All of his tapes were either made for friends or individuals who had become fans. The voice of a God whose angels sung in tones that were slowed down, dead-eyed and opiated. And he talked in such a slurred, Southern drawl that for many in Houston and beyond - it was the voice of a God. He was an A&R even when nobody declared him one. The most famous hip-hop mind to ever come from Smithville, Texas was named Robert Earl Davis, Jr, aka DJ Screw. Miles away in Houston, an entire community felt like the main tree of its ecosystem had slowly withered to nothingness and died. A smoky, gunmetal casket sat in the middle of the church where the funeral was held, right next to a photo of a man in the center of a makeshift million dollar bill.
It was a funeral but barely anybody wanted to speak about the deceased. Some of them cried, others hid behind blocked off sunglasses to hide their pupils and protect their image. Men let their arms bear through T-shirts, their inked skin already collecting more tributes than ever before. The city has never had a population more than it has now, some 4,000 inhabitants and outside of its initial settlement and founding, the highest total it had was in 2000, with 3,901.Ģ000 also held the city’s most famous funeral. Screw.īeyond Houston’s large infrastructure, Smithville exists on the lip of Austin’s progressive living space. The most famous musical export that Texas ever produced was born in Smithville, Texas.
