JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The coronavirus pandemic changed everything. It forced music venues to shut their doors and concert halls to go silent. Hearing our favorite songs in person seemed like a thing of the past. But Derrick Jones, known by his stage name DJ D-Nice, brought the party to us in our homes.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DERRICK JONES: Welcome to homeschool at Club Quarantine.
MARY JANE GIRLS: (Singing) When I wake up in the morning, you bring me breakfast in my bed.
SUMMERS: His Club Quarantine dance parties on Instagram Live attracted hundreds of thousands of locked-in music lovers, from First Lady Michelle Obama and Senator Cory Booker to Quincy Jones.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
D JONES: Quincy Jones is in here. Let's take it back.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
D JONES: What's up, Gayle King?
SUMMERS: Now, DJ D-Nice did not come out of nowhere. He was a prominent hip-hop artist and producer in the '80s as part of the group Boogie Down Productions.
D JONES: And then I fell in love with DJing around 2004. I fell in love with just the feeling of being able to play music from different genres, from different eras. But it was more in a, like, kind of local, New York cub scene.
SUMMERS: He decided to move to LA from New York in 2019. Then COVID happened.
D JONES: When the pandemic hit, I was quarantined alone. And what's interesting is, had I been in New York, then none of this happens because I would have been quarantined with my family or, you know, quarantined with friends, whatever it was.
SUMMERS: He's kept the party going, doing live, in-person events at places like The Kennedy Center. There is even a documentary in the works. I caught up with DJ D-Nice earlier this week to talk about Club Quarantine five years later.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
D JONES: My God. This is so crazy.
STEVIE WONDER: (Singing) A little more love that's devoted.
D JONES: We got the biggest party going on in the world right now.
WONDER: (Singing) 'Cause all I do is think about you.
D JONES: Saturday night, the 21st of March, was literally the big night because that's when the world started to pay attention. But the night before was important, though, because, you know, I'm not friends with The Rock, and he wasn't even following me. Or, you know, I met Drake one time or whatever, you know? Like, I don't - I know J-Lo but not like that, you know?
And it was - to have this kind of virtual party where those three specific people were in there listening - and I remember people feeling like, wow, like, this is beautiful. The only people missing are the Obamas. I remember that comment. And the next day, it was, you know - which was the big night when everyone showed up, from Oprah to Michelle, you know, Gayle King, Ellen DeGeneres.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WONDER: (Singing) And pray that...
D JONES: Ellen, are you dancing right now? Ellen, are you dancing?
WONDER: (Singing) ...Think about you.
D JONES: Let's dance, Ellen.
It became this thing where you could feel the love in that virtual space.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL I DO")
WONDER: (Singing) Is think about you, I'm thinking about you.
D JONES: Most of those people, I've either played for, I, you know, did a private event for, which is why I was on their radar. That Saturday night when the world found out, I was just asking for favors like, hey, can this person stop in?
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
D JONES: One hundred thousand people. Let's go.
DJ KHALED: DJ Khaled.
T-PAIN: Yeah.
DJ KHALED: We the best.
T-PAIN: (Singing) All I do is win, win, win, no matter what.
D JONES: I'll be honest with you, like, to know that those phone calls with me just asking, turning to people, reaching out to even bigger celebs to say, hey, come in here. This is incredible, you know - it will always be, like, one of the highlights of my career. And, you know, I know for sure that we mattered to people back then.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL I DO IS WIN")
LUDACRIS: (Rapping) Ludacris goin' in on the verse 'cause I never been defeated, and I won't stop now.
SUMMERS: I know what the space that you created online did for so many of us who were fearful, who were home alone or with just a couple of people who were in their sort of quarantine bubble, who were seeking answers but, perhaps even more importantly, seeking connection. But I want to know what did that do for you? As you mentioned, you were there in Los Angeles when all of this was happening. You were not with your family. You were quarantining alone. And yet, you convened all these people together. What did it mean for you personally?
D JONES: Personally, I knew what it was doing for people. I could have been selfish. You know, I had a flight that Friday. I had a flight to go to be with my family. But I saw what was happening, and I was reading these comments, like, that Thursday night, you know?
And one person in particular - it was Donnie Walberg. He kept texting me. He said, you don't know what you're doing. You're saving lives right now. Those words resonated with me so deeply. So I decided to stay in LA, to follow through with this, to make sure that I played music, to make sure that I was there.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
D TRAIN: (Singing) From your lovin', my soul's on fire.
D JONES: Let's go. C'mon.
My life is different. I have played places that, you know, normally, you wouldn't see a DJ, you know - sold out Carnegie Hall twice and Kennedy Center - sold that out three times. But especially in 2020 and early 2021, that space was so important, you know, to keeping people sane, even myself, you know?
You know, there were times when I would walk away from the screen, from DJing, and I would have full-on tears because a song made me emotional. And I always felt like I'm not alone in that, that there is someone on that other end that feels the same exact way, that's quarantined by themselves. Everything was so uncertain. We didn't know what we were facing, you know?
But the one thing that we had was this little, small community of people who loved music. But the music was secondary to what was actually happening there, and that was this connection for people. And it's - it will forever be one of the most meaningful things that I've ever done in my life.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
D JONES: One big party.
QUINCY JONES: (Singing) You thrill me.
D JONES: One big party.
Q JONES: (Singing) Half kill me. That's what you do.
SUMMERS: Did going through that experience of DJing when so much of the world was shut down and yet being able to bring people together - did that change the way you think about your role as a DJ and the work that you do, the music that you spin?
D JONES: It changed the way - not necessarily about my role because I've always felt prideful being a DJ, you know? Being in this business, when you say, oh, you're a DJ, and they're, like, oh, you're the wedding DJ, and it's like someone has this kind of, you know, misconception about what you do. And I'm like, no, I'm actually a music curator, you know? Like, that's who I am.
I love music, and I love to play music for people and change moods. And I've always felt the power of DJs were - was extremely important. But what it did for me was to be unafraid of playing what I truly love, to show people how much of these classic records still hit right now, if you just play them the right way, you know? So now when I do my shows, if I throw a David Bowie record on, no one's going to leave the dance floor because they're going to trust me with the music.
SUMMERS: All right. We like to ask our guests sometimes to take us out on a song. Is there a song that you associate with those early sort of pioneering days of Club Quarantine that we should go out on?
D JONES: Yes, you should go out on a song that actually got me through that time. And every time I would play that song, it meant so much to me. So I want to go out with Sister Sledge song "Thinking Of You."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THINKING OF YOU")
SISTER SLEDGE: (Singing) I'm thinking of you and the things you do to me that makes me love you. Now I'm living in ecstasy. Hey.
SUMMERS: That is DJ D-Nice. Thanks for being here and for giving so many of us a way and a place to come together when we couldn't do so physically. Thank you.
D JONES: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THINKING OF YOU")
SISTER SLEDGE: (Singing) All the time. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
