New Houston Rappers Salute DJ Screw's "June 27"

Historically, the importance of DJ Screw's original "June 27" track is monumental. It is, essentially, slurry Houston rap's Sistine Chapel ceiling, responsible for an almost uncountable number of eventuals, including but not limited to Yungstar's momentary transcendence (which had untold effects as well), starting the crystallization of Big Moe's icon status, and making "D Moe" the answer to one of Houston rap's great trivia questions. (Whose birthday were they celebrating when they recorded "June 27"*?)

There may not be a more beloved collection of Screwed minutes in existence, impressive considering that, pertaining to beloved Houston personas in general, DJ Screw rates near the top as well. (Beloved Screw Minutes × Beloved Houston Personas=Beloved x^2; that's an exponential growth in belovedness, yo.)

It is, for sure, a tribute-worthy track. And earlier today, Kane, Le$, Delo, Propain, Kirko Bangz and Marcus Manchild, six of the deadlier venoms within the New Houston Collective, paid homage to Screw when they leaked their version, politely titled "June 27 Tribute."

There are several plot lines/talking points that will inevitably spiderweb off from here.

There are fun ones: "This is the first time these guys have appeared on the same track, and the first fully vetted, fully independent group track like this, so an obvious question emerges: How do they perform here, ranked relative to one another?"**

There are perfunctory ones: "How would Screw feel about this if he were here today?"

And there are, of course, scandalous ones that are variations of criticisms already floating around: "Who anointed these guys leaders of the new school?"

But perhaps the most interesting, most fulfilling, is an historical one: "Did these guys, this not-at-random bundled together segment of New Houston's populace, potentially just record a song that captured 2011 Houston rap's spirit?"

They may have.

There are other new rappers in Houston who could've kept up here, that's for certain, but nobody on it is especially weak or unnecessary. What's more, they all are, if nothing else, potential local stars, and proclamations that one or more of them will pop nationally don't sound like exaggerations, which is essential if you want to draw parallels from the original to the new.