Milton Jerome Powell Jr. (November 29, 1974 – June 18, 2023), better known by his stage name Big Pokey, was an American rapper from

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas. Big Pokey was associated with chopped and screwed music, and was one of the original members of the

Screwed Up Click The Screwed Up Click (or S.U.C.) is an American hip hop collective based in Houston, Texas, that was led by DJ Screw. Its most notable members include DJ Screw, Big Hawk, Big Mello, Big Moe, Big Pokey, the Botany Boyz, E.S.G., Fat Pat, L ...

Biography

Milton Powell was born on November 29, 1974, in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. He attended Yates High School, where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and became close friends with

George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd had used a counterfeit tw ...

. Known via a variety of nicknames, including Big Poyo and Podina, Big Pokey burst onto the Houston rap scene in the early 1990s as a member of his friend

DJ Screw Robert Earl Davis Jr. (July 20, 1971 – November 16, 2000), better known by his stage name DJ Screw, was an American hip hop DJ based in Houston, Texas, and best known as the creator of the chopped and screwed DJ technique. He was a centra ...

's friend group-turned rap collective

. Big Pokey was featured on DJ Screw's mixtape "June 27th Freestyle" which became a landmark album in chopped and screwed hip hop. In early 1999, he made his solo debut with his first full-length album, '' Hardest Pit in the Litter''. The following year, Pokey returned with '' D-Game 2000'', another album of mid-tempo 808-driven beats featuring several of his Houston peers as guests. In 2001, he collaborated with the Wreckshop Wolfpack for '' Tha Collabo'' and then returned in 2002 with another solo album, '' Da Sky's Da Limit''. In 2004, a clip of Pokey's song "Who Dat Talkin Down" was featured in the pilot episode of

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's ''Entourage''. Pokey was featured on

Paul Wall Paul Michael Slayton (born March 11, 1981), better known by his stage name Paul Wall, or the Ice Man, is an American rapper and DJ. He has spent much of his career affiliated with Swishahouse, and has released several albums under the label and ...

's 2005 hit single " Sittin' Sidewayz" which peaked at #93 on US ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Death

On June 17, 2023, Powell collapsed from a heart attack while performing at a bar in

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city ...

. He was taken to a hospital in the city and died overnight on June 18, at the age of 48. An autopsy found that he had

atherosclerosis Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis, characterized by development of abnormalities called lesions in walls of arteries. This is a chronic inflammatory disease involving many different cell types and is driven by eleva ...

and hypertensive heart disease.

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

* 2003: ''Mob 4 Life'' (with Chris Ward) * 2004: ''A Bad Azz Mix Tape Vol. 3'' * 2004: ''The Best Of Big Pokey II (8ighted & Chopped)'' * 2005: ''Since The Grey Tapes Vol. 3'' (with

Lil' Keke Marcus Lakee Edwards (born March 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Lil' Keke, is an American rapper and original member of the Southern hip hop collective Screwed Up Click. Biography Music career Lil' Keke gained national attention with ...

) * 2007: ''On Another Note'' * 2008: ''Keep On Stackin, Vol. 3: Smoked Out... Beatin!!!'' (with Lil C) * 2008: ''Screwed Up Gorillaz'' (with E.S.G.) * 2010: ''Warning Shot''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Big Pokey 1974 births 2023 deaths 20th-century African-American musicians 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American rappers 21st-century African-American musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American rappers African-American male rappers 21st-century American male rappers 20th-century American male rappers Deaths from atherosclerosis Filmed deaths Gangsta rappers Musicians who died on stage Rappers from Houston Blinn Buccaneers football players Screwed Up Click members