13. Earth PeopleDance

The year it came out I was in junior high school, and it was something totally different, very catchy. I heard it on a mix on WKKC, which at that time was only a college radio station. It was just on the South Side of Chicago. On weekends they’d play a lot of hip-hop joints, always debuts. That’s where I heard Eric B & Rakim’s ‘Eric B Is President’ before it became famous.

After that, I noticed it changed the tunes in all high schools. Before that Mike Dunne had just dropped ‘Work That Motherfucker’, there were a couple of other joints. But when Earth People dropped ‘Dance’ it was a whole new sound to everyone in Chicago – it was the most played. It had a bass that hit hard. The radio was one thing, but hearing someone play it loud on speakers; we’d hear a different sound from the subs. That’s what gravitated a lot of people towards it.

I didn’t know the name of it, but at that time you could take a tape to the record store and give it to the guy behind the counter. You had to have it cued up, and when I played it he told me it was Earth People ‘Dance’. ‘Go over there and get it.’

From my freshman year, I danced in school just for fun. As the years went past hip-hop became most important, with acts like Kid ‘n Play. Me and my brother used to dance in the hallways. People would see us having a good time, all this crazy stuff, legs over the head. Then one day I went to a dance and they played Earth People. I said, ‘That’s nice.’ That’s what started me drifting into what was about to happen: the new age of 90s house. I still actively listened to hip-hop, but I started only dancing to house.