{"id":345406,"date":"2026-06-22T10:22:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T10:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/345406\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T10:22:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T10:22:37","slug":"dj-screws-june-27th-mixtape-the-story-behind-houstons-hip-hop-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/345406\/","title":{"rendered":"DJ Screw’s “June 27th” Mixtape: The Story Behind Houston\u2019s Hip-Hop Holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

THIS YEAR MARKS the 30th anniversary of\u00a0Chapter 012: June 27th, a near-immortal 35-minute freestyle mixtape featuring some of the most iconic Houston rappers, including DJ Screw, the late and legendary underground artist credited with bringing his signature slow, chopped, and screwed syrupy sound to the city.<\/p>\n

The date the mixtape was recorded, June 27, is now a Houston holiday.
What some refer to as DJ Screw Day commemorates the rapper, who died
on November 16, 2000, of a codeine overdose. But many people have some
misconceptions about the day, wrongly assuming the date marks the rapper\u2019s birthday, which falls on July 20.<\/p>\n

The real story begins with DeMo Sherman and his 26th birthday. A rapper, DJ, and Houston OG, Sherman is the man who conceived June 27th\u2014who pushed for something more structured than a typical Screw session, who brought Big Moe into the room, and made sure Yungstar was there, too. Without DeMo, there\u2019s no June 27th. So, on a brisk Friday evening in January, I met with him at a local coffee shop to get the story, in his own words. What followed was one of the grandest tales in Houston music history.<\/p>\n

This Q&A has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Houstonia: How did you come to know DJ Screw?<\/p>\n

DeMo Sherman: My sister was trying to get me to meet him. She kept begging me to meet the man, and I\u2019m like, \u201cI don\u2019t want to meet this dude. I don\u2019t know him.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was helping her move, and I heard the music she was playing with some real nice mixing going on. I kept looking at the speakers playing because it was a stereo, and [the music] was dragging so slow. I was like, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with your stereo?\u201d She said, \u201cThe guy I want you to meet\u2014that\u2019s his style.\u201d<\/p>\n

Man, when I met him, we connected right away because I was a rapper, but I was a DJ, too. I drove up, and he was at the end of the driveway. He was like, \u201cYou DeMo?\u201d and I was like, \u201cYou Screw?\u201d and we both just bust out laughing because my sister was bugging us to meet. We talked about the rap scene in Houston, how it is in Texas, who we liked in rap, and who we didn\u2019t like. We talked for hours that night.<\/p>\n

How was the music scene at the time of the mixtape?<\/p>\n

I came up as a rapper. From day one, when I heard the Sugar Hill Gang, I started rapping. So, when hip-hop hit in the \u201980s, I was on time. Then, the late \u201980s and the early \u201990s came, and it wasn\u2019t cool to rap no more. The people that were rapping were K-Rino, me, and all of the Houston OGs\u2014we rap. We had the Geto Boys. We had Street Military. It was mainly underground.<\/p>\n

How did the plans come together on your birthday?<\/p>\n

Around two weeks before, I made a tape, Dancing Candy. I\u2019ve made a lot of Screw tapes, and every tape used to sound the same to me. Just: shout-out, rapping, rapping, rapping, flowing, flowing, flowing\u2014tape over. And, you know, I\u2019m a rapper. I make records. I make songs, so I like a little bit more structure. It\u2019s really about the music.<\/p>\n

Me and Screw were the oldest dudes. I was like, \u201cMan, we gotta do something different.\u201d We just did the \u201c3 \u2018N the Morning\u201d with Big Moe, but he had never really been on Screw tapes. I was like, \u201cHe can sing and make hooks. He can make it sound like a record and not just flowing, flowing, flowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

From left: Rapper Al-D, DeMo, and DJ Screw.<\/p>\n

It was early in the day when we got ready to do Dancing Candy. It was me, Big Moe, Haircut Joe, [Big] Pokey, Key-C, and Screw. When you come in Screw\u2019s house through the front, you got a couch facing the door\u2014a love seat. I sat down right there. Everyone was like, \u201cDeMo, don\u2019t sit down. You\u2019re going to fall asleep.\u201d I was like, \u201cI\u2019m a grown man. I\u2019m not about to fall asleep and miss my tape.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I woke up, I heard them rapping in the back. I heard Key-C say, \u201cDeMo done fell asleep, but we still gone wreck.\u201d I laughed. They think I\u2019m asleep, but I\u2019m out here ready. I get up and run to the back. All of them are sitting in a circle listening to the tape, maybe for a third time. Man, I missed the tape! I was so mad. I was like, \u201cScrew, we\u2019re going to do another one on my b-day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Screw said, \u201cWhen is your b-day?\u201d I said, \u201cJune 27.\u201d He said, \u201cWell, there it go: June 27th.\u201d I said, \u201cEverybody that\u2019s here gonna be the same dudes on June 27th.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we got ready to do June 27th, I had left out Yungstar. I had recently met him, and he was trying to get up [with meeting Screw], and I wasn\u2019t going to let him just meet DeMo, and bam, \u201cI\u2019m in there.\u201d But I told him we would do June 27th together, and he didn\u2019t leave my side until after that day.<\/p>\n

