meta-scriptSoul Clap Wants You To Rave The Vote This 2020 Election | GRAMMY.com
Soul Clap Wants You To Rave The Vote This 2020 Election

Soul Clap DJ set during Rave The Vote

news

Soul Clap Wants You To Rave The Vote This 2020 Election

The second episode of Rave The Vote, which kicks off today, Fri., Aug. 14 at 12:00 p.m. PST/ 3:00 p.m. EST, serves up half a day of house music and voter education. The final two events will go down on Sept. 11 and Oct. 2

GRAMMYs/Aug 14, 2020 - 08:08 pm

With the 2020 Presidential Election less than three months away during an unprecedented pandemic, voter education and access is an urgent issue. Enter Rave The Vote, an online voter registration and education initiative ignited by four 12-hour virtual raves filled with educational segments and music from DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Pierre, Aluna, Marques Wyatt, TOKiMONSTA, SOFI TUKKER, Carl Craig, Seth Troxler, Desert Hearts, Louie Vega and many more names in the underground dance scene. Viewers are encouraged to register to vote, check their registration status and/or request an absentee ballot, all of which can be done on their website.

"Rave The Vote was created in an effort to mobilize the dance music community to register to vote and get to the polls. We know the wider community is both passionate and engaged, and encompasses a key demographic of voters that should not be overlooked. It's clear that we are all searching for ways to contribute to see significant change, to move towards the America we want to live in—and we can't do that if we're not exercising our right to vote. Ultimately, we aim to motivate viewers to use their collective voice to bring about change, and to educate them on the various ways to take action," Carré Orenstein, the executive producer explained over email.

Read: Entertainment One Senior VP Gina Miller On Advocating For Progress, Diversity, Equality & Inclusion

"We are in the most important election of our time and people are finally starting to pay attention! Electronic dance music and the culture that surrounds it was founded in a space where people came together to celebrate music and each other, it was and has always been a safe haven for many, myself included. It originated with Black roots and eventually became a space where people felt free to express themselves no matter who they were.  Our goal here is to re-catalyze a space and community that has such powerful and strong roots of unity, love and freedom. To get them engaged, and to the polls!  We have been blessed to welcome a diverse and beautiful collection of artists to represent Rave The Vote and the American dance music community. I have worked in this industry for the past 10 years and our lineup is far and away one of the most diverse I have ever seen in this culture on this level. It represents our country in its true heart and soul," Tadia Taylor, director of artist relations, added.

Supported by Orenstein, Taylor and a mighty team of fellow industry professionals, the ringleaders of the epic dance party for good are Eli Goldstein and Charlie Levine, a.k.a. Soul Clap, a funky-house vinyl-spinning DJ/producer duo formed in Boston in 2001. With their energetic DJ sets at clubs and festivals around the world, eclectic and talent-filled Soul Clap Records and overall joyful demeanor, the pair has been widely disseminating joy and great tunes and sharing the love with fellow funky artists for quite some time. Now, with Rave The Vote, they're helping ensure the dance community is civically engaged and present at the upcoming election.

We recently caught up with the beloved duo ahead of the second episode of Rave The Vote, which kicks off today, Fri., Aug. 14 at 12:00 p.m. PST/ 3:00 p.m. EST, serving up half a day of house music and voter education. The final two events will go down on Sept. 11 and Oct. 2. You can tune in on the LostResort Twitch and YouTube channels, and RSVP at Rave The Vote's website to stay looped in to all things related to getting out your vote. Make sure to read on to hear from Goldstein and Levine about the original vision for Rave The Vote (hint: It was IRL), why political engagement is so vital to democracy, being an ally and more.

<style>.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }</style><div class='embed-container'><iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed//i8NMApvze-M' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

Let's start with the spark that led to the creation of Rave the Vote. What was that and where did it lead?

Goldstein: Well, I mean, I think we both voted in every election since we were 18, so we've always been active in that kind of politics. But I think, as we've gotten a little older and further along in the music thing, we just had more of a desire to use our platform for positive change. We do a lot of work with an organization called DJs for Climate Action, which is all about educating DJs and getting us to use our platforms for education and positive change around climate.

This year obviously feels like a really, really important election and has for a while, for the last three years. Until someone's in the White House that acknowledges things like climate change, social justice, equality and these kinds of things, we can't really make much progress, or we can't make enough progress with all the other activism.

We had an idea to do a voter registration drive. It was originally going to be a real live tour around the Midwest, hitting swing states, going to colleges and clubs in Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, those kinds of places. We had been planning it since last year, but obviously we had to pivot quickly when everything got canceled and we realized that IRL events would not be happening.

Luckily our manager, Jonathan McDonald, got really excited and put together, with people from Infamous PR and others who put in so much effort to take this into a huge online livestream concept. It's been really exciting. And I think we are reaching a lot more people than we would have just with the IRL.

Levine: This is definitely one of Eli's ideas. He's very politically minded and tuned in to what's going on, whether it's climate action or social justice or race relations. Eli comes from a Cambridge political family. If it wasn't for Eli having this idea at the origin, I don't think we'd be where we are. That being said, we've been really fortunate to have the [dance music] community rally behind it, whether that's the DJs like The Blessed Madonna, Seth Troxler or Justin Martin, who are signed up way back when to do the real-life college tour with us and donate their time. And our manager Jonathan has been helping make it happen. And 2+2, our management and touring team that really got behind and it felt like it really had legs. And once Infamous got involved, forget about it, then it really branched out. We are now a whole community of dance and music professionals, artists and administrators that are blowing this thing up.

And to piggyback on what Eli said, we may have been able to reach X amount on college campuses, but the way that it grows exponentially through the web and social media, it's just so powerful. I think we're probably going to do a lot more good this way, as unfortunate as it is to not be able to be all buddied up in a tour van, somewhere out at some gas station in the Midwest, which would've been fun. We've only got to do some touring via bus, and that's all has been a laugh.

Watch: Up Close & Personal: Duckwrth Talks Celebration Of 'SuperGood,' Respecting Black Artistry, "Insecure" & More

There's some really huge names involved, especially some of the OGs, like DJ Pierre, Kevin Saunderson/Inner City, Louie Vega. What has the outreach looked like? And what has the reaction of the dance community felt like so far?

Levine: I want to throw in that we got the nod from Dr. Cornel West that started our whole four-part Rave The Vote online series. So big shout out to Dr. West, who's a big supporter of the house and techno community, which was a total, delightful surprise. He's super dope. As for a lot of these names—including Louie and Kevin Saunderson—Eli and I have been fortunate enough  over the years to build personal relationships with a fair amount of them. It's wonderful to call upon them.

