Five years ago, as the COVID-19 pandemic tore through the country, much of public life had shut down. Restaurants, music venues and nightclubs had closed, so most Americans were stuck indoors, at home, with little to do besides worry about the then-unknown virus.
Then hip-hop veteran DJ D-Nice brought the dance party to us — in our homes.
Those Club Quarantine sets on Instagram Live attracted hundreds of thousands of locked-in music lovers, including big names like former First Lady Michelle Obama, Sen. Cory Booker, Janelle Monae and Quincy Jones.
DJ D-Nice, whose real name is Derrick Jones, didn't come out of nowhere. He was a prominent hip-hop artist and producer in the 1980s, as part of the group, Boogie Down Productions. Then, he went into creative services, creating websites for artists like Alicia Keys and Annie Lennox and shooting photography campaigns for brands like Reebok and Grey Goose.
"Then I fell in love with DJ in 2004. I fell in love with just the feeling of being able to play music from different genres from different eras," he told All Things Considered host Juana Summers. "But it was more in the local New York club scene."
In 2019, he decided to move from that New York scene to Los Angeles, which meant, that when the pandemic hit in 2020, he was quarantining by himself.
"What's interesting is, had I been in New York, none of [Club Quarantine] would have happened because I would have been quarantining with my family or quarantining with friends. But because I was out here in LA, I was home alone."
This led to him using Instagram Live – initially, it was just to share stories about the industry and play snippets of his old songs. But the couple hundred people in his comments were thrilled, comparing what he was doing to a club.
"It started to feel magical, like I knew immediately that this was bigger than just sharing stories."
So he started actually deejaying. On his third day, big celebrities like Dwayne Johnson (known as The Rock), Drake and even Jennifer Lopez joined his livestream.
"I'm not friends with The Rock. You know, I met Drake one time. I know J.Lo but not like that," he says of their presence. "To have this kind of virtual party where those three specific people were in there listening. I remember people just feeling like 'Wow, this is beautiful. The only people missing are the Obamas.' I remember that comment. And the next day, it was the big night when everyone showed up."
Jones had played private events for many celebrities, which is why he was on their radar in the first place. He'd also used those connections to call in some favors.
"I would reach out to people before I went live," he says. "That Saturday night, when the world found out, I was just asking for favors, like 'Hey, can this person stop in.' And I'll be honest with you, to know that those phone calls with me just asking turned into people reaching out to even bigger celebs to say 'Hey come in here, this is incredible,' it will always be one of the highlights of my career."
Jones says he doesn't normally ask for favors, "but the one time [I did], it's like the world showed up."
He's kept the party going ever since — both with regular Instagram Live streams and also sold-out in-person events at venues like Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center. There's even a documentary in the works. Despite all the accolades and the prestige, Jones still thinks about that virtual space in the early days of the pandemic.
"That space was so important to keeping people sane, even myself. There were times when I would walk away from the screen, from deejaying, and I would have full-on tears because a song made me emotional. And I always felt like I'm not alone in that, that there is someone on that other end that feels the same exact way."
The music was important, but the community he created is what he'll always remember.
"The music was secondary to what was actually happening there, and that was connection for people. It's — it will forever be one of the most meaningful things that I've ever done in my life."
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