Virtually every popular song is getting either a “Jersey Club Remix” and a “Jersey Club Dance” to go with it on TikTok. The tag “Jersey Club Remix” has 56 million posts on TikTok, and “Jersey Club Dance” has 156 million.
While Jersey Club has exploded on TikTok this year, the genre is so much more than a simple song and dance trend — it has been slowly growing out of Newark, N.J. since the 90s.
The origins of Jersey Club
The Jersey Club genre was created in the 1990s by DJs in Newark and was originally called “Brick City Club” after its city of origin. It’s a genre that initially combined elements of 80s and 90s dance, rap, house, hip-hop and even R&B. The original name for the genre, “Brick City Club,” is a reference to Baltimore and Chicago, since Jersey Club contains elements of Baltimore and Chicago house, R&B and hip-hop.
When the genre was first created, Jersey Club songs had no lyrics. Instead, they were danceable instrumentals that had a high beat per minute, usually in the 120 to 150 range, which made them energetic dance tracks fit for the Jersey club scene.
The creator of Jersey Club, DJ Tameil originates from a group called the Brick Bandits. Although DJ Tameil created the first iteration of the genre, Jersey Club went through a few waves of artists before reaching the level of mainstream popularity it has today.
After the first wave of Jersey Club died out in the 2000s, artists DJ Fade and DJ Jayhood fought to keep the sound alive. The genre was far removed from being played exclusively in underground house parties. It was then featured as the main genre played in nightclubs and started to appear as a remix format for popular R&B and hip-hop songs.
Eventually, artists such as Cash Cobain and evilgiane worked to bring the Jersey Club sound back and solidify it as a genre. Both artists have contributed to Jersey Club’s massive growth in the 2010s.
Artists UNIIQU3, Nadus and DJ GVY have honed and have continued to produce Jersey Club music into the 2020s.
Although Cobain, evilgiane, UNIIQU3 and others contributed to Jersey Club’s rise in popularity as a genre, DJs in the genre point to a rapper named Brandmanrill as the artist who first decided to rap over Jersey Club beats.
The Jersey Club TikTok explosion
After Brandmanrill combined rap with fast-paced, energetic Jersey Club instrumentals, other popular artists followed suit and, thanks to TikTok and social media, made the genre skyrocket in popularity.
One of the most famous rappers that utilized both the Jersey Club genre and TikTok to become popular was the artist Ice Spice. Her song, Deli, uses classic elements of Jersey Club in the instrumental such as high bpm, energetic kick drum and danceable repetitive sound bytes.
Once the song was paired with a “dance trend,” or an original dance to go with it, the song blew up and has garnered 105 million posts on Tiktok under the tag “Ice Spices Deli.”
Popular memes have also been blowing up surrounding Jersey Club remixes. Creator “Jerseyyjoe” on TikTok and Instagram has amassed more than five million followers dancing to humorous Jersey Club remixes and renditions of children TV show songs such as “Perry the Platypus” from “Phineas and Ferb.”
Jerseyyjoe also contributed to the virality of the “Veggie Dance” through his dancing. A rendition of a children's song called the “Veggie Dance” from a popular children’s TV show has reached 77 million views on YouTube due to the song’s Jersey Club instrumental.
Jersey Club today
Since Jersey Club’s rise in popularity on TikTok, popular artists have incorporated it into their music and experimented with the genre in hopes of attracting the same virality.
Songs by artists such as Lil Uzi Vert, DaBaby, Coi Leray, Drake and Beyoncé have blown up after they incorporated “Jersey Club” elements in their music.
In Lil Uzi Vert’s case, his song “Just Wanna Rock” is not merely a remix, but an unapologetically Jersey Club song. Lil Uzi Vert raps over the genre’s signature aggressive kick drum to create a high energy and club-ready dance track. The music video for the track is also set in a club atmosphere, both capturing and celebrating Jersey Club’s roots as a genre.
From DJ Tameil’s creation of the genre in the 90s, to Beyonce’s incorporation of Jersey Club elements in her album RENAISSANCE, Jersey Club has been solidified as not just an underground DJ house party sound from Newark, New Jersey, but as a genre contemporary rappers and artists continue to experiment with and celebrate in their music today.
This article was edited by Jessica Ackerman, Marina Zaczkiewicz and Abigail Turner. Copy editing by Luna Jinks, Ariana Kavoossi and Charlie Mennuti.