Goldstein: I also would say this is kind of a testament to how connected the American, more-underground dance music scene is. It's a pretty diverse range of artists that we have built relationships with other years and were excited about getting involved with activism stuff. That list was a great starting point.

And everybody has really jumped at the opportunity. Some of these were personal connections, but a lot of the work was also done by the team. And it's cool. Each episode has a theme running through it. One of them is curated by Blessed Madonna. The first one was all our favorites. This one coming up next week is more of the kind of younger tech house scene. And then the last week is more of the beat, hip-hop oriented one. It's a testament to how diverse the underground is, but also how together and connected it is.

Rave On: Gene Farris Talks "Space Girl," Rave Safety & The Return Of The "Bedroom DJ"

<style>.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }</style><div class='embed-container'><iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed//nHeI6Lnu6V4' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

The Rave the Vote livestreams are around 12 hours each, so what's going down during it and what viewers can expect? Also, what are you hoping happens after someone tunes in and engages with the livestream?

Goldstein: Well, obviously the most important piece of this is either registering, checking your status or requesting a mail in ballot, if that's available in your state. So the goal is to get people to go to RavetheVote.org, which they can do in advance of the streams too, it is 24/7. You can go to the website and do all this and also RSVP to the stream. By putting your information in, we'll be able to help provide support and guidance leading up to Election Day [Nov. 3] to help you come up with a plan to vote. Also, any outreach you can do to your friends and family to have them registering and voting is important. That's joining the movement, I would say.

That's the goal with the streams really, is to get as many people as possible involved via the site. It's funny, we had half a million unique viewers tune in to the first livestream and about 600 registrations. 600 registrations is great, but it's such a small percentage of the viewers. It's crazy. But that shows how important it is to have as big of a reach as possible and to get a lot of viewers with these livestreams. It's great to give people a call to action when they're enjoying music. Because there were a number of people who checked their registration or requested mail in ballots on top of the 600 who registered to vote. It's a great way to interact with people.

For the streams themselves, it's a really great, diverse range of DJs who are all super excited to be involved. Everyone's putting their best foot forward musically and also production-wise. At this point, all the DJs involved are pretty experienced with streaming. They know how to make a good looking and good sounding stream. More importantly, we have these really fun educational segments and PSAs from other artists, DJs and politicians in between the sets. So that's a fun way that allows for more of an interactive connection than just watching DJ livestreams. This is actually a way to be learning and also be involved with the initiative.

Levine: Yeah, the [Rave The Vote] producers did a really great job, they definitely deserve a bunch of hats off. They have been putting in real late hours to make it all come together. We can't wait to see what they come up with for these [three] next ones. Similarly, if you speak to other musicians or people through the GRAMMYs that feel passionate about this topic, we're always accepting more PSAs. This whole thing does not end with dance music DJs. This should be for the masses.

Listen: Jayda G Talks New EP, Promoting Diversity In Dance Music & Sharing Joy

Definitely, let's put it out there! So, as frustrating as it is, there are still people out there that feel either indifferent about voting, or just over it because they voted in 2016 and that guy still got into office.

Goldstein: That guy. [Laughs.]

What do you say to people who still say "It doesn't really change anything" or "Why does it matter?"

Goldstein: So there's multiple layers to this. A big part of this initiative is this educational piece of it. I do feel like we've been fed propaganda for most of our adult lives that our votes don't matter either, one, because the state we live in either always goes Republican or always goes Democrat. Two, because both the parties are the same. I feel like those are the big two.

And I guess three would be that the whole system is broken. That the two-party system doesn't work and we're not really represented anyway. In response to that, I say, one, that is not taking into account how important local elections are, both in our towns and also on a state level. I live in New York state, and I've seen how, the moment that we got a super majority after the 2018 election, the amount of bills that were passed for things that I care about was wild. From climate change stuff to worker protections, to healthcare, to all these things that at the state level can have a huge impact on your life and the world around you.

And then the local level of your community, this is where you actually can have the biggest impact because you actually can get to know your local representatives. These are all people who live in your neighborhood or near you, and you can connect with either them or their aides closely. These are people who are making the changes in your town or your county that impact you directly. For nightlife specifically, that's noise ordinances and liquor laws and all these kinds of things that affect where clubs can be, how late they can be open and more. So young people getting involved in that really can have a huge impact, because then we can advocate for what we care about, nightlife and culture and all that stuff.

Then you have district attorneys and attorney generals of the states who have a huge impact on what's going on around police brutality and social and racial justice. So these are really important positions as well that you're voting for in a local election. This is all one big part of it. Just to say that our federal system is broken, it's overlooking how much of an impact we can have on these other levels.

<style>.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }</style><div class='embed-container'><iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed//-EISWIY9bG8' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

Let's look at our federal system and jog everybody's memory. There are three branches of our federal government. I feel we learned this in school, but either we don't pay attention or it just goes right over our heads, but they are so important. The impact of the three branches of government means that the president doesn't make all the final decisions, right? You have Congress, which passes all the bills and actually makes a lot of the legislation that's impacting us and that we care about. But the most important piece of all this is the Supreme Court and the federal courts. When somebody either retires or dies on the Supreme Court or who's a judge in a federal court, the president at the time, appoints a Supreme Court justice or federal judge, who serves for the rest of their life or for as long as they want to.

This has a huge impact on generations. So now, if the president is appointing somebody that aligns with their values and ideals, that person is going to be representing that for the rest of their time in the courts. This administration has gone out of their way, they have a whole strategy to really make as big of an impact as possible on the federal courts. They've appointed over 800 federal court justices, which is almost twice as many as [Barack] Obama appointed in his eight years. Basically, they asked and pressured older conservative judges to step down so they could appoint younger judges to take their places so they can hold the roles for longer.

They have such a huge impact on the little decisions that are made every day or a few times a year, that then lead to things like abortion being legalized or made illegal, or segregation and desegregation, civil rights, prosecuting police, voter rights, all these things that we care about, the Supreme Court makes decisions that impact it.

That's crazy. That just blew my mind.

Levine: It's a lot.

Goldstein: It's a long answer. But the basic part of it is, look, we've been fed propaganda that our vote doesn't matter. Yes, the system is not perfect and yes, politicians are not perfect, but this is what we have. And if we don't participate, we can't make any changes.

Levine: I mean, with the pieces of the puzzle that are intangible for citizens, like the electoral college, gerrymandering, voter suppression, all this stuff, there's things you can do and there's things you can't do. But if you are not even registered to vote, if you're not even attempting, if you are not participating, then it's guaranteed there is nothing you can do.

