The other day it was brought to my attention that the December 2007 issue of the Journal of Popular Music Studies features an essay called “What Chew Know About Down the Hill?’’: Baltimore Club Music, Subgenre Crossover, and the New Subcultural Capital of Race and Space by Andrew Devereaux, which is available online as a PDF file. The piece uses The Wire and Baltimore politics as a jumping off point to discuss the origins of Baltimore club and its last few years of national exposure, and namechecks DJs and musicians like Scottie B., DJ Booman, DJ Technics, Rod Lee, Debonair Samir, K-Swift, Labtekwon and Blaq Starr. It also refers several times to things I've written, and cites the work of several writers I know (Tom Breihan, Jess Harvell, David Drake, Scott Seward, etc.), and it's interesting, if a little surreal, to see a lot of things I've written or read in the past few years put together in this kind of academic context, discussing issues like race and class and the people who've brought Baltimore club to a wider audience. I've never really wanted to be seen as a Baltimore club authority, I just remember 5 years ago there being virtually no detailed information or critical writing about it online, and wanting to do some small part to provide whatever little info I had to other people, and ending up maybe shaping a lot of discussions and impressions about it. There are a few things I could criticize the essay about (mostly minor factual errors not worth noting), but I'm glad Devereaux wrote it, and I hope it stirs more conversation on these topics, and brings people who know way more than me about the topic out of the woodwork to put in their two cents.

Labels: Baltimore club, Blaq Starr, Debonair Samir, DJ Booman, DJ Technics, K-Swift, Labtekwon, magazines/newspapers, Rod Lee, Scottie B., The Wire