Why D-Nice's "Club Quarantine" Matters

The Corona LockDown Is Shifting Us Into New Paradigms Of Digital Content + Attention

For nine hours on Saturday night, D-Nice oversaw a spectacle that was part dance party, part social-media therapy, and a health-policy initiative cleverer than anything the government has put together. Chaka Khan showed up. Lenny Kravitz was there. So were Diddy, Timbaland, Alicia Keys, Ava DuVernay, MC Lyte, Halle Berry, Rihanna, Jamie Foxx, and Kerry Washington. Michelle Obama popped in for a minute and caused a record skip as D-Nice froze, trying to decide what to play for the former flotus—he went with a Beyoncé set. The virtual party, broadcast over Instagram Live, featured a simple Webcam shot of D-Nice—bopping in a white T-shirt, wire-framed glasses, and a rotating array of wide-brimmed hats—standing at his digital d.j. setup in Los Angeles and curating sets of classic R. & B., soul, old-school hip-hop, dance music, nineties pop, and the occasional salsa or Afrobeat offering. Somewhere in the fifth hour, Mark Zuckerberg dropped in like a club owner swinging by to check out the revenues before heading home for the night. (New Yorker)

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“I wasn’t good at a lot of things but I enjoyed doing it. I just felt like I wanted to try everything. I had this thing about life because I didn’t grow up with my parents  I didn’t have anybody that told me I couldn’t do it. I wanted to try Breakdancing, I wanted to Produce.”

-D Nice, “Combat Jack Show-May, 2014”

My Friend Derrick Jones aka DJ D-Nice

I have known Derrick Jones for at least 20 years and he is one of the most curious and intelligent beings I know. It’s that curiosity that bonds us.

D-Nice had a career as an artist. First in mid 80’s as a member of the group Boogie Down Productions and in 1990 he released a solo album with the single “They Call Me D-Nice” serving as an anthem for the time and his music video defining a moment for those of us glued to BET to see images of people like us.

Derrick and I share this unshakeable confidence to try something new. He, like so many of us are the definition of what this generation refers to as a “multi-hyphenate”, Derrick is described as a rapper, DJ, photographer, web developer, etc. The art of “pivoting”is very familiar with those of my generation. We have to do it several times in many of our careers, it actually comes easy and defines the spirit of the hustler. Derrick has done this several times.

I’m going to attempt to quickly share my thoughts on why I think what D-Nice was able to do is important. Most of the success around this is due to the fact that we are in the middle of one of the most unfortunate times in modern history and are all forced to be in our homes. The world that we knew before will never be the same and I’m watching countless creative entrepreneurs reinvent themselves. It is not a shocker to me, that Derrick who is at heart a techie was able to achieve this. It is a testament to a good guy who plays good music for good people.

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The moment. The Hustle. The Audacity. Derrrick Jones aka DJ D-Nice was able to do what few have been able to accomplish. He brought the power of urban culture and the internet to create massive noise and awareness all in one moment. At a time when the world is in desperate need for good news and good energy along comes hip hop to save the day. Our generation and culture is the most inclusive genre in the world and our contributions matter and the gathering of our tribe is vital during these times. Who else can gather 100k people together on Instagram who knew how to drop it like Ronnie Devoe at just the right time to “Poison.”, know all the drop outs and ad libs to Debarge’s “I Like It” and at the same time pay homage to Kenny Rogers, one of our most beloved song writers.

The “D-Nice IG Moment” was so meta that in perfect “Black Godfather fashion” his shout out from none other than Uncle Clarence Avant came over phone not in the chat room like the rest of us. For those that have not seen The Black Godfather, please watch it on Netflix during this lock-in period and thank me later. It’s the blueprint for all of this!

Someone who knows “whats up” clearly working for Biden and Bernie made sure those candidates did a “walk by” the chat room. All in All it was a proud moment for urban culture. 

Here’s Why “Club Quarantine” Matters.

A lot of you didn’t even know who D-Nice is and that’s ok. The impact of what he was able to accomplish goes way beyond the numbers.

1. D-Nice Is The Influencer To The Influencers

His supporters and fans have always been “the industry” so his customers have grown up with him. The D-Nice touring schedule will take him from The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival to Cannes Lions to Jamie Foxx’s Birthday Party to The “Obama White House.” Very different than a mainstream DJ who doesn’t come from a culture that also happens to be driving what’s fly in culture. (I hope that makes sense). 