To your many mic drop points, Eli, how do you educate yourself on state and local candidates and measures? Sometimes the language on ballots can be sort of misleading and can also just jargon-y. What are some ways that you educate yourself on the issues, or places that you point people to that are don't even know where to start?

Goldstein: Well, I mean, this is complicated. Most of the places that you get information are partisan. There's no easy way to get all the information. It's not just right there. Maybe it should be, I don't know how they could necessarily do that. Some cities and states send out mail that has information about all the initiatives and candidates in your city. Not all cities do that. When they do, it's a great way to encourage participation and understanding from everybody.

But here's the thing, if you really care about this stuff—this goes back to the last question. I heard this in a Noam Chomsky livestream recently, politics is actively participating in things that you care about every day. That's what politics really is. It's not easy. It's not sitting back. To really get involved and really make a difference with this stuff, you have to put a little effort in. Maybe it's not every day for you, maybe you don't have that time. Maybe you're doing other work that's important. Maybe you're just trying to survive. And that's totally understandable. But putting in that 30 minutes before the election to find this information and be educated can go a long way. There are places you can look. One is your local newspaper.

Almost every city or county has a local newspaper that shares this information on their website. And then another way is our mostly two-party system. There are a number of smaller parties in states that are under the other parties. So here in New York, there's the Working Families Party, which supports workers' rights and a number of other issues that I care about. They endorse candidates or send candidates that are supported by that party, and then have a voice in their policy. This is something that's often overlooked, these smaller organizations run by citizens like you and me who have an influence and impact by endorsing candidates.

So maybe you believe in unions and you see what the local union is endorsing. Maybe you believe in climate justice, you're an environmentalist, and you look for whatever the Green Party is endorsing. These are all a number of ways you can look for value-based guidance on this stuff. It is amazing how hard it is to find nonpartisan information on the internet. But if you go in with the idea that it's going to be partisan and you just look for the party that you agree with, that can do the work for you.

Read: Record Store Recs: Salt Cathedral Talk Favorite Brooklyn Indie Shops & How To Support Artists Of Color

That's such a good point. Also, certain nonprofits will share what candidates that align with their values, like the Human Rights Campaign will endorse candidates that support LGBTQ+ issues. You can always cross reference these lists too. I guess now most of us are hopefully voting by mail, so you have more time to sit with the ballot.

Goldstein: Right? But the other thing is you can be at the polls and take out your phone and do the research right there. It's not like you're not allowed to go on your phone and use the internet, you're taking a test. You can sit in there for 30 minutes if you want. I mean, obviously I wouldn't encourage that because there's other people who want to vote and often lines can get long. But if you need to take the time, take the time and make that educated vote. It's better to do that.

Levine: I've got a question. If you order the mail-in ballot, are you then obligated to vote that way, or can you still go to the polls?

Goldstein: You can still go to the polls. Actually, that's a good question. I may be wrong.

I think it depends on the state or county. In Los Angeles county, it is default vote by mail, so everyone registered gets a vote by mail ballot, which you can also drop off at a polling location or bring it in and basically forfeit your vote by mail. Of course it's super important, especially now, the ballots show up to your current address. [If you lose or forget your absentee ballot, some counties let you vote with a provisional one. Check your local county's website for more info.]

Goldstein: This is why it's so important to check your status beforehand and look at the policies of your state, what do you have to bring to prove you're eligible to vote and all these things. This is why we advocate for making it as easy as possible to vote, so people are not intimidated and they can exercise their right without feeling like they have to jump through hoops. I know our so-called President likes to say that voting by mail is rigged, but there are statistics proving it's not fraudulent.

Levine: [Laughs.] Everything's rigged with this guy.

Goldstein: States like Utah have universal mail-in voting, and Utah's a Republican state. It's not like mail-in voting makes Democrats win where Republicans were winning before. It's still pretty even, none of what he's saying about it is factual. It's important to keep putting that out there that mail-in ballots actually are as secure, if not more secure, than voting in person. We've seen that voting in person has potential to be hacked.

Levine: Absolutely. Or it can just malfunction.

To your point, the President has been doing a lot to try to suppress voting, by attempting to defund the USPS, which delivers and collects the ballots, making those erroneous claims about voting by mail, and now trying to postpone the election. What can we do to make sure this election is fair? 

Goldstein: I mean, it's so hard to be nonpartisan with this stuff. My first answer, which is totally partisan, is win by a f***ing landslide. If everybody goes out and votes, it doesn't matter how corrupt, how broken the system is and how much they try to suppress voters and hack the vote in swing states, if the win is so overwhelming it doesn't matter. There's nothing they can do. It would just be too obvious for them to hack it. So, that's one answer.

The other answers are you can volunteer or you can sign up to work at the polls. You can literally get paid to be a pollster. There's actually a shortage of people this year because it's always older folks and a lot of them are high risk for COVID-19. So young people going and working in the polls and seeing exactly what's happening is going to be our most valuable tool.

There's a great website called Vote Save America, they have an initiative called Every Last Vote. There, you can get resources, including a great FAQ about voting by mail. There's also a sign up for being a poll worker and a sign up to volunteer to go to the polls and make sure everything is working the way it's supposed to. I will say that it's also really important volunteering because the Republican party has established a program called Protect the Vote, which means they're going to be sending monitors to polling places and challenging voters deemed "suspicious." So it's really important that we're out there making sure that people are allowed to vote. Every Last Vote is a great resource for doing that.

And, with any of this, the only way you can feel like it's actually going the fair way is by participating as much as you can, educating yourself, voting, volunteering, working in the polls, getting involved with organizations that do work that you believe in. This is how we stand up and take away this feeling of not having power. We take back the power for ourselves.

Related: Amid Black Lives Matter Conversations, Black Latinx Artists Urge Non-Black Latinx To Do Better

You've been using your platforms to point people to different actions they can take on important social justice issues, including standing in solidarity with the Black community and against police brutality. What do you believe it means to be a true ally, and how do you continue to educate yourselves and stay informed?

Goldstein: I think we've learned so much over these last few months. I always thought of myself as an ally, but I think learning what that really means has been a really important process over this time and, like anything, it's always a process. And so, a big part of that is obviously educating yourself. One great way of doing that is by following accounts for organizations like Black Lives Matter or Color of Change on Instagram, or some of the smaller local organizations, like local chapters of Black Lives Matter, and following activists that you believe in. That's a great start, they're posting information.

And then just listening. If you ever get in conversation about this stuff, ask questions and just listen. That does not mean just hitting up your Black friends and being "Hey, what do I do about this?" There's plenty of resources online to figure that shit out yourself. That also doesn't mean you shouldn't check in with your Black friends and have conversations and say hello. Let them know you're here to support them, and if they need anything to reach out.

