Occasionally in life, time pauses, and we are brought to an imperative conclusion. It is time to throw it back for a real one. So, you go to where you play your music, you type in your song, and it wouldn’t be shocking if you were greeted with the words: “Jersey Mix.”
The Jersey Mix has rocked frats, nightclubs, birthday parties, and your grandma’s ears for almost two decades now. It has centered itself as a stable of the turn up. However, as time goes on, many people don’t realize that what they are listening to is indeed a Jersey Mix. They just assume it’s generic club music. A piece of history is being forgotten before our eyes, and right behind Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi front door, nonetheless. This begs the questions what is a Jersey club mix? Where’d they go? And where are they going cotton eye joe?
The Origin Story
The story of the Jersey Mix, formally known as Jersey Club, goes all the way back to 1999. At this time Chicago House was the hottest sound on everyone’s ears. A New Jersey teen named DJ Tameil was starting to get noticed for his mixtapes, which lead to him making connections with the scene in Baltimore. He would play Baltimore tracks across New Jersey until around 2001 when he released his own CD: Dat Butt EP to large fan fair. So much in fact, that many other disc jockeys started flooding the scene with tracks “inspired” by his. One of these groups went by “Brick Bandits.” Initially, DJ Tameil and Brick Bandits had a DJ-to-DJ turf war. But both parties put aside their difference, and DJ Tameil ended up joining the group, forming the sound “Brick Bandits club”.
By 2003, Brick Bandits were the only group able to support themselves via the music. But around 2005, a new generation of DJs caught on, many of which also joined Brick Bandits. A lot of these members were from various parts of the state, and so it was decided around this time to change the name to: “Jersey Club”. Jersey Club’s distinct, fast paced, hyper energetic, vitals pumping sound quickly spread across all the Northeast around 2006-2008. It was particularly popular on the then hottest teen spot MySpace, which did wonders in spreading the music and DJs across the country. By 2009, Jersey Club remixes were being heard in many clubs across the states. As well as its influence being heard in up-and-coming artist of the time like Nikki Minaj and lil Jon.
A Dip and A Rise
The 2010s however saw a huge nosedive in the music’s popularity. Bubbling under the Jersey mix was a grungier, gnarlier sound. One that would be doubted: EDM. Like with many things, the economic crash of 08 led the masses to turn towards harsher and overall grimmer art. This ironically included the music we went to have a good time. And as such out was the upbeat sound of the Jersey Mix, and in was the unhinged chaos of EDM.
Like with most things however, there was a reawakening, which leads us to today. Starting in 2018, new radio stations started to appear with the expressed purposes of revitalizing interest in the Jersey mix. One of the largest members of this crusade was Cookie Kawaii, who’s song Vibe went viral on now hottest teen spot TikTok in 2020. News on any artist striking it big with the sound has stayed largely quiet, but we should all be hopeful someone will bring that sweet sweet club beat back to our ears. If any of you are too impatient though, you’ll have to take a trip to Jersey and check out the scene for yourself. Say hello to Snooki, she’ll definitely appreciate the hospitality.
