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The South · Texas · since 1987

1987
The South
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Houston

Texas
Chopped & screwed · candy paint · Rap-A-Lot menace
Ride the roster1:40
Story, bloodline and 10 names

Houston built two things nobody else had: Rap-A-Lot Records, which put the Geto Boys' psychological horror on national radio, and DJ Screw, who slowed records to a crawl for his own city and accidentally invented the tempo half of modern pop.

Bloodline · 1 stop from The Bronx
  1. 1973The Bronx
  2. 1987Houston

TransferSouth Central (LA)

Rap-A-Lot was modelled on New York's independent street labels; the Geto Boys' early records take LA's reporting and push it somewhere much darker and more interior.

Next stopsNew Orleans, Memphis, Atlanta

Rap-A-LotScrewed Up ClickSwishahouse
Roster
1989
Geto Boys

Scarface, Willie D, Bushwick Bill — rap's first real psychological horror.

YTW
1990
DJ Screw

Slowed and chopped hundreds of tapes for his neighbourhood. The tempo of the 2010s.

YTW
1991
Scarface

The South's greatest writer, full stop.

YTW
1992
UGK

Pimp C and Bun B of Port Arthur: the country rap everyone eventually copied.

YTW
1997
Swishahouse

Michael Watts and OG Ron C took Screw's method national.

YTW
1998
Devin the Dudedeep cut

The funniest, most human voice on Rap-A-Lot.

YTW
1998
Z-Rodeep cut

Sings and raps his own pain; Houston's most beloved local legend.

YTW
2005
Paul Wall & Chamillionaire

The mixtape duo that put grillz and screwed hooks on pop radio.

YTW
2015
Travis Scott

Turned screwed textures into stadium psychedelia.

YTW
2019
Megan Thee Stallion

Houston freestyle tradition plus a total command of the internet.

YTW

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