And then also donating to organizations. I've been talking about voter suppression and voting rights—there's a couple of great organizations you can support. One is called Voting While Black, which is advocating for voting rights for Black and brown folks. And then there's also Fair Fight, started by Stacey Abrams, which is doing work to make sure everybody has a right to vote.

it's also saying Black Lives Matter, living Black Lives Matter and making sure that's part of what you're thinking about every day. And part of that too is looking at your privilege, looking at how your Whiteness got you what you have and being real about that with yourself. That's another important thing, figuring out how you're going to try to use that, what you've accomplished, to help lift up other people who don't have that privilege.

<style>.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }</style><div class='embed-container'><iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed//E7I_1PPUBmU' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

Levine: I would just add to that, I know it's difficult, but when friends or family members say things or act in a way that could be perceived as a micro-aggression or as flat-out racist, to hold them accountable and point out that this is inappropriate. If you allow some of this behavior, it's dangerous. It can be difficult, especially when it's friends and family, but making sure they are educated as well is important. it's also important to check in with your Black friends. I think communication and conversation is at the heart of what will make a big change.

Goldstein: This is what we've been trying to do with the "Schmoozing" show, to have these hard conversations. I agree it's so important to see where people's heads are at, see what they believe in, where they're coming from and how they want you to make an impact and be an ally.

Levine: The long conversation format is really is wonderful. It allows you to ask the difficult questions and it's okay to get it wrong. It's okay to learn something from a conversation. Maybe people are scared of that, but that's a big part of the growth, I think.

DJ JP Lost Pop Smoke, Entered A Pandemic & Is Surviving Both Through Reinvention

How LP Giobbi & Femme House Are Making Space For Women In Dance Music: "If You Really Want To Make A Change, It Can Be Done"
Femme House participants and LP Giobbi (center) at a Seattle workshop.

Photo: Sarah Northrop/@sartakespics

interview

How LP Giobbi & Femme House Are Making Space For Women In Dance Music: "If You Really Want To Make A Change, It Can Be Done"

Piano house DJ/producer LP Giobbi, who co-founded Femme House, tells GRAMMY.com about the motivating power of belief, getting asked to remix Taylor Swift, and creating a more equitable dance music scene.

GRAMMYs/Mar 25, 2024 - 01:36 pm

Back when LP Giobbi played synth in an all-woman band called LJ Laboratory, seeing Grimes perform and learning that she produced all her own music was a game changer. Although she'd been in music for a while, she'd never thought about producing her own. This is where she felt firsthand the power of visual representation — being able to see and imagine herself in spaces she hadn't before.

After the Oregon-born artist found her way into DJing and music production, her friendship and fruitful creative partnership with GRAMMY-nominated dance pop duo SOFI TUKKER gave her the support she needed to grow in dance music and find her artistic voice. 

Today, the "All In A Dream" producer is doing all she can to pay it forward. Through Femme House — an education program and party series that supports women and nonbinary people in production and DJing — Giobbi, co-founder Hermixalot, education lead Mini Bear and their small-but-mighty team are working hard to bring provide useful resources, workshops and a platform to as many people as they can.

“My partner is in the music industry and he does so much business on the golf course. We need our golf course, where we're building friendships, booking each other and collaborating on each other's work — all those things that happen when you have community,” LP Giobbi recently told GRAMMY.com. She has witnessed Femme House’s in-person workshops as a fruitful example of this.

Given that only 6.5 percent of the producers of songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023 were female (in 2022, that number was 3.4 percent), there's a lot of work to be done to make a male-dominated profession and industry less so. 

On March 1, Femme House released their second compilation album on Insomniac Records, highlighting the wealth of emerging women in dance music. The all-female tracklist features Hermixalot and educators Mary Droppinz and Mini Bear, along with a talented cast of newer names and rising acts including Baby Weight, PAUZA, Lisbona Sisters, and ZOF. Given the massive reach Insomniac has in electronic music, the release will likely expose them to a new, wider fanbase and lead to other opportunities. 

"At a time when the music industry was recognizing a problem, but not really providing any solutions or being proactive, LP Giobbi and Hermixalot took it upon themselves to do the hard work and actually create an entity that puts money where their mouth is," Baby Weight said via email. "The amount of opportunities they have been able to provide through workshops and sponsorships and takeovers at festivals is honestly super inspiring — and it should be proof that if you really want to make a change, it can be done." 

Femme House has also intentionally created safe spaces for all women and queer people, not just white cis-gender women.

"As a transgender woman, I sometimes feel like I don’t belong with the other girls in the industry and the cisgender straight males don’t understand me either,"  Baby Weight added. "The Femme House community, however, didn’t blink and welcomed me with open arms and acknowledged me for who I am. So being able to be a part of this tapestry, and provide that same validation to others out there who may have felt the same way, means the world to me."

Since Femme House launched in 2019, they've educated over 12,000 women and gender-expansive people through online classes and free workshops. They also offer six annual scholarships for creators in the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ community, which include free gear, one-on-one classes, and professional development.

"One of the reasons I decided to teach music production is because I knew how important it was to create safe and supportive learning environments for people who haven't traditionally had spaces where they can take up space and wholly be themselves," Mini Bear wrote via email. "I want to create the kind of space I wish existed when I was starting out, and to uplift those who have been underrepresented and shut out."

Femme House has grown at an impressive rate since its founding, adding new classes and workshops as well as more femme-centered parties and releases. They also sell affordable go-at-your-own-pace online courses on production, and a wide offering of free monthly classes on specific elements of DJing, production techniques, songwriting and more.

Read on to hear from LP Giobbi about the work Femme House is doing to bring more women into dance music and production.

Let's start with the Femme House Vol. 2 compilation album. It follows the first Femme House album that came out on Insomniac Records in 2022, but how did this one come together and how did you choose the artists and tracks for it?

Insomniac has been an amazing partner on this. I worked closely with their A&R team on both the first and second compilation. I had a list of artists in my mind that have been really supportive of the mission and that we've worked with. 

I had some ideas in my head and then sat within the Insomniac team. They had a lot of great ideas and turned me on to some artists that they had been supporting early on, so I got to discover new music through them. I really want to reiterate how amazing Insomniac has been on this mission. They do the biggest electronic festivals in the U.S. and so they have such a [huge] platform and a lot of power in the industry. So to see them put their hand up and care and realize Maybe we need to work harder on making sure our lineups are diverse [is really awesome]. How do you get diverse lineups? You have to help build artists from the beginning.

