist RUEROB on the past, present and future of H-town's legendary Screw scene

Robert Earl Davis, JR, aka DJ Screw, at home on the decks

Pod #6: The Screwaissance is here. Two decades after DJ Screw’s passing at age 29, his slowed-down sound and legacy are still being discovered by new audiences from Finland to Japan, from museumgoers to visual artists to mainstream media to documentary filmmakers. As Texas boys and longtime Screw bangers we’re honored to bring you a wide-ranging, eye-opening interview with a man who’s had Screw in his veins since boyhood: multi-talented recording artist RUEROB, son of late Screwed Up Click member Big Rue, who today keeps the Screw fires burning as the executive director of the Screwed Up HQ nonprofit and the composer/performer of a one-man screwed-down hip-hop musical. Rue tells us all about what it was like growing up on the scene, why DJ Screw was so important to the Houston community, and why today Rue is raising money to preserve some iconic pieces of Screw’s legacy—including his candy-blue Chevy Impala.

Houston recording artist, composer and non-profit director RUEROB

"The results of D.J. Screw's labors often sound like rap records played underwater on an old cassette deck that's running out of batteries and needs its tape heads cleaned. It is not music to dance to but music to lose yourself in, as if it is the last sound echoing in your head as you drift off to sleep." - New York Times

The influential Screwed Up Records & Tapes store in Houston attracts Screwheads from around the globe

Follow Rue on IG: https://www.instagram.com/ruerob/

*Gage Play Remix from Baba & Me: A Young Man In Search of His Father appears courtesy of Ren Men Entertainment

Discussion about this podcast

Sound Machine
Sound Machine
Sound Machine broadcasts from the frontlines of audio culture. In this podcast I'll explore music, sound, and listening in the digital age, and meet with musicians, DJs, journalists and fans who help me unpack what it all means.