Club Music Bangs, Stop Being a Hater

Disrespecting music is disrespecting the people and cultures that created it.

Soundtrack to this piece. Just listen on repeat til you’re done. x

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The story shoutout that inspired this piece.

I’m OUTSIDEEEEE 😛

I pretend like I’m a chill homebody (very poorly)…I am not, it’s all lies, I be outside fr.

Despite my search for a chill R&B/Soul night in London (If you know any holla at ya girl) I most often find myself at events with an amalgamation of Afro-diasporic dance music with electronic influences. I LOVE IT! So much so that I’ve intentionally surrounded myself with music movers, shakers, and appreciators alike.

Oh to be a nigga who loves music surrounded by other niggas that feel the same. BLISS.

The music scene, like most others, in London is exceptionally international which has given me the opportunity to learn so much about music I had never delved into before I found myself out here. South African Gqom, French Caribbean Zouk, Brazilian Baile Funk. Black music exists together as the world’s oceans are one body of water. Each genre is but a singular sea containing its own ecosystems, still unfathomably deep and filled with distinct creatures.

Imagine the underlying disdain I built while inadvertently learning others did not hold that same virtuous respect for certain Soulaan genres…hmmm. American imperialism successfully creates its vulnerable black shield again! Leaving us to bare the repurcussions of the country’s bitchassness.

TBH I get it, London’s event spaces can create a sort of musical foie gras from the forced consumption of American music. BUT, as always, I am urging everyone to invoke our special human super power of critical thinking. We are able to override our instinctive reactions to what is placed in front of us. Yes! Our consciousness allows us to think more wholly.

A Bit About Club Music 🪩

What do I mean? Let’s use Club music for example.

If you going out in London to dance music set from a Black DJ I would bet my meek monthly income that you will hear at least one aspect of music that is explicitly from Club music. Maybe it’s the beat, “Bum bum bum bummm bumbum bum bum bummm bumbum.” Maybe it’s the sound affects, a whip crack, a moan, a bed squeak. Might even be an iconic line “I just wanna FUCK” or “Watch out for the big girlll.” You’ll hear at least one of these if not all. The shit has permeated borders cause it’s fire.

While I’m on the dance floor, shaking my shit, releasing tension from my body I’m not paying attention to nothing but the sounds. Eventually, as all things, the music comes to an end and I speak to my fellow music lovers and curators. To my chagrin, they have taken one too many sips from the haterade cooler. I have more than once been immersed in a conversation with someone talking shit on Club music’s name.

Eww. Wasn’t you just playing it??? Their opinions are laced with shallow critiques of its repetition. I’d understand that if the other genres you played weren’t techno, amapiano, and jungle. All fantastically repetitive genres formulated to keep that booty bouncing…just like Club music.

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What’s your favorite genre of dance music? I'm tryna expand my palette even more!

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Maybe they’re upset with the prevalence of the genre:

1. Please stop blaming the communities that make beautiful art for the ways the American machine abuses that art for profit

2. The music is BOMB, been BOMB, always will be BOMB. Why shouldn’t it be appreciated for the creation it is?

3. Abundance baby, stop hating on what’s there and start appreciating what you enjoy! There’s truly enough love to feed the masses and still have leftovers, babe.

Not to mention referring to the genre explicitly as “Jersey Club”. Club music got its start in Baltimore back in the 80s, made its way up to Philly in the 90s, before sprouting new beautiful aspects of the sound in Jersey in the late 90s/early 00s. It’s fair to not know this history, Baltimore Club’s success was stunted in part due to the untimely death of DJ K-Swift who was leading the genre’s expansion. May she Rest in Peace.

It is NOT however okay to not know this while concurrently playing and disparaging the genre.

There is a backlog of culture and history that has built Club music up to be what it is currently. From the houseless queer MC’s that kickstarted the genre in Baltimore, to the prevalent dance scenes in Philly, and the expansion Club saw in Jersey based on new, fun, innovative aspects.

We must remember that the music we consume is deeply connected to the people it comes from. When we disrespect the music we disrespect those who designed it and the experiences that inform it.

It might surprise you, though it absolutely should not, how deeply our music histories are connected. Baltimore Club would not be what it is if it weren’t for the breaky music of UK Rave in the early 80s. The technique of using drum break beats was borrowed from British Jungle, Drum & Bass, and other breaky genres.

I’m speaking from my perspective as an American here in the UK but I know how y’all niggas are back home. You’re no different. Y’all better sit down and learn to appreciate the bright drums of Afro-beats in summertime. Ain’t nothing like it.

Now look at you, hating on some shit that was created in the appreciation of your own likeness, smh. There them white people go pitting us against each other again. We are stronger and smarter than the rhetoric that only serves to create tension and divide us. CAN’T TRICK ME!

I <3 Club Music.

I <3 the people who have engaged in its creation.

I <3 those who enjoy listening to it.

I <3 anyone who sees its impact even if the music’s not for them.

Shoutout to the music that’s made me, in all its iterations.

~ Carma

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If you want to learn more about Club music, its creation, cultural impacts, and journey from the past to present, watch my first instalment of Sound Seminar!

It’s the first of many to come, I hope you enjoy it. :)

Once you finish that, listen to the Club Mix I made to go with it. :p

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