They really are aware of what this compilation could do for an artist and how it can help them and build their story. After we finally put it together — they were like "We really want to keep supporting these artists to eventually book them for EDC and our other big festivals." They really truly are partners in the sense of caring not just about this one compilation but the larger industry at whole.

How else is Insomniac helping you support women in building their DJ careers?

It's this chicken or egg thing that we really work hard on at Femme House: How do you get booked for a festival? By getting booked for a festival [before]. Promoters will look at other lineups and see who's playing. So we do a lot of stage takeovers with Femme House [with slots for artists who've never played a festival]. 

Insomniac was the first [promoter/event brand] to reach out to us and asked us to do one at EDC. We were able to book a full female and gender-expansive lineup. That's where our partnership started with them. Most of the folks who played that [EDC with us], it was their first time playing a festival. It really allowed them to start building their story and sort of sell what they're capable of and what they've done. Whenever we do stage takeovers, we save the opening slot for [the winner of] a contest we run where if you've never played a festival before, you can send us a mix.

Your track with Femme House co-founder Hermixalot that opens the compilation reimagines the Rapture's "How Deep Is Your Love"— the first dance track you fell in love with. How did y'all approach covering such a memorable tune while giving it your own touch?

My fiancé is the one who showed me electronic music and the Rapture, which was kind of a gateway for me. I remember listening to "How Deep Is Your Love" [when we first started dating] and having the most epic dance party... It was probably the most fun five minutes of my life. I always wanted to have a version of that song I could play in my sets. I made an [instrumental cover] track with harder hitting drums, and started playing it out and sets. I would throw in that piano line over a bunch of different tracks and was always weaving it throughout [my set] because it's so simple but it's so catchy. 

I played a festival set and Hermixalot was like, "That 'How Deep Is Your Love' [cover] is so sick, I love that track." Our musical tastes don't usually overlap; she's more R&B and everything outside dance music. I asked if she wanted to sing on it. She came with such a cool, unique [take]. She did a few different versions — some that had her more R&B flair to it where she did a few different runs — and we ended up piecing them together.

To get to cover my favorite dance track with the person that helped me believe I could be an artist and who created Femme House with me — where our mission is to be what you haven't normally traditionally seen — just so it feels so fitting and really special.

Can you talk about the Femme House tour you did last year,  where you had workshops in each city you headlined during your Light Places tour?

The workshops are free. They're safe spaces for women and gender-expansive folks, but all are welcome. I would play the show and an afterparty and then get on the first flight out because I needed to get to the workshop [in the next city], which was happening in the daytime. I would be [so tired] and then show up at the workshop and feel so fueled [by it]. 

We partnered with Ableton who brought on their female certified trainers in each city. I think there's only seven, which is like two percent of their trainers, but talk about a company that really cares about the mission. They have been so wildly supportive.

The workshop was Intro to Ableton, so we were targeting newer users. [The class helps you] get comfortable opening the program, loading a track and starting your idea, which sometimes can be the scariest part. We really wanted to focus on the basics and try to reach new people because once you're in, we have all sorts of online courses that cover topics way more in-depth. 

We also had our lead educator, Mini Bear, [a.k.a.] Lauren Kop, who's on the compilation, did a few workshops. The opener for the tour is an amazing artist named Bad Snacks, who studied electronic music at Berklee School of Music and is one of the most proficient humans in Ableton I've ever met. She taught some of the workshops as well.

What else is coming up for Femme House in 2024?

We're doing a big activation soon at Miami Music Week. We are [also] partnering with Armada [Music] to do an educational series with them and their Armada University. We are also doing a few more festival stage takeovers that I can't announce yet. We'll have that contest for the opening slots to make sure we're booking somebody that's never gotten to play festival before. 

[Femme House is] getting so many awesome incoming opportunities. The education is first and foremost, we'll continue to have monthly production and DJ courses and we are adding [online] show photography courses, which I'm really excited about.

The photographer I tour with a lot, Sarah [Northrop] — SarTakesPics is her Instagram — is gonna teach. Touring photography is also a male dominated industry. On the last tour, she started a program where at every one of my shows she picked a photographer to shadow. She would meet with this person and sit with them for an hour, share her knowledge, how she got there and let that person ask questions. That person would do a photo shoot with me to practice portraits, and they would shoot the show as well and have full access to the stage. It was an incredible program, so we'll keep doing that. She'll have a shadow at a few events at Miami Music Week.

And we have a series called Backstage Pass where we invite folks from the industry, not artists or music makers, but agents, promoters and managers and folks come and talk. Our community Zooms in and the [special guest] tell their story on how they got where they are. 

I think the contacts part is so important because some people start from nowhere. You had Sofi Tukker, who you've talked about being so vital to your career.

Yeah, oh my god. SOFI TUKKER had some success and they met the head of electronic [music] at Spotify and sent them my songs — they were promoting [their own] songs, but they sent mine. That is what changed everything for me, and then allowing me [the space to] learn how to DJ. That's why Femme House is so important to me, because the power of an artist supporting another artist is life changing.

I just launched a label this year, Yes Yes Yes, in partnership with Defected. There's one artist I just signed, Mascolo — how Sophie and Tucker felt about me, I feel about this artist. I'm gonna bring him on tour with me. I'm releasing his first records at the end of April. 

I'm sick of talking about myself and seeing myself in flyers. This artist has given me new energy again. This is so much more fun to me; to listen and believe in their music and see the little seeds of growing their own fan base.

He's the most talented songwriter, producer and artist I've ever been in a room with. He was signed with Ryan Tedder, so he was writing pop songs for massive pop stars. He started showing me some of his dance tunes. And I was like, "Dude, what?" His music is very different but he's like a Frank Ocean as far as a freak genius. I believe in him so f—ing much. I believe in him more than I believe myself. This feeling of deep conviction over somebody else is a really beautiful, powerful feeling.

I think we all need champions and affirmations, even as simple as when someone compliments your work.

SOFI TUKKER gave me a stage, literally started a label to release my music—they did everything for me. But the biggest thing they did for me was they believed. There's no greater gift than the power of belief because then you start believing maybe it is possible. It's not just the belief, it's all the work you have to do to get there. That gift allowed me to do everything I needed to do to actually sustain myself as an artist. I'm so excited to give that to somebody that I really believe in.

What do you think we can start doing now as a dance music community to support more diversity and equity across the genre and scene?

We at Femme House really believe that this change [needs] allies. It cannot just be the underrepresented people doing all the f—ing work. That goes for all movements, I believe. It takes the gatekeepers. It takes the people who are booking the festivals to go, "Wait, is this diverse enough?" When I get booked, I have my agent send out this thing that says if you're still in the process of booking your lineup, here's a bunch of women and gender expansive artists. I had a big learning lesson when one of the first Femme House workshops was all white women. That is why we started the BIPOC scholarship.

