A year ago today we shockingly lost one of Christian hip hop’s greatest assets – Carlos “DJ Primo” Avila.
On April 3, 2012, Primo succumbed to severe depression and took his own life. This Mexican-born US Army Reserve veteran, who served the United States in tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, left behind a wife and two young children.
Known as the “King of Christian chopped and screwed” music, Primo championed both the popular Southern hip hop remix style and seamless video mixing. He chopped and screwed the 116 Clique’s first compilation album, hosted a mix show with Holy Culture Radio, and founded FreeChristianMixtapes.com for his work and that of others.
DJ Primo was a constant fixture at almost every Christian hip hop event held in Houston and, when in the country, was the regular house DJ at the Hip Hop Hope Tuesdays weekly outreach events with Bobby “Tre9” Herring in Houston’s 5th Ward.
The following is a clip I shot during last year’s DJ Primo memorial where the Much Luvv Family (Von Won, 007, S.O.M. Tre9, and Col Cutz) performed “Hometown Hero” – their tribute to Primo who died just seven days before.
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And here are a few shots I took from that night.
A tribute to a fallen solider, DJ, and servant
Primo’s wife Suhaylee said a few words
Bless’t shared a few stories about his friend Primo
Von Won talked about how Primo served him as an artist and the community as a minister
A local DJ shows off her homemade DJ Primo tribute t-shirt
The homie F.O.E. also showed up with a one-of-a-kind DJ Primo tribute tee
H-town and the Christian hip hop community at large still misses our brother. Please continue to pray for his widow, Suhaylee, and his kids.
And if you’re in the mood for some good Houston-based Christian hip hop that has been “slowed and throwed” check out this free, tribute mix from England’s DJ Cool Waters.
