House music is back. Well, it didn't ever really leave and I think most of us invested in the music know this already. It is, however gaining new levels of attention on social media due to the recent offerings by Drake and Beyonce. Now I'm not here to entertain debates on the origins or ownership of House as its a complex and nuanced discussion. I think anyone with even a slight interest is aware that House, Garage and Techno music were simultaneously birthed out of the experience of the working class, Black and predominantly Gay communities in Chicago, New York and Detroit. Now while I think identity politics play a part in understanding and preserving music history and origin, when they become more important than the music itself, they essentially have the reverse effect when aesthetic override the authenticity of the actual music. While there's been an adaptation to appease mainstream white audiences, the core of the music has continued to stay true to its roots, going relatively unnoticed by not only mainstream audiences but also audiences of genres that were once considered more adjacent, such as Hip Hop and RnB. In the late 2000s when artists like Usher and Ne-Yo began making dance music the narrative surrounding it was that they were making mainstream pop music. What they were doing is ironically not too dissimilar to what we're currently seeing with Drake Beyoncé. The reason for the current celebration is rooted in the discourse around reclaiming House music and taking it back to its roots, which is obviously a necessary and important conversation. However, in this context not only are you ignoring the contributions of producers like Spinna, Waajeed, Andres and many more who continue to push to create an antithesis to mainstream dance music but you also propping up the very sound that the core audience are trying to counteract, solely because they aesthetically fit the narrative that’s been sold by those who had zero interest in the music until recently.

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