Big Moe

Third Ward and Screw tapes

Kenneth Doniell Moore was born in Houston on August 20, 1974, and grew up in the city's Third Ward. Performing as Big Moe, he was one of the founding members of DJ Screw's original Screwed Up Click and first built a following by freestyling on Screw's mixtapes, blending rapping with a sung, drawling delivery, before signing with Houston's Wreckshop Records.

City of Syrup

His debut album “City of Syrup” (2000) reached No. 176 on the Billboard 200 and No. 52 on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart. It included “Mann!,” conceived as a Southern answer to East Coast hip hop. The single “Purple Stuff” became his breakthrough, supported by a Willy Wonka-themed music video that aired on MTV. The album's title track brought in DJ Screw, Tyte Eyes and Z-Ro.

Purple World and Moe Life

Released through Wreckshop and Priority Records, “Purple World” (2002) was his commercial peak, reaching No. 29 on the Billboard 200 and No. 3 on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart. “Moe Life” (2003) followed, reaching No. 33 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, with “Just a Dog” among its most successful songs. All of his studio albums were issued by Wreckshop, the Houston label that also released Fat Pat's posthumous albums.

Death and legacy

Moore suffered a heart attack in early October 2007 that left him in a coma, and he died on October 14, 2007, at age 33. Wreckshop and Koch Records issued the posthumous album “Unfinished Business” in 2008, which reached No. 73 on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart. He remains one of the defining voices of the Screwed Up Click era, and album titles such as “City of Syrup” and “Purple World” nod directly to the lean culture that surrounded Screw's music.