“Chicago was known for house music” is what Cold hard from Crucial Conflict told me in his interview. The power of Frankie Knuckles was felt by a lot of Chicago hip-hop artists back in the day. The mantra of “Chicago is a House City” was heard by plenty of record execs when citing their reasons for not signing Chicago Hip Hop artists. And to be honest, this label is just now starting to fade away from Chicago’s hip-hop scene. On the other hand, when you want to really get a party cracking in the Chi, you got to put on some house music. I don’t think that will ever change. D.C has Go-Go, New York has Hip Hop, and Chicago has House Music.
The ironic thing is Frankie Knuckles was born in the Bronx, the birthplace of Hip Hop. He brought his sound here in the late 70s and change the game by spinning his records at a Chicago club called the Warehouse. The venue and the music became synonymous and were affectionately called “House Music.” Personally, I have never been too fond of House music; but I recognized its power of it early on. Going to the neighborhood House parties, I knew my best chance to get my “freak on” was when the girl was totally going crazy from some House mixes. Shameless I know, but why shouldn’t I benefit from the gift that Frankie Knuckles gave to the world? I mean everyone else has.
Ebony has published an unreleased interview with DJ Frankie Knuckles from 2011. Click here to read the interview.