Born and raised in Houston, TX, rapper
Curtis Davis debuted as
Big Mello in 1992 with the album
Bone Hard Zaggin on the Rap-a-Lot label.
Wegonefunkwichamind appeared two years later without any of the usual Rap-a-Lot guest stars. Those who encountered
Big Mello's deep Texas sound compared him to favorably to
Scarface or rising star
Z-Ro, but Rap-a-Lot never found the right way to package
Mello and soon he was on to other labels.
Southside Story appeared in 1996 on the small N-Terrogation label and failed to spread his name past the most hardcore of Texas hip-hop fans.
Mello disappeared until 2002 when it was announced he was working on a new album,
Done Deal. Tragedy struck on June 15 of that year, when
Mello lost control of his car and hit a pillar, killing both himself and a passenger. Out of nowhere the album
The Gift appeared in August that year on the small KMJ label.
Z-Ro appeared on the album and a small but zealous fan base declared it
Big Mello's greatest achievement, better than the hyped
Done Deal, which appeared a year later on the Woss Ness label. As years went on, the cult stood firm with
Mello's albums -- almost all out of print -- trading for 50 dollars on Internet auction sites. In 2006, Rap-a-Lot dipped deep into its catalog and released screwed-and-chopped remixes of the rapper's first two albums. ~ David Jeffries