JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 As someone from the South, house music was somewhat foreign to me. <\/p>\n
Growing up, R&B, funk, soul, gospel, and pop were played in my household. I grew up on Luther Vandross, Jill Scott, Rick James and more. Every night, I would go to sleep to The Quiet Storm and the Sweat Hotel playing on the radio. At the time, I hadn\u2019t even heard of house music.<\/p>\n
As I grew older and was introduced to new music, I started to hear more sounds, including the sound of house. I can\u2019t exactly pinpoint my first time experiencing house music, nor the song that made me a fan. Mainstream music in the late 2000s and early 2010s started to incorporate Electronic Dance Music, or EDM, in songs.<\/p>\n
One of the first EDM artists I remember falling in love with was Skrillex. Skrillex is a pioneer in the U.S. dubstep scene. While the sound of dubstep was new and fresh to me, I fell in love. Even though dubstep was one of my first loves in the EDM world, house music is what changed my life.<\/p>\n
FILE – In this July 5, 2015 file photo, French DJ David Guetta performs on the main stage at Wireless festival in Finsbury Park, London. Guetta, Diplo, Avicii and Calvin Harris are holding fast as the kings of the clubs, with women still a rarity among popular electronic dance DJ-producers. Electric Daisy Carnival in New York City – the annual ultra-popular electronic dance music extravaganza – features six women of the 80-plus performers this weekend, on May 14-15, 2016. (Photo by Jonathan Short\/Invision\/AP, File) (Associated Press)<\/p>\n
During the EDM boom of the 2010s, I used to listen to house artists such as Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Nicky Romeo, Avicii, and Ti\u00ebsto. As a teen, I dreamed of going to Ultra Miami and experiencing this music live when I became 18. However, somewhere around 2015, I fell out of the world of EDM. At the time, I thought it was due to me experiencing more new music and growing older. However, I now know why I turned my back on house music; no one looked like me.<\/p>\n
As a Black person in America, I tend to seek authentic spaces for me and people who look like me. While EDM was an authentic space for me personally, at the time, it didn\u2019t seem like an authentic space for everyone. All of my favorite DJs didn\u2019t look like me, nor did the biggest names in the industry. For a while, I ignorantly thought Black culture and house music had little to no overlap. Oh, how wrong I could be.<\/p>\n
\u201cHouse is one music genre\u2014in terms of electronic music\u2014that had a lot of representation of Black artist\u2026Green Velvet, Carl Cox…you have those names and people know exactly who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Dustin Arceneaux, House music lover<\/p>\n
A brief history of house music<\/p>\n
The history of house music is Black history. <\/p>\n
House music is the spiritual successor of disco music. Disco music ruled the music industry in the 1970s. Everywhere you went, disco was there. It got to the point that non-disco acts were making disco records to sell. That all changed when Disco Demolition Night happened. <\/p>\n
Chicago police disperse crowd in center field of Chicago’s White Sox Park after hundreds of disco records were blown up between games of a double-header between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers, July 12, 1980. Some 7,000 fans of a 50,000-fan crowd jammed the field during an Anti-Disco promotion sponsored by a local radio station. Second game had to be called when umpires ruled the field unfit for play. (AP Photo\/Fred Jewell) (Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Disco Demolition Night was a promotion put on during a doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. The promotion featured people coming to the ballpark to watch a crate filled with disco records get blown up in between the two baseball games. Despite disco being super popular at the time, the genre and the culture surrounding disco had its opponents to the point that more than 50,000 fans packed the stadium. <\/p>\n
After the records were blown up, thousands of fans stormed the field, and a riot ensued. The riot caused the second baseball game to be forfeited to the Tigers. <\/p>\n
Disco Demolition Night, whether directly or indirectly, helped lead to the decline of disco in mainstream culture. And while disco was on the decline, a new style of music was brewing in the underground of Chicago.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrior to like 2020, a lot of the DJs who were getting the opportunity to play were white men DJs. A lot of people forgot or didn\u2019t understand the history that there have been a lot of Black DJs who have been part of the fabric of house music.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Bridge, Brooklyn-based DJ, Music Historian, Influencer<\/p>\n
American DJ, record producer and remixer Frankie Knuckles (1955 – 2014) at a turntable, London, circa 2000. (Photo by Sal Idriss\/Redferns\/Getty Images) (2014 Redferns)<\/p>\n
House music has roots in New York City, with DJs such as Larry Levan and Walter Gibbons being influences in the early sound of house. But Chicago is where the spark became the flame.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want us to really talk about the Black History of House music. I want us to recognize the pioneers\u2014the Black pioneers of House music. I want us to recognize the Black women who have contributed to the emergence of House music.”<\/p>\n
– Bridge<\/p>\n
Frankie Knuckles is often credited as \u201cthe Godfather of House\u201d. Knuckles started his DJ career in New York City before taking his talents to the Midwest, becoming the resident DJ at the Warehouse club in Chicago. Knuckles and other DJs such as Ron Hardy, Marshall Jefferson, Lori Branch, Jesse Saunders and Kym Mazelle helped pioneer the early sound of house music. House eventually spread across the U.S. to cities such as Detroit before heading to Europe and the rest of the world and forever shaping the future of electronic music.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I originally heard house\u2026was Inner City\u2019s Big Fun..Kevin Saunderson, but there was remix by Magic Juan and that\u2019s what did it for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
