Orange SUV's, Kris Kross, and that Girl I Met from H-Town - The Legacy of the June 27th Freestyle

Go ahead and listen while you read. It's fine, I promise.

I was late to the party.  SO LATE to the party.  I moved to Texas in 1996, after being born in Maryland, and spending 3 years in Wyoming (pre-meth Wyoming.)  Probably the first song I ever heard with any real Houston ties was Lil' Troy's 'Wanna Be a Baller'.  It was was a hymn - it was a sing-songy chant where you wanted to imitate the hook as best you could, and well, learn all the verses later.  It was the first time I remember someone's guest verse "Stealing a song".  When Yungstar said 'switch from Motorola to a PrimeCo phone!' I damn near jumped out of my seat!  But I knew the style of the song, the FUN of the sound was something I'd grow really, really fond of.

I'm a bit of a music snob, in that I don't listen to the radio.  At all.  It doesn't make sense to me: in a world where I have access to literally anything I want o hear at any moment, why would I listen to the same 10-15 songs all day with COMMERCIALS IN BETWEEN?  That's as such a commentary on San Antonio/ Austin radio as anything else, but I digress... I was at Fiesta, a yearly celebration in San Antonio devoted to food, culture, parties, and at least in 2001, mix tapes.  I was with my pal Shawn, and we came to a table selling mix tapes (back when you actually sold mix tapes) and I saw a partly hand drawn, partly photo shopped cover featuring a damn orange SUV on giant rims and a south park character.  I asked Shawn what it was, and his response was "you don't know about the Color Changin' Click?"  HELL NO I didn't know about the Color Changin' Click, but I really wanted to.  So I paid the $20 and purchased the CD.

Top 5 LIFETIME PURCHASE.  NO REGRETS.

It was INCREDIBLE.  It was the first time I had heard rappers over another artist's beat, which to me was mind blowing.  I didn't even know you could do that!  This was Chamillionaire and Paul Wall YEARS before anyone outside of Texas had heard of them - young, hungry, and without the boundaries of hooks, melodies.  It was akin to the 50 Cent mix tapes prior to 'Get Rich'  without the blatant (but precise and fantastic) swagger jacking.  I wanted more.  Anything I could get my hands on, Slim Thug, 3rd Degree, Freestyle Kings, I was all over it.  So the more things I listened to, the more I wanted to know where it all came from

DJ Screw was gone.  He was already outta here before I ever heard a slowed down track.  I don't say that to sound callous, I say it because it makes him more of a legend than a guy.  He birthed something and left it for me and didn't even ask for a thank you.  It was just given to me.  The name comes from his distaste of certain records.  If he thought a record SUCKED, he'd scratch the damn thing with a screw, simple as that.  His personalized tapes, which he intentionally slowed down to replicate the feeling of "lean", the popular promethazine/codeine/sprite mixture, became all the rage.  People were literally lining up at the guy's door to get tapes.  This birthed  "Screwed Up Records & Tapes", his own store to sell albums and tapes.  This would become a huge staple the State, with people opening their own mix tape/ album spots to huge profits.

The Essentials.

 He's also the Professor X of the "Screwed Up Click", a super team of Texas Emcee's that appeared on his songs/tapes/albums together.  Some of the notable members are Big Moe, Lil' Flip, Lil' Keke, Big Hawk, and Big Pokey.  One thing these artists were known for, in particular Big Moe and Lil' Flip, was there ability to freestyle.  Not "lemme write this down and put it over a beat" freestyle, but "off the top of my head, let me make this up and spit it" freestyle.  Sometimes simplistic, something hilarious, but always enjoyable, Texas-flavored freestyles were all the rage in the late 90's to the mid 2000's.  This in many ways birthed the modern "anyone can rap" movement.  If you were quick enough, and had enough life experience/stimuli, damnit you could freestyle.  It seems that every party I went to from 2001-2006, I ended up in a freestyle circle, spitting god knows what about god knows who to anyone that would listen.  Requisite "man hold up" and "i done came down" chants could be heard all throughout.  Everyone swore they had the hottest lines, some people would go until they were FORCED to spot, but it was always fun.

THAT'S how you make a 37 minute track.

Enter the 'June 27th' freestyle.  Does anyone, ANYONE, remember Kris Kross' 'Da Streets Ain't Right'?  ANYONE?  Because I don't think I've ever heard it.  But Screw lifted that Jermaine Dupri beat, gave it the slowed down treatment, and the backdrop for the 'June 27th' freestyle had been born.  It isn't so much a song as it is an exhibit - it's a moment in time that was pure, it was fun, it was unapologetic.  It didn't always rhyme, it wasn't always coherent, but it WENT.  It was that SNL sketch that kept your attention because as much as it was a production, it was people adapting to what was happening and making the most of it.  There were no do overs.  And on top of that, people know that 35 minute + track WORD FOR WORD.  Even the rhymes that aren't really rhymes!  That comes on, you just go with it.

Take some time out today to listen the 'June 27th'.  Sing it with your friends, drink something purple (preferable just juice folks) zone out and listen to it all alone.  But take in that moment, that time when the music was just fun, it wasn't selling you anything, it wasn't prompting you to act, it was just there with you, and for you. It's the ones that smoke blunts witcha, see ya picha, now the wanna grab the guns to come and get ya...

 Bonus - Drake's November 18th -