Before "Club Quarantine" D-Nice Co-Produced "Self Destruction" When He Was Only 18
A look back at the celebrated DJ's storied career and brief but impressive phase as a producer.
Updated on May 24th, 2020
Like many of us, 34-year hip-hop veteran D-Nice (also known as DJ D-Nice) is feeling the weight of social isolation. In the midst of missing his family and the rush of performing for a crowd, he woke up at 4 AM on Saturday, March 21st and decided to throw a party.
It started with him playing music for his friends straight off of his laptop on Instagram Live. Then he hooked up his turntables. Before long there was an endless stream of of celebrities stopping by to watch, with folks like Dave Chappelle, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Michelle Obama, Rihanna, Bernie Sanders, Justin Timberlake and Stevie Wonder tuning in. His “Homeschool” party, which has also been referred to as “Club Quarantine," eventually exceeded 100,000 viewers.
When D woke up the next day to take stock of the reaction to his impromptu performance he was overwhelmed by the support. “You're just doing what feels good, but I didn't realize it was special until that next morning, and I had tears,” he told Oprah in a recent episode of Oprah Talks. “I've been in the music industry for over 30 years...but nothing felt like that, helping people. It was selfless and self-serving as well, because I was isolated too, and I just wanted people to feel good."
For those who keep a pulse on the wild world of professional DJing, the success of D-Nice shouldn’t come as a surprise. During his storied career behind the turntables he has rocked for major networks like ESPN, been selected as a Hennessy brand DJ, and earned the title of official DJ for former President Barack Obama. This extremely high-profile position lead to DJing dutes at the 2012 Inaugural Ball, perhaps his most visible event prior to the “Homeschool” party.
But it was a much lesser-known musical moment 34 years ago that first set the gears of D-Nice’s career in motion. His first performance as an MC in Boogie Down Productions at a Claremont Center concert proved to be a monumental occurrence. “This moment changed my life!” D-Nice wrote in 2016 Instagram post. “We went from the project gym to arenas!!”
Another career-altering moment happened just a few years after becoming a founding member of Boogie Down Productions. While touring with the group in 1988 he decided to leave the tour for one day, fly back to New York City, and purchase the Akai MPC60 sampler with the financial backing of BDP frontman KRS-One. The first beat he made with the machine ended up becoming Boogie Down Productions’ 1989 single “Jack of Spades” from their third LP Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop.
According to a 2017 D-Nice instagram post, it also seems like an E-mu SP-1200 was used to make some of the beat. Apparently he would bring the famous drum machine/sampler on the road with him during tours.
Over the next six years D racked up a slew of impressive production credits, but his biggest beat placement happened a short time before the release of “Jack of Spades” when he was a mere 18 years old.
In September of 1988 Boogie Down Productions was part of the Dope Jam concert lineup that included Kool Moe Dee, Doug E. Fresh, and Eric B. & Rakim. With the show slated to take place at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Long Island, the event took an ugly turn when a series of physical assaults and stabbings led to thirteen people being injured, three of them critically. 19-year-old Bronx native Julio Fuentes died as a result of his injuries. The tragedy led to a tidal wave of negative press that targeted rap music as the culprit for the violence at the show.
KRS-One was deeply moved by the events at Dope Jam and the ensuing backlash against rap music. Reeling from Fuentes’ senseless death, he sought to channel his emotions into creative expression. “KRS always, from the time I first met him at the shelter, wrote lyrics that were fueled by knowledge and social consciousness from a street perspective, but not really in a preachy form,” D-Nice told Keith Murphy in a 2015 BET interview. “But once he went through the violence of that concert at Nassau Coliseum where a fan lost his life, Kris was devoted to making these types of records.”
Billboard magazine’s former Black music editor Nelson George and former Jive/RCA exec Ann Carli (listed in the liner notes as Tokyo Rose) joined forces with KRS to gather up an ensemble of rap royalty to form the Stop The Violence Movement. When all was said and done the lineup included Boogie Down Productions members KRS-One, D-Nice and Ms. Melodie, Stetsasonic members Delite, Daddy-O, Wise, and Frukwan, Kool Moe Dee, MC Lyte, Doug E. Fresh, Just-Ice, Heavy D, and Public Enemy members Chuck D and Flavor Flav.
The superstar collective united to record their lone single “Self Destruction” and released it in early 1989. Handling production duties alongside KRS-One his trusty MPC60 (Hank Shocklee is also listed as the song’s associate producer), D-Nice took his role of co-producer extremely seriously. When it came time to mix the song, he spent seven days sleeping under the mixing board in the studio.
By August of ‘89 the single had earned itself a gold plaque and made $150,000 that was promptly donated to The Urban League. Though the Stop The Violence Movement would never record another song together, their legacy remains strong, as various artists have recorded “Self Destruction” remakes over the years. (For a full deep dive on the making and legacy of self-destruction, please read Dart Adams’ definitive 2019 Okayplayer feature.)
The importance of providing the beat for such a weighty single and so many hip-hop luminaries at age 18 was not lost on D-Nice, who continues to express gratitude towards Ann Carli and Nelson George for giving him a shot.
The record also helped him recognize the importance of giving young people opportunities to achieve greatness—even when they’re relatively inexperienced. “I was 18 years old when I produced this,” he tweeted in 2009. “With guidance, kids can do legendary things.”
The significant success of “Self-Destruction” didn’t make D-Nice complacent in the least. He co-produced the beats on Just-Ice’s 1989 album The Desolate One, which has some very interesting and unconventional instrumentals—especially considering the popular sample sources and beatmaking techniques of the time.
He also co-produced Boogie Down Productions’ critically acclaimed gold record Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop the same year before producing the entirety of his debut solo record Call Me D-Nice in 1990 and much of his follow-up effort To Tha Rescue in 1991.
Though D-Nice’s output as a producer slowed down and eventually stalled completely by the mid-90s, his career never let up—it just changed course. In subsequent years he has carved himself a lane as both an in-demand photographer and an A-list DJ.
For those who watched him drop another superstar-studded, social isolation DJ set on the NBA’s official Instagram feed last night, it’s important to remember that this new wave of support and 1.7 million Instagram followers isn’t a case of overnight success.
It’s the byproduct of 34 years of constant hard work, innovation, and reinvention.
Thanks for reading, see you on Sunday!