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Michael "5000" Watts
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Michael "5000" Watts | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1973 or 1974 |
| Origin | Houston, Texas |
| Died | January 30, 2026 (aged 52) |
| Genres | |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1996–2026 |
| Label | Swishahouse |
Michael "5000" Watts (1973/1974 – January 30, 2026) was an American DJ and entrepreneur who co-founded the record label Swishahouse. He is credited as one of the primary figures responsible for promoting Houston hip-hop—particularly its characteristic chopped and screwed style—to a national audience in the early 2000s.
Biography
Watts was raised in the North Side of Houston.[1] In his teenage years, he began work as a DJ who performed live sets and sold mixtapes, before parlaying this early independent career into a radio DJ role at 97.9 The Box.[2] While working for this station in 1996, Watts began producing chopped and screwed mixtapes, inspired by the earlier work of DJ Screw.[1] Watts' role at The Box also placed him in contact with OG Ron C, with whom he co-founded the record label Swishahouse in 1997.[2][3]
In contrast to DJ Screw, who preferred to self-release his music on cassettes, Watts promoted his chopped and screwed music extensively on radio and the Internet. He also used CDs and software like Pro Tools to assemble higher-fidelity material.[1][3][4] Watts' adoption of a style so heavily inspired by Screw, and the commercial success he attained with it, made him the target of resentment from Screw-affiliated artists from Houston's South Side.[1] Nevertheless, after Screw died in 2000, Watts came to be seen as the primary living exponent of chopped and screwed music.[5] He began releasing screwed remixes of major-label albums through a deal with Universal Records,[6] the first one being 8Ball & MJG's Space Age 4 Eva, and expanded his radio show to be syndicated across five Southern cities.[1]
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Watts released a number of compilation albums through Swishahouse;[2] the first to be nationally distributed was 1999's The Day Hell Broke Loose.[1] Watts, and the stable of artists he signed to Swishahouse, have been credited with bringing Houston hip-hop to the explosive success it enjoyed in 2005.[7] In particular, Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Mike Jones, and Chamillionaire have all been named as Houston rappers who flourished through their connections to Watts and Swishahouse.[3][4]
On January 30, 2026, Watts died at the age of 52 from a torsades de pointes.[2] He was buried on February 16.[3]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sarig, Roni (2007). Third Coast: Outkast, Timbaland, and How Hip-Hop Became a Southern Thing. Da Capo Press. pp. 323–326. ISBN 9780306814303.
- 1 2 3 4 Brown, Preezy (February 2, 2026). "Michael '5000' Watts, Swishahouse Founder and CEO, Dead at 52". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Guerra, Joey (February 16, 2026). "Michael '5000' Watts built the sound of Houston. At his private funeral, the city still showed up". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved June 30, 2026.
- 1 2 Marks, Michael (February 3, 2026). "Remembering Houston hip-hop pioneer Michael '5000' Watts". Texas Standard. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
- ↑ Lynch, Jamie (2010). "The Long, Hot Grind: How Houston Engineered an Industry of Independence". In Hess, Mickey (ed.). Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide. Vol. 2. ABC-CLIO. p. 452. ISBN 9780313343223.
- ↑ Sanneh, Kelefa (April 17, 2005). "The Strangest Sound in Hip-Hop Goes National". The New York Times. Retrieved June 30, 2026.
- ↑ Westhoff, Ben (2011). Dirty South: Outkast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers who Reinvented Hip-Hop. Chicago Review Press. p. 68. ISBN 9781569766064.