Last night’s chat room was not just Beyonce, J-Lo, Will Smith but also the “industry machine” that work behind those massive celebrity brands. D-Nice is OUR DJ who is one of us and a friend to the culture. In short we all grew up partying “together”, the record label publicist, the media personalities, the brands, the athlete, the guy with a big record and the woman who used to make big records. When you come from hip hop, everyone is an important part of the whole and we are an eco-system of rock stars in front of the mic and “behind the mic.” D plays to that crowd, our crowd.

2. Views and Steady Flow of Views

D-Nice gave us portable content for any part of the day. People could take his “streaming mix tape” in the car, while doing homework, making dinner and that’s what made it special. It was as if D-Nice was DJing a private party for us. While the music was the most incredible, the chat room was its own collection of incredible influentials from TV, Sports, Media and beyond.

3. Spread Of Views Due To The Tribe D-Nice Has Created

The rapid wildfire spread of D-Nice’s stream is because of his loyal tribe all of whom are “audiences who drive audiences.” I watched his stream go from 25k to 100k viewers in 30-45 min. The way that Instagram Live works is an alert to your friends so it is known you are viewing which is similar to inviting your friends to a in real life club. One of the best things I witnessed was media / online influencer Tai Beauchamp streaming her dancing and watching the D Nice stream. I’ve talked for years about a “backchannel” content experience for culture; this was it.

Another major insight for me was watching people share on their social platforms the following day about what they watched. It was as if this entire community of white, black, red, green, puerto rican and haitian were a part of history. The whole community were cheering on Derrick to hit 100k, everybody played a part.

4. Growth of Followers and New Fans

Derrick already had a wide “diaspora” of “followers”, an insane touring schedule, several brand partnerships but I’m excited now to see his opportunities grow. As I’m typing this he has 1.3m followers on Instagram, yesterday he had 270,000. What I’m most interested in is how D-Nice uses his platform for good, positive and philanthropic efforts something that in the coming days will be very important.

5. “Quarantine Party” Was A Mix of Content, Community and Commerce

D-Nice brought “real life actions” into the stream. It’s not uncommon for Derrick to shout out the celebrity or influencer at a club but doing it with a full chat room just amplified the environment. For me last night felt like walking through the VIP area at an industry party, giving pounds, catching up and laughing with comrades and sweating up the dance floor. Even if you did not recognize names and had no affiliation to the industry it was amazing for D-Nice to drop a Janet Jackson song and literally Janet Jackson shows up in the chat room 5 min later.

Also impressive was that through the chat room, his fans / supporters were sharing his CASH app username for “tips.” It reminded me of how e-Sports and Twitch works. The future of streaming will feel like e-Sports and the ability to generate multiple streams of revenue from one stream.

He also started setting up other rooms for viewers to go to. He said last night “Questlove’s room is the after party” further establishing his network. The future opportunities around this are incredible. Derek embodies the spirit of hip hop, which is familial by nature.

6. Hip Hop Experiments With Technology

We don’t need an instruction manual for technology, we take everything and flip it. We made the Motorola Two Way pager what it was, Made Tommy Hilfiger a household name (shout out to Gran Puba),  Twitter was super techie until Shaq started experimenting with engaging his fans, Young black youth made Vine and quiet as kept Instagram live streams were just “aiiiiiight” until now last night D-Nice and the community gave a master class on how to use Instagram during a cultural moment. The power in that stream was the incredible DJ set and the room that was created around the music. There has never been a stream on IG that has brought together that kind of “cultural firepower” in so many different lanes. 

Derrick comes from our generation. The generation that created, built, designed and architected what the world refers to as “grassroots marketing.” D-NICE brand means something because he made it mean something and he invested in his “infrastructure” aka known as his network. People F** with Derrick because he has always been genuine. 

This will be a larger case study we will build out but I thought it was important to understand how our community feels about what some will just see as an “internet moment.” For those who know what happened last week it was a confirmation of our culture’s impact on the internet and mainstream society. The stream was musically for us, but our ability to “rally” behind the IG metric was more than a number, it put our community on main stage