RECORDING
SCREWVILLE Interview by Lance Scott Walker | Photography by Anthony Rathbun
WHEN ROBERT EARL DAVIS , JR ., PASSED AWAY ON NOVEMBER 16 , 2000 , THE WORLD LOST DJ SCREW , BUT A FAMILY IN SMITHVILLE , TEXAS , LOST A COUSIN , BROTHER AND SON . IN THE YEARS SINCE HIS DEATH , SCREW ’ S MUSIC HAS PERSEVERED , AND HIS LEGEND HAS GROWN AROUND THE WORLD , BUT THERE IS MORE TO THE PERSON THAN HIS FANS COULD EVER KNOW .
Smithville native JASON CULBERSON set out to fix that in 2013 , filming interviews with family members and people close to Screw who have been less visible than the rappers in The Screwed Up Click . The culmination of his work is the one-hour DVD Screwville , which Culberson , who is known as K . i . d , shot and edited , self-funded and self-released .
“ I just felt it was a piece of history that needed to be spoken about ,” he said . “ There ’ s a lot of people that wasn ’ t a part of previous documentaries that were strong in Screw ’ s life , and real instrumental . Like Al-D , KAY-K – he was locked up . You never heard from Jut , you never heard from CHRIS COOLEY , you never heard from his sister . These were real critical people in his life . So it was more of me just really tryin ’ to bring light to the legacy .”
Part of that work was in convincing Screw ’ s older sister RED to come out of the woodwork . Red was close to her brother but stayed outside of his career . When the scope of K . i . d ’ s project expanded to include a renovation of Screw ’ s gravesite , Red got involved . Together , they collaborated on a series of T-shirts with Houston artist DONKEE BOY and have now twice held an event at 8th Wonder Brewery in Houston to fund their efforts .
“ Screw was a person that would give you his shirt off his back ,” she said . “ And as his sister , I just want to give back like he gave . I wanna give what I can , and just put my feet in his shoes . I can ’ t fill ’ em , but I ’ ma do my best ! Because there was only one Robert Earl Davis , Jr . There was only one DJ Screw . There ’ ll never be another , but I just wanna make sure that I live his world as a positive world .”
“ These cats looked at him like a brother ,” said K . i . d . “ But a lot of them looked at him more as a father figure because he paid their rent money , he had their gas money , he helped them with clothes . I got interviews with people talkin ’ about when they were in jail , how he took care of them . All these things is big , big qualities for one person to carry . You not just a creator of this genre of music , but you also a genuine person outside of that .”
www . officialscrewville . com To read the full article , visit www . localhoustonmagazine . com .
26 L O C A L | september 16