Massive Pokey, a well known Texas rapper and authentic member of Houston’s groundbreaking Screwed Up Click on, died Sunday soon after a Juneteenth efficiency. Born Milton Powell, Pokey was 48.
Regarded for Texas and Gulf Coast hits this sort of as “Ball N’ Parlay,”“Who Dat Chatting Down,” and a verse on DJ Screw’s almost 36-moment iconic freestyle known as “June 27th,” he collapsed even though performing at Pour09, a Beaumont bar and nightlife area about an hour east of Houston.
Videos immediately circulated on social media of the rapper, who was featured on Megan Thee Stallion’s 2022 “Southside Royalty Freestyle,” having a deep breath into his microphone prior to showing up to go out and drop on to his back. Pokey’s demise was verified to The Affiliated Push by his publicist La’Torria Lemon, as nicely as Tom Gillam III, a justice of the peace in Jefferson County, the place Powell was undertaking. Loved ones and officers are awaiting autopsy effects to discover the induce of loss of life.
Massive Pokey, identified by a slew of nicknames together with Significant Poyo and Podina, commenced to garner community fame in the late ’90s as an original member of the Screwed Up Simply click, a mate team-turned-rap collective led by DJ Screw. The trendsetting DJ made the slowed, pitched-down songs design recognized as “chopped and screwed” songs that would eventually grow to be synonymous with Houston, and whose mixtapes distribute all through the southeastern United States.
The sound reached a fever pitch in the mid-2000s as other fellow well known underground Houston artists like Lil’ Flip, Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Chamillionaire and UGK signed countrywide distribution promotions and introduced mainstream attention to the sound.
Pokey released his debut album, “Hardest Pit in the Litter” in 1999, and “Da Sport 2000” the subsequent year. It was a pre-streaming era the place audio was regionalized, and the most common Houston rappers could develop into wealthy without ever having to tour or get radio enjoy outdoors of the state.
Pokey grew up in the southside of Houston wherever he grew to become a soccer standout at Yates Superior University, turning into incredibly near buddies with George Floyd, the Black guy whose murder by Minneapolis law enforcement touched off world-wide protests and a nationwide reckoning with law enforcement brutality and racism.
“This was my brother. And to sit there and enjoy my brother die — the legislation killed my homeboy in entrance of the globe. We viewed him battle for his lifestyle right up until he was lifeless. That was torture. He died a horrible dying, and that hurts,” Pokey wrote in an op-ed for the Chronicle published times soon after Floyd’s killing.
In the op-ed contacting for law enforcement accountability, Pokey mirrored on his times enjoying substantial school football with “Big Floyd” and their an enduring bond.
“He’s from Houston, Texas, 3rd Ward, and he was very pleased of it each individual working day of his lifetime right until they took it,” he wrote. “He was someone. He’s bought a total community that enjoys him.”
Pokey took his athletic talents to junior university football powerhouse Blinn and then Abilene Christian College before focusing on his emcee abilities.
Nationally, Pokey was most known for a featured physical appearance on Paul Wall’s 2005 debut hit song, “Sittin’ Sidewayz.” The chorus was sampled from Pokey’s verse on “June 27th” in which he rhymed, “Sittin’ sideways, boys in a daze/on a Sunday night, I may well bang me some Maze,” referring to the legendary soul band.
“June 27th” is regarded as arguably the most influential track in the chopped & screwed cannon, and just one of the most vital tunes in Texas rap background. The sound is nonetheless commonplace nowadays with native Houstonians like Beyoncé and Travis Scott incorporating screwed aspects into their tunes, along with other enormous artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, A$AP Rocky and Bryson Tiller. Hip-hop celebrity Drake, an avid fan of Houston rap, paid out homage to “June 27th” on his track “November 18.”
Pokey also crafted other Texas classics, dubbed as “country rap tunes” by late southern hip-hop icon Pimp C, like “On Choppers,” and penned standout guest verses on Massive Moe’s “Maan!”, a well-known Texas acquire on Black Rob’s “Whoa!”
His previous challenge was 2021’s “Sensei,” referring to another one particular of his nicknames and dubbed as his comeback album.
Lovers, pals and collaborators took his loss of life tough, with tributes pouring in from the likes of Paul Wall,Trim Thug, ideal good friend Lil Keke, and Bun B, who named Powell “one of the most the natural way gifted artists” in Houston.
“He’d pull up, do what he had to do and head home. Just one of the pillars of our city,” Bun B stated on Instagram.
Powell leaves behind a wife and three college-aged children.
