The University of Houston Libraries announced Tuesday, a landmark acquisition of rap music, the DJ Screw Sound Recordings Collection. This collection includes more than 1,000 vinyl records owned by the late DJ Screw (Robert Earl Davis Jr., 1971-2000), originator of the “chopped and screwed” genre that helped define the Houston hip-hop sound.

These records, including rare 12”s by Houston, Southern, and West Coast artists, were the foundation of DJ Screw’s highly influential “screw tapes,” self-produced mixtapesof slowed down music. The DJ Screw Sound Recordings Collection is part of a larger project to preserve and make available materials related to Houston hiphop music and culture.

The majority of this collection was donated by DJ Screw’s father, Robert Earl Davis Sr., with additional support from the John and Rebecca Moores Endowed Library Fund.

Currently being cataloged, the collection will be open for use by researchers in 2013. From March 19 – Sept. 21, 2012, selections from the collection will be on display in the M.D. Anderson Library as part of the exhibit DJ Screw and the Rise of Houston Hip Hop. In conjunction with the exhibit, a conference exploring the unique music and culture of Houston hip hop will be held March 27 and 28, 2012, presented jointly by the University of Houston Libraries, the HERE Project at Rice University, African American Studies at the University of Houston, and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston.

Here are some images from the expo

Props to Ozone Magazine

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