Houston native DJ Screw (born Robert Early Davis Jr.) is universally acknowledged as the creator of the underground hip-hop phenomenon known as screw music. In an attempt to recreate the sensation one gets from drinking prescription-strength cough syrup, Screw would take records, slow them down, and cut a remix at the new tempo. The effect was a woozy, tripped-out take on the original track. Screw music became a Houston phenomenon and eventually spread to other regional hip-hop scenes. And for a time in the early 2000s, numerous albums were released in both their original forms and in a "chopped & screwed" version. Sadly, DJ Screw passed away in '00, just before the style's mainstream breakthrough.