It was a Thursday. I\u2019ll never forget it. We stopped by Bird\u2019s house. Every stop we made, the group got bigger. By the time we got to Screw\u2019s house\u2014oh my goodness! It was like a party, but it absolutely wasn\u2019t a party. There were so many people in there. People out there are playing pool. It was crazy.<\/p>\n

Before the tape, I [finally introduced Screw to] Yungstar. Now I got Key-C, who\u2019s 14, got Yungstar at 15. They were rapping back and forth in the kitchen like a New York City battle. It was magic. Haircut Joe had to say, \u201cStop! It\u2019s time to make the tape.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

DJ Screw in the studio<\/p>\n

We do Side A. Side A is jamming. Then, we flip over to Side B. When we started the freestyle, we already had the beat planned.<\/p>\n

As a matter of fact, a few days beforehand, we couldn\u2019t find Screw. The day before June 27, Screw is like, \u201cHey, what\u2019s going on?\u201d It\u2019s now a famous line on the Screw tape: Yungstar says, \u201cScrew had a seizure.\u201d [Screw] was telling us, \u201cMan, I was in the hospital, I had a seizure\u2026I gotta stop drinking so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time we got to [Side B], it was like an out-of-body experience. Everybody knew, subconsciously, on the strength of that Dancing Candy tape\u2014just hearing that one, with Big Moe singing\u2014everybody knew [it was going to be big]. You could sense it. You see everybody looking in everybody\u2019s eyes like, \u201cYou\u2019re making a tape.\u201d It was so hot in there. The energy from everybody\u2014it was the most magical thing I\u2019ve ever been involved with.<\/p>\n

How was the mixtape initially received?<\/p>\n

It takes about a week to get the tape back. We got it on July 4. We went to Screw\u2019s house at like 10 in the morning to get the tape. We went to Big Moe\u2019s house. Everybody got, like, 10 tapes because everybody knew to get enough. When we got to Surfside Beach, everybody had the tape. Everybody was jamming it already. I don\u2019t know how everybody got it. I just know it was almost like\u2026hearing your song on the radio for the first time.<\/p>\n

You know the streets rule the music in hip-hop. If the streets ain\u2019t saying it\u2019s hot, it ain\u2019t hot. But we had the tape for two hours, and every car we passing on the beach is jamming it.<\/p>\n

People have mistaken your birthday for DJ Screw\u2019s\u00a0birthday. Have you made an effort to clear the air?<\/p>\n

A lot of people who know me always fought for me. People will say it was Screw\u2019s birthday, Big Moe\u2019s birthday, Pokey\u2019s birthday\u2026hell, it might have been your birthday. The people who know me, it hurt them the most. They know the work I put into the music and how my heart is in it. It hurts them more than it hurts me.<\/p>\n

In the beginning, I used to get mad, too. Then, people are dying. How long can you be mad? It takes a lot of muscles to make a frown.<\/p>\n

I used to take it as disrespect, but then I realized this is
bigger than me. It\u2019s bigger than DeMo. It\u2019s historical. It\u2019s groundbreaking. It\u2019s Houston. It\u2019s the lifestyle. I had to accept that it was bigger than me.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

DJ Screw is known as one of Houston\u2019s most iconic figures.<\/p>\n

As a friend of DJ Screw, what are some ways you honor his memory since his passing?<\/p>\n

Just by jamming Screw, keeping his name moving, saying his name, keeping him alive, having flashbacks, and like I say, jam. I jam what I was listening to then, still right now. I jam some of the new rap, but not too much because it\u2019s weird to me. And I know it\u2019s supposed to be weird because I\u2019m older.<\/p>\n

The 30th anniversary of the Screw Tapes is this year, but at the end of the day, it\u2019s still your special day. How do you plan to celebrate your birthday?<\/p>\n

I want to be here. That\u2019s my main thing: being here. Usually, on my birthday, I like to get in the car by myself. I hit neighborhoods of people that I know\u2014people in Fifth Ward that know me. I like to ride and bless people with my presence that aren\u2019t used to getting it. Last year, I was home, and I had a lot of people at my house barbecuing, because, you know, I can\u2019t be touched when it comes to barbecue.<\/p>\n

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