A Night at the Delancey

After blowing a bag at the Louis Vuitton pop up shop in the Lower East side, we took to the streets looking for what the night had to offer. As we walked down Orchard Street, we passed by an active video shoot. Sensing the obvious outlet to some entertainment and good vibes, we started talking to them. We found Jam Young and DJ Ray Blk. They were recording the video for Jam's newest single "Time of Our Life". They went on to tell us that the song was part of a series they were doing in which they were dropping a song a week every Friday, until Jam's 30th birthday in March.

Then, came the plug to the night. They were to perform at the Delancey a couple of hours from then. We went. What we found was a music event with heavy Long Island vibes from Jam and Ray, themselves Queens natives, to Nik Moody, a native of Long Island. The setting was intimate, DJ Ray remarked that he personally knew everyone that was a part of it. The show was in a low lit basement and was one of the smaller venues I've been to. That aided the performers in feeding off of the crowd's energy; Jam spent a good amount of time in the crowd.

The crowd itself was also unique. It appeared that the crowd was mostly artists on that had just as much chance to be on stage as any of the performers. They seemed to all be the peers of Jam & Ray. Jam even took to hosting when he wasn't performing. He furthered the camaraderie during Nik Moody's performance, even requesting his favorite of Moody's songs at the end of the set and performing ad-libs during the song.

All in all, though it was one of the smaller sets I've been in a while, A Queens Affair certainly exemplified something the underground community innately has that mainstream lacks. That quality is camaraderie; the crowd knowing the performers and vice versa. It's attributes like this that fuel collaborations such as that of DJ Ray and Jam, in turn providing the mainstream with new talent as well as new ideas.

This underscores one of the stark differences between the underground community and the mainstream community. That is the general camaraderie between the performers and crowd, as well as the intimacy in settings such as that of the Delancey. These things change the events from the "lit" affairs that people tend to view bigger shows as, to something much more humble and inviting to someone who may never have experienced the music before.

Another difference that was clear to me was that there's much more creativity and originality in the underground. Much of what is in the mainstream is not necessarily good music, but marketable music. There's a business aspect to popular music that is so deeply rooted that it affects the music itself. Many DJ's that have risen to popularity in the recent decades have done so exploiting particular methods to making thier music. Not that there is inherently anything wrong with being able to do that; artists like Jam and DJ Ray don't have the luxuries of proven methods or previous record-breaking tracks to model their own tracks off of.

This gives them a sort of freedom that I believe the general signed artist doesn't have. Freedom to create music that is a complete 180 degree turn from what they were doing. Freedom to drop a song every Friday for months on end. And most of all, freedom from having to answer to anyone about the music you create. These freedoms brought to the stage bring about a more organic vibe that the performers and audience can't help but feed of off.

Underground events like this usually leave me feeling good because it reminds me of the expressive side of music. Where the music is meaningful to both the artists and the audience. That is something that I believe has been lost to mainstream music especially today. Nowadays, music is so much about actions and being in moments, whether sober or on drugs, whereas music of days past was much more brooding and contemplative on everything. Underground artists, like Jam and DJ Ray, are necessary for music because they are what keeps the love of music and meaning behind music in the forefront of their music.