Pioneer of the ‘chopped-and-screwed’ approach to hip-hop, the musician was once a part of Houston’s Screwed Up Click.

Legendary Houston rapper Big Pokey died overnight on Sunday after collapsing at a bar in Beaumont, Texas, his publicist has confirmed. The rap star, best known as part of the Screwed Up Click collective, was 48 years old. Fellow Screwed Up associate Bun B posted on Instagram that Big Pokey was “one of the pillars” and “one of the most naturally talented artists in the city” of Houston:

Houston’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, honoured the rap legend on Twitter, saying:

One of the original members of the Screwed Up Click named for the late rap star DJ Screw, Big Pokey helped to pioneer Houston’s “chopped-and-screwed” approach to hip-hop that referred to slowing the pitch of the underlying track to create a heavy, laid-back sound. The style was often associated with lean, also known as purple drank or sizzurp, which is a concoction of codeine and promethazine cough syrup mixed with fruit-flavoured soft drinks and ingested alongside large quantities of cannabis. The mix is supposed to make the world seem like it’s moving in slow motion. Big Pokey released his debut album Hardest Pit in the Litter in 1999. He put out two subsequent albums, D-Game 2000 and Da Sky’s Da Limit, over the next three years. Last year, he joined Megan Thee Stallion on Traumazine’s Southside Royalty Freestyle alongside a slate of fellow Houston rap legends, Pitchfork reported. Two years ago, Big Pokey was asked in an interview with K-Rino if there was anything he’d have done differently.