![]() ![]() Hip-hop superstar Drake, an avid fan of Houston rap, paid homage to “June 27th” on his song “November 18.” The sound is still prevalent today with native Houstonians like Beyoncé and Travis Scott incorporating screwed elements into their music, along with other huge artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, A$AP Rocky and Bryson Tiller. “June 27th” is regarded as arguably the most influential song in the chopped & screwed cannon, and one of the most important songs in Texas rap history. He died a horrible death, and that hurts,” Pokey wrote in an op-ed for the Chronicle published days after Floyd’s killing. We watched him fight for his life until he was lifeless. And to sit there and watch my brother die - the law killed my homeboy in front of the world. ![]() Pokey grew up in the southside of Houston where he became a football standout at Yates High School, becoming very close friends with George Floyd, the Black man whose murder by Minneapolis police touched off global protests and a national reckoning with police brutality and racism. It was a pre-streaming era where music was regionalized, and the most popular Houston rappers could become wealthy without ever having to tour or get radio play outside of the state. Pokey released his debut album, “Hardest Pit in the Litter” in 1999, and “Da Game 2000″ the following year. The sound reached a fever pitch in the mid-2000s as other fellow popular underground Houston artists like Lil’ Flip, Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Chamillionaire and UGK signed national distribution deals and brought mainstream attention to the sound. The trendsetting DJ developed the slowed, pitched-down music style known as “chopped and screwed” music that would eventually become synonymous with Houston, and whose mixtapes spread throughout the southeastern United States. Family and officials are awaiting autopsy results to learn the cause of death.īig Pokey, known by a slew of nicknames including Big Poyo and Podina, began to garner local fame in the late ‘90s as an original member of the Screwed Up Click, a friend group-turned-rap collective led by DJ Screw. Pokey’s death was confirmed to The Associated Press by his publicist La’Torria Lemon, as well as Tom Gillam III, a justice of the peace in Jefferson County, where Powell was performing. Videos quickly circulated on social media of the rapper, who was featured on Megan Thee Stallion’s 2022 “Southside Royalty Freestyle,” taking a deep breath into his microphone before appearing to pass out and fall onto his back. Known for Texas and Gulf Coast hits such as “Ball N’ Parlay,”” Who Dat Talking Down,” and a verse on DJ Screw’s nearly 36-minute iconic freestyle known as “June 27th,” he collapsed while performing at Pour09, a Beaumont bar and nightlife space about an hour east of Houston. HOUSTON (AP) - Big Pokey, a popular Texas rapper and original member of Houston’s pioneering Screwed Up Click, died Sunday after a Juneteenth performance. ![]()
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