Footwork (genre)

The arguably first mention of the term "footwork" within the ghetto house scene of Chicago was WaxMaster's "Foot work" track in 1995.

[3][5] The terms footwork and juke, as referring to the fast syncopated genre of electronic dance music derived from ghetto house, may be used interchangeably.

[7] During the 2000s, footwork relied heavily in its distribution on a peer-to-peer mixtape exchange in Chicago public schools, which is why the earliest works in the genre are often hard to obtain.

[18] Other channels producers used around that time for distribution of their tracks included free-to-use media sharing platforms of the day, for instance now-closed imeem.com, MySpace and YouTube.

At the same time the footwork dancing was showcased in Twista's juke track Pimp Like Me from his 2007 album Adrenaline Rush 2007 produced by Cuzzo and Tight Mike, and which also gained airplay on MTV Video.

Some tracks like "Reverb" by DJ Rashad are downright experimental walls of pulsating noise that would make John Cage proud.

This has put a strain on genre's development, particularly in Chicago, where at the same time youth started to prefer to listen to drill music instead.

[5] However, as DJ Taye of Teklife and RP Boo noted, footwork, at the time it was declining in Chicago, found new exposure elsewhere in the world, particularly in Europe.

[18] The genre makes marked heavy use of sub-bass and its fast and repetitive rhythmic atmosphere is said to be reminiscent of the early jungle music.

1 noted: Footwork is a hyper rhythmic, abstract dance music, pitched around 160bpm, that largely consists of a template of cut-up samples and phrases that are twisted into repetitive rhythms & shapes, to offbeat, syncopated drum machine patterns and pumping sub-bass lines.

[12]Apart from Bangs and Works, Planet Mu has also been releasing original albums by Chicago footwork artists, for example Da Trax Anthology by DJ Nate (2010), which are oftentimes sourced from shelved tracks from the 2000s Myspace and imeem.com era.

[23] Notwithstanding the criticism, "Footcrab" put Addison Groove on forefront of the UK Bass scene in the United Kingdom.

His subsequent full-length album called Transistor Rhythm released on Modeselector's 50 Weapons label, while retaining the influence of footwork, shifted more to the earlier days of the genre and to the sound of its immediate predecessor, ghetto house, including ravey synths at much slower tempos that footwork, around 120–140 BPM.

[25] He started bringing footwork/juke into his mixes around 2008, two years prior to the release of the first compilation from Bangs and Works series on Planet Mu,[24] and at the time, the dominant types of electronic dance music in Japan were house and techno timing at around 120 to 130 BPM, and drum'n'bass, at around 170–175 BPM, so at first dancing crowds in Japan were confused and deemed footwork as "too fast" for their palate.

[25] Another homegrown subgenre of juke in Japan is party-juke, which is a fusion of hip hop rapping over footwork backing tracks.

[24] The subgenre of party-juke had its first moment with the release of 160or80 compilation in 2013, according to Japanese ghettotech and footwork veteran producer DJ April.

label), bringing influence of reggae and dancehall horn sections into footwork, Oyubi, CRZKNY, Boogie Mann, bringing influence of funk, boogie and acid house into footwork, KΣITO, PERCEPTION,[25] Haya6Go, DJ Aflow, Uncle Texx, Picnic Women,[24] Foodman,[13] and others.

[25] Japanese juke scene was also politically outspoken on the topic of nuclear energy in Japan, particularly after the 2011 Tohoku tsunami disaster, taking opposing stance.

[25] Japanese juke scene is also noted to serve as a refuge from the relatively strict corporate culture in Japan, with many producers coming from middle-class working white-collar jobs by day and thus it would be nearly to impossible for them to communicate with each other, having different positions in social hierarchy, if not for footwork, which has liberalizing effect on those who participate in the scene.

In 2017, Mexico-based JukeMX footwork producer collective, consisting of producers Eric Uh, Sonido Berzerk, Ma Fuego, Spacetrilla and others, released the Traxmex compilation series, showcasing local improvements of the original genre, introducing Latin percussion and samples from baile funk into footwork.

[14] In Brazil, producer Cesrv, founder of local Beatwise Recordings label, included juke tracks into South release.

In Chile around that time, the MakinMovs netlabel was releasing juke compilations, which also included tracks by footwork producers from Mexico, Argentina and Peru.

[29] The dance involves complex fast movement of the feet with accompanying twists and turns, and usually takes place as part of a "battle".