Turn The Beat Around

Long before DJ Screw, Darryl Scott was Houston's mixmaster, spinning records that eventually spun him into the ground. A reformed Scott has a new rap these days - the word of God.

A A A Comments By Jesse Washington Thursday, Jan 18 2001

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Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust unto himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again…-- 2 Corinthians 10:7

Deron Neblett

Darryl Scott figured out that many folks who hear him preach at Blast Records would never step foot in a real church.

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Hear me out, yo / Believe and never doubt, yo / 'Cause in a minute, the saints be out, yo / Hard to believe hard for the mind to conceive / Every soldier served what he deserves / That's just the word of the Lord / Hear it, believe it, receive it, and be it…-- B.B. Jay, "Universal Concussion"

It's been about two years now of Bible study at Blast Records. Byron's conversion started something of a chain reaction, and so far 35 people have been saved at the record shop, amid all the CDs and posters and Ice Cubes and Big Pokeys.

"One day a friend asked me, 'Have you ever just looked around in here?' " Scott says, gazing past a Trick Daddy poster advertising the album Book of Thugs: Chapter AK, Verse 47. "And I said, 'Yeah, it grieves my heart.' One day I just prayed for everyone on the wall in here.

"But then my friend said, 'This is a camouflage. When lost people walk in here, they're at ease. They're comfortable. They relate to what you're saying because they're surrounded by what they're used to on an everyday basis. Then you hit 'em with the Word of God. But if you put a cross on the wall and say it's a church, they'll never come in.' When I heard that, I stopped feeling so bad about having Bible study in a record store."

Still, Scott eagerly awaits a sign that it's time to leave Blast Records. That will be the official end of DJ Darryl Scott -- but not of Blast Records. Byron will see to that. He's the one who loves the music now, who lives hip-hop culture and knows all the rappers. It's his time.

It would be impossible for Scott to lose his audience, though. Communicating with people, inspiring them, leading them -- that's what he was born to do. It's a foregone conclusion that Scott will soon have his own church. His timing has always been impeccable. He's just waiting for the right time to fade out the music.

See Washington's companion article, "Life in the Slow Lane."