Houston Sound

The Houston sound is the regional hip hop style of Houston, Texas: slow, blues- and soul-fed production, drawled rapping and a self-sustaining independent label economy, unified by the chopped and screwed technique of *DJ Screw*, who slowed tracks to a psychedelic crawl and chopped phrases into repetition. Built by #Rap-A-Lot Records# acts such as the *Geto Boys* and by Port Arthur duo *UGK*, then codified by Screw's Screwed Up Click in the 1990s, the style pairs its tempo with the city's slab car culture and codeine lore, and in 2005 carried *Slim Thug*, *Paul Wall*, *Mike Jones* and *Chamillionaire* to national success.