Published
Fri, Jul 15, 2022, 22:18
- The DJ, producer and Brick Bandits cofounder was one of the sound's early producers.
Jersey club legend DJ Tim Dolla has passed away.
The musician is credited for being one of the early founders of Jersey club, having launched one of the genre's first collectives in Newark, Brick Bandits, alongside Mike V in the early '00s.
In 2002, Tameil, a Jersey club innovator responsible for bringing the sound from Baltimore to New Jersey, joined the crew, at which point he named the genre (then simply called "club music") Brick City music after Newark's nickname. The Brick Bandits would go on to hold down the scene as many generations of Brick City club producers stopped making music or left Newark to attend college. Around the mid-'00s, the genre was called Jersey club as the style increasingly veered away from the Baltimore sound and spread outside of Newark.
MCs were central to the club scene—DJs would often instruct the crowd to do certain dance moves during sets. At some point, Dolla grew tired of talking on the mic, and decided to produce a track that included instructions for one of the popular dance moves at the time, "swing dat." The song, "Swing Dat Shyt", went viral and similar tracks from other producers followed suit.
The popularity of these dance move-focused tracks further spread the Jersey club sound, as the dance moves would promote the tracks, and vice versa. It also transformed the music scene into one intertwined with competitive dance culture.
"I'm sad y'all. I can't believe Tim Dolla has passed away," Newark-based Jersey club producer UNIIQU3 wrote on twitter today. "He saved lives with Jersey club. He definitely changed mine."
Fellow Jersey club producer Nadus, also based out of Newark shared: "Timothy 'DJ Tim Dolla' Foster. Big brother. My mentor. Sensei. Thank you for saving my life. Thank you for the time, the life lessons and laughs. I love you. May you find peace in Jannah."
Revisit RA's 2015 feature tracing the history of Jersey club music.
Read some more of the condolences shared in the last 24 hours.