3 ‘N The Mornin’ (Part One)

“3 ’N the Mornin’ (Part One)” is a mixed album by DJ Screw, first issued on cassette in 1995 through Bigtyme Recordz, with a CD edition following in 1996.

The story

DJ Screw, born Robert Earl Davis Jr., developed his slowed-down remix style in Houston in the early 1990s and sold hundreds of homemade tapes from his home. This release was one of his first commercially distributed records, issued by Bigtyme with Russell Washington as executive producer. It opened a series that continued with “3 ’N the Mornin’ (Part Two)” and carried his underground reputation into retail stores.

Sound and production

The sixteen tracks apply Screw’s chopped and screwed treatment to a mix of national and local rap. Dr. Dre’s “Dre Day,” Ice Cube’s “Good Day,” Too $hort’s “Don’t Stop,” LL Cool J’s “Rock tha Bells” and cuts by Spice 1, Compton’s Most Wanted, Yo-Yo and Schoolly D sit alongside Houston’s Street Military and a screwed version of Laid Back’s “White Horse.” Dropping the tempo and repeating phrases turns familiar songs into slow, heavy, hypnotic listening. Maestro engineered the mix, and the cover art came from Pen & Pixel Graphics.

Legacy

Bigtyme kept the album in circulation for years, reissuing it on cassette and CD in 1998, 2004, 2005 and 2012. The series grew in stature, with the Houston Press later ranking Part Two 13th among the 25 best Houston rap albums. DJ Screw died on November 16, 2000, and his influence spread far beyond Texas in the years that followed.

More from hip hop in 1995.