– NICKFRESH, Jacksonville-based DJ, Music Historian<\/p>\n
Jacksonville\u2019s place in hose music<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Jacksonville, you have to find it. The whole thing has been a whole fun exploration.\u201d<\/p>\n
– NICKFRESH<\/p>\n
Jacksonville, like many other cities in the South, doesn\u2019t have a rich history of house music. <\/p>\n
Jazz, rock, country, hip-hop, and R&B have long dominated the culture within the River City. At one time, the LaVilla neighborhood was known as the \u201cHarlem of the South.\u201d The city has a rich musical history, including being the home of the Black National Anthem.<\/p>\n
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 25: (L-R) Van “Thrill Da Playa” Bryant and Barry “Fast” Wright of 69 Boyz perform onstage during the BET Awards 2023 at Microsoft Theater on June 25, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Paras Griffin\/Getty Images for BET) (2023 Getty Images)<\/p>\n
While Jacksonville doesn\u2019t have a rich history of house music, electronic music has come out of the area. 95 South, Quad City DJs, and 69 Boyz all brought that North Florida flavor to the sound of Miami Bass. Miami Bass is a blend of hip-hop and electro, and breakbeat, creating a unique electronic musical experience that could only come from the South. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a creative city. We have an amazing community that wants to be creative together. I think everyone wants to see each other win.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Kayla Harvey, Founder & Owner, Lunar Desk Management<\/p>\n
\u201cJacksonville has the land, it has the space and we got to utilize it. And we got to maintain it.\u201d<\/p>\n
– JayBeau, Jacksonville-based DJ\/Producer<\/p>\n
It\u2019s tough to exactly pinpoint house music\u2019s first introduction to Northeast Florida. However, there has been an underground scene for quite some time. During this process of interviewing local DJs and other people within the house scene in Jacksonville, one place kept coming up: The Garage. <\/p>\n
The Garage was a party featuring electronic music that originated out of St. Augustine, featuring a collection of local DJs including Albert Adkins, DJ Papi Disco, TC Birden, the late Sacred H3art, and more. From conversations with NICKFRESH and JayBeau, this was the place to be to hear house music in this area.<\/p>\n
Since The Garage ended back in the 2010s, Jacksonville\u2019s electronic music scene has continued to grow. From local collectives and record labels to parties at bars and nightclubs, house music is played all across Northeast Florida.<\/p>\n
However, in a city that has a Black population of nearly 30% according to 2024 data from the City of Jacksonville, the house scene here is predominantly white. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think a lot of the spaces here have been predominantly white and I\u2019ve been searching for those Black spaces. Which is one of the reasons I started organizing parties myself with a group of friends and we bring and platform Black DJs in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Somalia Jamall, Event Organizer, SWEATOUT & Fresh Squeezed<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like you\u2019re in a space that you\u2019re not supposed to be in just because so many are uneducated on where it came from\u2026Even when I first started djing, I would have Black people be like \u2018you like that white people sh\u2014?\u2019 and I would be like \u2018baby you don\u2019t even know, this is ours.\u201d <\/p>\n
– Ezra Law, Jacksonville-based DJ\/Producer & Event Organizer, First Fridays at the Flamingo<\/p>\n
Jacksonville has a way to go when it comes to Black house and electronic DJs. <\/p>\n
As a Black house and electronic DJ myself, there are not a lot of spaces that intentionally platform and support Black DJs. However, more of those spaces are starting to be created. <\/p>\n
Duval Folx, created by DJ Geexella, was one of the first parties I saw that platformed Black, brown, and queer culture within the local house music scene. Other local events have also platformed Black, brown, and queer culture, such as Discotech and more recently, Fresh Squeezed and SWEATOUT, the latter of which just held its first party on Feb. 22. There is a desire for something new culturally in Jacksonville, and over the next few years, expect house and electronic music to be a key part of that.<\/p>\n
Hopes for the future<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look to the people who are able to travel to Europe, to travel the world with their music, they don\u2019t tend to look like us\u2026House music was filtered in a lens that took the soul outside of House music.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Sabu, DJ & Event Organizer, Fresh Squeezed & SWEATOUT<\/p>\n
LAS VEGAS, NV – JUNE 18: Fans react to a performance by Showtek during the 21st annual Electric Daisy Carnival at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on June 18, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Steven Lawton\/Getty Images) (2017 Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The global house and electronic music scene is predominantly white and will most likely continue to be that way. For instance, even though there are nearly 300 artists booked at EDC Las Vegas in 2026, less than 10 DJs are Black. However, there is a resurgence of Black, brown, and queer DJs from across the world who are reclaiming the genre that was bred from the marginalized communities of Chicago, New York City, and Detroit. <\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s Jacksonville or Johannesburg, house music and Black culture are once again finding each other, and I can\u2019t wait to see what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that the future of house music reflects radical acceptance\u2026I hope that the future of house music accepts living on the edges of society and finding home\u2026I hope that it stays Black and queer.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Sabu<\/p>\n
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