The most amazing thing about Femme House has been to see how many of these gatekeepers have come to us saying "How can we make a change.?" On a festival, 90 percent of the tickets are sold by the headliners. So that means that the undercard, the other 50 artists that you're booking, you have so much opportunity to diversify that bottom half of the festival bill. And I do believe that slowly but surely that's happening. 

The more women we have on these lineups, the more people in the audience will, subconsciously or consciously, go Oh! That would be a possibility for me. Then they'll do the work if they want to and slowly everything changes.

What are your biggest dreams for Femme House and for women and non-binary representation in dance music and music production?

My biggest dream is to have anybody believe they can do anything. At Femme House, we don't expect having more female DJs or producers will change the world. But having anybody believe they can do anything will change the world. Our outlet just happens to be electronic music, but I would love for everybody to see themselves represented in whatever they want to do and believe they can do it.

You had a really big year last year, which included remixing Taylor Swift's "Cruel Summer." How did that official remix come about and how did you feel taking it on?

I was in Marbella, Spain, about to go on stage and my manager called me. He's like, "I know you're going on stage right now but Taylor Swift reached out to work with you." And I was just like, "Wait, what? She knows my name?" [Chuckles.] I was so confused and blown away. [When] I got off stage, I immediately started working on it because I wanted to beast mode it without even having to be asked for it. She listened to it and liked it. I had no idea about a release or anything else.

I was asleep on an airplane flying to Amsterdam for [Amsterdam Dance Event]. My tour manager comes over and wakes me up to tell me Taylor Swift is gonna release the remix tonight. These things happen a lot and oftentimes nothing will come from it. You never say anything until it's actually happened. [Laughs.] I couldn't believe it. When I landed, literally every human I've ever met that maybe had my number had contacted me. Then I saw that she tagged me on her Instagram [post]. The last person Taylor Swift tagged in an Instagram post was Beyoncé, so that was crazy. She definitely did help change my career.

5 Women Essential To Electronic Music: TOKiMONSTA, Shygirl, Nina Kraviz & More

5 Women Essential To Electronic Music: TOKiMONSTA, Shygirl, Nina Kraviz & More
(Clockwise) Nina Kraviz, Shygirl, TOKiMONSTA, Annie Nightingale, Aluna.

Photos: Victor Boyko/Getty Images for MAX&CO; Jo Hale/Redferns; Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix; Peter Stone/Mirrorpix via Getty Images; Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

list

5 Women Essential To Electronic Music: TOKiMONSTA, Shygirl, Nina Kraviz & More

In celebration of Women's History Month, read on for five women working as DJs, producers, organizers and broadcasters whose contributions have shaped the dance and electronic space.

GRAMMYs/Mar 7, 2024 - 02:30 pm

A dance floor just isn’t the same without a bustling crowd of attendees bobbing to the beat. Nor would electronic music be electronic music without its culture-shifting women.

Women are effecting change while commanding dance floors, a duality inherent to the experience of being a woman in electronic music. Although women are becoming more visible across the genre — gracing the covers of editorial playlists, starting labels, and topping lineups — most do not operate in the limelight. Many, like some of the changemakers underscored below, work tirelessly behind the scenes toward a more equitable future. 

The women on this list span generations and creative roles, but are unified by their propulsive contributions to the electronic space. By persisting against the status quo and excelling at their respective crafts, they have and will continue to expand what’s possible for women in electronic music. 

To honor Women’s History Month, GRAMMY.com highlights some of the many needle-moving women in electronic music, as well as one rising talent, working as DJs, producers, organizers, and broadcasters.

Annie Nightingale

Radio Broadcaster & Television Presenter

"This is the woman who changed the face and sound of British TV and radio broadcasting forever. You can’t underestimate it," fellow BBC Radio 1 broadcaster, Annie Mac, wrote in an Instagram post honoring the life and legacy of the late Annie Nightingale. Nightingale died on Jan. 11, 2024, at her home in London. She was 83.

There is nothing hyperbolic about Mac’s characterization of Nightingale. After beginning her career as a journalist, Nightingale went on to have an enduring impact on the airwaves and was a pioneering presence in radio and television broadcasting. In addition to becoming BBC Radio 1’s first woman presenter, Nightingale, who joined the station in 1970, was also its longest-serving host. She maintains the Guinness Book of Records’ world record for the"Longest Career as a Radio Presenter (Female). Nightingale notably also co-hosted BBC’s weekly TV show, "The Old Grey Whistle Test." 

Across her six decades in broadcasting, Nightingale became both a trailblazer and, later, an emblem of what was possible for women in the industry. A celebrated tastemaker who took her talents to the decks, DJing festivals around the world, Nightingale paved the way for the following generations of women broadcasters and radio DJs while famously turning listeners on to releases running the gamut of genres: punk, grime, acid house, and everything in between. In 2021, she established an eponymous scholarship (“The Annie Nightingale Presents Scholarship”) to empower women and non-binary DJs in electronic music. The three recipients selected annually are featured in a special edition of “Annie Nightingale Presents” on Radio 1.

“Ever since I began, I have wanted to help other young broadcasters passionate about music to achieve their dreams on the airwaves, and now we at Radio 1 are to put that on a proper footing,” Nightingale said at the time of the scholarship’s foundation.

Beyond broadcasting and DJing, Nightingale also embraced the written word. She published three memoirs, Chase the Fade (1981), Wicked Speed (1999), and Hey Hi Hello (2020). 

TOKiMONSTA

DJ/Producer

That women in the dance/electronic industry face a disproportionate amount of adversity compared to their male counterparts is no secret. These hurdles are hard enough to clear without a rare and serious cerebrovascular condition that significantly increases one’s risk for sudden aneurysm or stroke. But in 2015, TOKiMONSTA confronted both. Her sobering diagnosis — Moyamoya disease — necessitated not one, but two brain surgeries. The interventions left her unable to talk, write, or understand speech and music. 

Yet three months later, after slow and steady strides to recovery, TOKiMONSTA took the stage in Indio Valley to play to a crowd of 15,000 at Coachella 2016.

A beacon of both tenacity and invention, the name TOKiMONSTA bespeaks a laundry list of culture-shifting accomplishments in the electronic space. She was notably the first woman to sign to Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label, where her first album, Midnight Menu, debuted in 2010. In 2019, she earned her first-ever GRAMMY nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album — the first Asian American producer to be nominated in the Category.

