Fat Pat
Patrick Hawkins had the most naturally commercial voice in the Screwed Up Click and was murdered at twenty-seven, weeks before his debut album was released. He is the great unresolved what-if of Houston rap.
Early life and the Screwed Up Click
He grew up in Houston's South Park alongside DJ Screw and was among the first rappers to appear on the Screw tapes. His brother, John Edward Hawkins, recorded as Big Hawk and was also a founding member of the Click.
Ghetto Dreams and the Screw tapes
His freestyles over Screw's slowed instrumentals — "Tops Drop", "25 Lighters" with DJ DMD and Lil' Keke — circulated across Texas on tapes before any official release existed. His voice was smoother and more melodic than most of the Click and translated better to radio.
His death
He was shot and killed in Houston in February 1998, at twenty-seven, shortly before the release of his debut album Ghetto Dreams. The case has never resulted in a conviction. His brother Big Hawk was also shot and killed, in 2006, which compounded the loss for the Houston scene enormously.
What he is known for
"Tops Drop" remains a Houston standard, played at every function in the city for a quarter of a century. His delivery — relaxed, melodic, conversational — prefigures a great deal of what Southern rap became, and he was doing it before the audience existed for it.
Legacy
Every Houston artist of the following generation cites him. Posthumous releases have continued, of varying quality and authorisation, and the consensus is that he was the Click member most likely to have crossed over had he lived.
The Screw tape economy
Before any record deal existed, reputations in Houston were made on DJ Screw's numbered tapes, which sold by the thousand out of a house in South Park. Fat Pat was among the most requested voices on them, and his freestyles circulated statewide years before Ghetto Dreams.
25 Lighters
The DJ DMD track featuring Fat Pat and Lil' Keke, released in 1998, is one of the definitive Houston records and reached a national audience in a way almost nothing else from the Click did at the time. It has been sampled and referenced repeatedly since.
The Hawkins brothers
His brother John Edward Hawkins recorded as Big Hawk and was also a founding member of the Screwed Up Click. Big Hawk was shot and killed in 2006, eight years after Fat Pat. Losing both brothers, along with DJ Screw in 2000, took much of the Click's original core within a decade.
Posthumous releases and legacy
Ghetto Dreams was released weeks after his death, and further material has appeared since with varying involvement from his family. "Tops Drop" is still played constantly in Houston, and the general view in the city is that he was the Click member most likely to have crossed over nationally.
Frequently asked
What happened to Fat Pat?
He was shot and killed in Houston in February 1998, at twenty-seven, shortly before the release of his debut album Ghetto Dreams . The case has never resulted in a conviction. His brother Big Hawk was also shot and killed, in 2006, which compounded the loss for the Houston scene enormously.
What is Fat Pat known for musically?
Ghetto Dreams was released weeks after his death, and further material has appeared since with varying involvement from his family. "Tops Drop" is still played constantly in Houston, and the general view in the city is that he was the Click member most likely to have crossed over nationally.