Big Pokey is a Houston legend squarely from his run with the Screwed Up Click, his solo albums and his iconic verse on “June 27th.” In a recent interview with Donnie Houston, Pokey reflected on how losing former teammate and Screwed Up Click member George Floyd meant to him.
“I done lost a bunch of people, all kind of ways,” Pokey said. “That one man … losing him like that … the police and how they suffocated him? Almost nine minutes? Suffocate and watch him die? And I know him. I know him! Been in the huddle with the n*gga. I know him.”
Pokey added, “To see that there, to see that sh*t? That sh*t was sickening man, I still think about it. That was crazy man, to lose him like that. They tortured him.”
Floyd graduated in 1993 and was a year ahead of Pokey and Big Moe, who attended Jack Yates High School at the same time. Floyd and Pokey played football together at Yates and at one point, Pokey was the kicker for JY High. After Floyd’s death, Pokey was on hand for Floyd’s memorial service.
Through the course of their hour conversation, Pokey indulges Houston with stories about how he met DJ Screw in 1994 fresh out of high school, how he balanced life between being a college star and a neighborhood superstar on Screw tapes, the meaning behind certain Screw tapes such as Leanin’ On A Switch, joining D.E.A. with H.A.W.K and Fat Pat, and the makings of “June 27th.”
“A lot of people don’t remember that Wood Room,” Pokey says of Screw’s recording space. “There were people everywhere in the kitchen. But that was Yung [Yungstar]’s show out moment. If they got that on footage, it would be a fool.”
Pokey’s back to back albums, Hardest Pit In The Litter and Dope Game 2000 arrived straight off the momentum carried by the S.U.C. In fact, two videos were supposed to be shot from the album, “Ball N Parlay” and “Who Dat Talkin’ Down” but never came to be with the latter not being completed following the death of Big Steve. When it came time to record his verse for “Maan!” Pokey says he freestyled the entire verse in one take.
Watch the full interview above.
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