Over the years, achievement has gone hand-in-hand with advocacy for TOKiMONSTA. The Korean American electronic experimentalist has been vocal about gender inequities in the music business and was profiled in the 2020 documentary Underplayed. Directed by Stacey Lee, the production focused on dance music’s pervasive and persistent gender imbalances through women DJ/producers’ first-hand accounts of inequality. 

Nina Kraviz

DJ/Producer & Label Head

Equal parts crate digger, disruptor, and needle mover, Nina Kraviz is writing history for women in electronic music in real time. The Siberian dentist-turned-DJ-producer, whose discography dates back to 2007 (her first 12’, "Amok," was released via Greg Wilson’s B77 label), isn’t just one of the first names to break in the global techno scene — she’s also one of the first women in techno to become a headline act. 

Kraviz’s toes have touched some of electronic music’s most venerated stages, ranging from Tomorrowland to Gashouder to Pacha Ibiza, not to mention places off the genre’s beaten path. Her 2018 headline stint at the base of the Great Wall of China is a flashpoint of her rich history of propulsive contributions to the electronic space, and one as anomalous as her ever-off-the-cuff sets. Live, the avant-gardist blends techno, acid, psytrance, experimental, and house in blistering, maximalist fashion, slipping in releases from her own imprint, трип ("Trip"), along the way. 

Kraviz has spearheaded the subversive label since 2014, where she’s deftly blurred the lines between emergent and established talent across its tally of releases. In 2017, she launched Galaxiid, an experimental sublabel of трип, an endeavor that has further substantiated her status as one of electronic music’s finest and most eccentric selectors. 

Aluna

Singer/Songwriter, DJ/Producer & Label Head 

After making an early name for herself as one-half of the electronic duo AlunaGeorge, Aluna Francis, known mononymously as Aluna, has compellingly charted her course as a solo act since 2020. As she’s sung, song written, and DJ/produced her way to prominence, the Wales-born triple-threat continues to demonstrate her artistic ability while re-emphasizing electronic’s Black, Latinx, and LGBTQIA+ roots, flourishing amid her own creative renaissance.

In 2020, Aluna penned an open letter addressing the lack of diversity and pervasive inequality in the dance/electronic ecosystem. Following a lack of true change, Aluna has tirelessly extended her hand to acts from underrepresented groups in an effort to diversify the white, heteronormative dance/electronic industry. Near the end of 2023, in partnership with EMPIRE, Aluna founded Noir Fever to "feed the future of Black Dance Music." The label will broadly embrace Black dance music, with an emphasis on female and LGBTQIA+ artists. 

"Every time I found myself on one of those dry, outdated festival lineups or playlists with no other Black women, I’d ask myself, what would have to change for this to not happen again?How can I create a sustainable pathway and not just an opportunity for tokenism?" Aluna shared in a series of tweets announcing Noir Fever last November. "It was obvious to me that a label would give me the opportunity to do that and ultimately ensure the hottest new Black Dance Music is being supported." 

Shygirl

Singer/Songwriter, Rapper, DJ/Producer

In one breath, she’s opening for Beyoncé on the Renaissance World Tour. In another, she’s toplining a glossy club hit. In yet another, she’s cerebrally delivering bars with both control and cadence. Shygirl’s wheelhouse is a multidimensional kaleidoscope of artistic abilities: she can sing, she can write songs, she can rap, and she can DJ/produce. Simply put, there’s not much that the vanguard of experimental electronic music in the making can’t do. 

The 30-year-old multi-hyphenate, studied under Sega Bodega, Arca, and the late SOPHIE. She expertly flits between hyperpop, grime, industrial hip-hop, electronica, and R&B, among other styles, on her gamut-running releases. But Shygirl does so with idiosyncrasy and flair — two traits that define her approach and distinguish her singular sound. Even Rihanna has taken notice — Shygirl’s 2016 single alongside Bodega, "Want More," soundtracked one of Fenty Beauty’s advertisements in 2019.

Shygirl's Club Shy EP landed on Feb. 16; she helms a party series of the same name that started in East London and has since stopped by Los Angeles, Brazil, Chicago, and New York. 

Though Shygirl no longer runs the label arm of NUXXE, the hybrid club collective/record label she co-founded made waves following its establishment in 2016. In addition to releasing Shygirl’s first single ("Want More"), NUXXE pushed out other trajectory-solidifying productions, including her debut EP, Cruel Practice, while empowering her with a fluency in label operations that will serve her well as she increasingly expands her electronic footprint. 

 5 Women Essential To Rap: Cardi B, Lil' Kim, MC Lyte, Sylvia Robinson & Tierra Whack

How DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince Created The Ultimate Prototype For The Producer/Rapper Duo
DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince performing at "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop."

Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty Images

news

How DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince Created The Ultimate Prototype For The Producer/Rapper Duo

Ahead of their much-anticipated reunion on the CBS special "A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop," take a look at the groundbreaking ways DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince bolstered the power of the hip-hop duo.

GRAMMYs/Dec 8, 2023 - 05:12 pm

There were plenty of rapper/DJ duos before DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. Most notably, T La Rock & Jazzy Jay released the influential 1984 single "It's Yours," Def Jam's first release as a rap label run by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons. There was Mantronix, consisting of MC Tee and producer Kurtis Mantronik, who had their first hit with "Fresh Is the Word" a year later. Well before that, '70s hip-hop pioneer Kool Herc was a DJ known for getting the party started with rhymer Coke La Rock.

But the Philadelphia duo of Jeffrey Townes and Will Smith went beyond their predecessors in several important ways, and set up a prototype of the rapper/DJ — or, as music-making techniques changed, rapper/producer — combination that would explode in the years following their success.

By the time Jeff and Will (and their third member, beatboxer Ready Rock C) released their first single in 1986, duos were a thing in pop music: Soft Cell, Erasure, Eurythmics. The prominence of musical pairs would continue to grow over the next few years, largely because of technology. 

As a 1987 Philadelphia Inquirer article headlined "Pop’s New Dynamic Duos" pointed out, "The electronic age has yielded not only a new kind of music, via synthesizers, sequencers, drum machines, digital audio computers, hardware and software, but it has also spawned a new kind of group: duos in which one [person] sings and the other pushes buttons."

This division of labor — one person on music and one on lyrics — worked perfectly in hip-hop, a genre that came out of parties where a DJ spun records and someone on a mic hyped up the crowd. But when it came to DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, unlike some of their predecessors, it was clear they were a team: Not only were they co-billed, but the DJ's name came first. 

That's largely because Jeff was the virtuoso. While Will had the movie-star chemistry and funny stories, Jeff was the music obsessive and the innovative record-spinner who implemented new techniques — most notably, the robotic-sounding "transformer" scratch, which Will takes credit for naming in his 2021 memoir. 

