Houston hip-hop icon Michael “5000” Watts, famed for pioneering the “chopped and screwed” music style and founding Swishahouse Records, is hospitalized.

The Watts family is asking the community, fans, and those impacted by his decades-long career to keep him in their prayers as he continues to receive medical care.

“We appreciate the outpouring of love and support as we trust God for healing and favor,” the family said in the statement.

Watts is a Houston-based DJ, producer, and the founder of Swishahouse Records, a Southern hip-hop label that helped define the city’s sound and influence the genre nationwide. He is widely known for popularizing the “chopped and screwed” style of music, a slowed-down remix technique that became a staple of Houston hip-hop culture.

He began DJing in the late 1980s in Houston’s Homestead neighborhood, creating fast-paced mixtapes before later adopting the slower mixing style pioneered by DJ Screw. Through Swishahouse, Watts played a major role in launching and elevating the careers of artists including Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Mike Jones, and many others. S: KHOU 11