In the mid-1990s, the sound of fast music evolved from the fast tempos of Miami Bass. While areas like Houston, with the emergence of DJ Screw, were slowing down, South Florida moved in the opposite direction. Frisco, now 25, barely remembers a time when fast music wasn’t a part of his life, remembering remixes from some of his favorite South Florida DJs, like DJ Gator Boots and DJ Showtime, the latter now the official representative of Kodak Black. DJ. “When I was a kid, I would go to a birthday party and the DJs would always play songs at a faster BPM,” Frisco remembers. Today, it’s one of the region’s iconic dance sounds, like club music is in New Jersey or footwork in Chicago. And even though the internet and record labels have threatened to steal the juice, the original still stands because it’s about so much more than turning a knob. It’s a culture. Below you’ll find a lightly edited interview with DJ Frisco about his remixes and the local South Florida sound.
Zimbalam: Who made you want to start making fast music?
DJ Frisco954: Fun fact: I started DJing thanks to DJ Fetti Fee. He’s from Tampa and another place people go when they’re looking for fast music. He’s a few years older than me, and since Tampa has a bit of a slower sound – they like chopped and screwed stuff there – there’s a path for both of us. But he was the first DJ I heard who broke up songs, put them back together, and then had someone from the neighborhood come in and do a voiceover before the drop. It made it all so authentic.
Are the drops at the beginning your favorite part of the remixes?
Yes, I look for a part to start the song with, then I figure out what effects to put. I used to ask a lot of local people to add voiceovers, but now I try to find local celebrities.
You download so much music. Is it stressful trying to keep up, making sure you’re up to date with all the new music?
I get overwhelmed sometimes. I thought about starting a team of young DJs to help me, and it makes sense since I was influenced by the generation before me and the younger generation is influenced by me. But I do it out of love. As long as people appreciate what I do and give me my flowers while I’m here, everything is fine.
What was it like growing up with fast music?
There were so many DJ groups that there were groups within groups. Fast music is such a cultural thing that I don’t think there’s a DJ in my city who doesn’t speed up the music. You know those birthday parties at the park with the bouncy houses? That’s all they would play; DJs would simply play their own remixes. So, it started at parties, then it moved to mixtapes or USB sticks, then to underground radio. And then when SoundCloud and YouTube came along, everyone started putting it online. Today, nine times out of ten when you go to a club in Broward, the DJ was or still is playing fast music. That’s why I love my city because everyone does it and everyone shows love to my face.
Do you consider this dance music?
It is. It’s happy music, music that simply enhances the mood. Come to one of our parties, everyone is dancing to it.
What type of dances do you practice?
It depends on where you are; in Miami, they do a lot of footwork. What we do in Broward we call “sauce.” It’s more of an upper body swing, with the hands and shoulders.