And Jeff was the one who proved his hip-hop bona fides by defeating all comers and being crowned the best DJ in the land at the 1986 New Music Seminar. It's a scene that rightfully opens up the very first episode of Smith's new podcast, a good indication of exactly how important that battle was to Will, Jeff and the entire hip-hop world at the time. (You can listen to Jeff's winning routines here).

Explore More Of "A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop"

Putting Jeff's name first in the pairing made sense in a number of ways: not only was he unimpeachably credentialed and respected, but the order itself was also a nod to the DJ's primacy in the origins of hip-hop, and in the group's home city of Philly. Whether all of those ideas were consciously considered in how they named themselves or not, they were all there in how the duo was considered.

The equality of members was emphasized from the very beginning in their music, too. Sure, their first single was the wacky, I Dream of Jeannie theme-quoting story-song "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble." But their second was a tribute to "The Magnificent Jazzy Jeff."

They kept that balance throughout their early career as a group. Their second album, He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper, had it throughout — in its title, and especially in its songs.

The record marked another pivotal moment for rap, as it was the genre's first double album. The first two sides had plenty of Will's stories ("Parents Just Don't Understand"; "A Nightmare on My Street"), but sides C and D — billed as a "Bonus Scratch Album" — belonged almost entirely to Jeff.

Whether it was Will and Jeff's success, the overall prominence of duos across genres, or just something in the water, within a few years of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince getting their start, co-billed DJ/emcee duos were pretty much everywhere. There was Eric B & Rakim, whose first single came out the same year as Will and Jeff's, and Cash Money & Marvelous, who released their first single one year later. 

We also can't forget L.A.'s entry into the sweepstakes, Rodney-O & Joe Cooley, whose 1987 single "Everlasting Bass" was the city's pre-gangsta rap anthem. X-Clan compatriots Unique & Dashan came out in 1989 and, like Rodney-O and Cooley, billed the rapper first. DJ Chuck Chillout & Kool Chip had limited releases as a team — one single and one album to follow it up — but they made an impact regardless. By the dawn of the 1990s, the equally billed DJ/rapper duo was a hip-hop trope. 

It was a format that would morph over the years. First, into groups like Gang Starr, which consisted of a rapper and a DJ/producer subsumed under a single entity name. Later, into MF DOOM's album-length producer collaborations like Madvillainy (Madlib) and The Mouse and the Mask (Danger Mouse). And even today, into rapper/producer pairings like Drake and Noah "40" Shebib, 21 Savage and Metro Boomin, or The Alchemist and essentially everybody in the world

Without DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, the world might not have paid so much attention to all of these efforts. If there's one thing that Jeff and Will showed us, it's that in rap music or anywhere else, there's real power in teamwork.

DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince will reunite as part of "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop," which will air Sunday, Dec. 10, from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. ET and 8 to 10 p.m. PT. Tune in on the CBS Television Network, and stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince To Reunite Onstage At "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop"
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince in 2005

Photo: KMazur/WireImage via Getty Images

news

DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince To Reunite Onstage At "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop"

The famous duo will join previously announced performers, like LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, Common, Cypress Hill, E-40, and Latto, at "A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop," airing Dec. 10 on CBS and Paramount+.

GRAMMYs/Nov 1, 2023 - 02:00 pm

This article was updated Sunday, Dec. 10, to add the full performer lineup.

Can you recite every word of the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" theme song? If so, that's ever more of a reason to tune into "A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop" — which goes down Wednesday, Nov. 8, at YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California, and airs Sunday, Dec. 10, at 8:30 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT on CBS and Paramount+. Indeed, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince are set to reunite at the star-studded event, in celebration of this quintessential American genre and global cultural phenomenon.

DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince will join previously announced performers Black Thought, Bun B, Common, De La Soul, Jermaine Dupri, J.J. Fad, Talib Kweli, The Lady Of Rage, LL COOL J, MC Sha-Rock, Monie Love, The Pharcyde, Queen Latifah, Questlove, Rakim, Remy Ma, Uncle Luke, and Yo-Yo.

Newly announced performers include rap icons and next-gen hip-hop superstars 2 Chainz, T.I., Gunna, Too $hort, Latto, E-40, Big Daddy Kane, GloRilla, Juvenile, Three 6 Mafia, Cypress Hill, Jeezy, DJ Quik, MC Lyte, Roxanne Shanté, Warren G, YG, Digable Planets, Arrested Development, Spinderella, Black Sheep, and Luniz. See the full performer lineup.

The concert will take place at YouTube Theater in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 8. Tickets are available to the public now. The tribute special will air Sunday, Dec. 10, at 8:30 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT on the CBS Television Network and streaming live and on demand on Paramount+.

Explore More Of "A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop"

Full concert details are below:

Concert:
Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023
Doors: 6 p.m. PT
Concert: 7 p.m. PT          

Venue:
YouTube Theater
1011 Stadium Dr.
Inglewood, CA 90305

Full List Of Confirmed Performers For "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop": 

2 Chainz

Akon

Arrested Development

Battlecat

Big Daddy Kane

Black Sheep

Black Thought

Blaqbonez

Boosie Badazz

Bun B

Chance The Rapper

Coi LeRay

Common

Cypress Hill

D-Nice

De La Soul

Digable Planets

DJ Diamond Kuts

DJ Greg Street

DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince

DJ Quik

DJ Trauma

Doug E. Fresh

E-40

GloRilla

Gunna

J.J. Fad

Jeezy

Jermaine Dupri

Kool DJ Red Alert

The Lady of Rage

Latto

LL Cool J

Luniz

MC Lyte

MC Sha-Rock

Monie Love

Mustard

Nelly

The Pharcyde

Public Enemy

Queen Latifah

Questlove

Rakim

Remy Ma

Rick Ross

Roddy Ricch

Roxanne Shanté

Spinderella

Styles P

T.I.

Talib Kweli

Three 6 Mafia

Too $hort

Tyga

Uncle Luke

Warren G

YG

Yo-Yo

^Names in bold indicate newly added artists.

Purchase tickets here.

Don't miss this one-of-a-kind monument to a world-shifting genre and culture — now with a dash of the one and only Fresh Prince!

Stay tuned to GRAMMY.com for more news and updates about "A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop."

A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop is produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment. Jesse Collins, Shawn Gee, Dionne Harmon, Claudine Joseph, LL COOL J, Fatima Robinson, Jeannae Rouzan-Clay, and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson for Two One Five Entertainment serve as executive producers and Marcelo Gama as director of the special.

Hip-Hop Just Rang In 50 Years As A Genre. What Will Its Next 50 Years Look Like?