An Interview With DJ Frisco954, the Remix Heavyweight of Florida Fast Music

Back in the mid-1990s, the fast-music sound evolved from the racing tempos of Miami bass. As areas like Houston, with the emergence of DJ Screw, went slow, South Florida took it in the other direction. Frisco, now 25, hardly remembers a time when fast music wasn’t a part of his life, reminiscing about remixes from some of his favorite South Florida DJs, like DJ Gator Boots and DJ Showtime, the latter of whom is now Kodak Black’s official DJ. “When I was a kid, I’d go to a hood birthday party and the DJs would always be playing songs at a faster BPM,” remembers Frisco. Nowadays, it’s one of the region’s signature dance sounds, like club music is to New Jersey or footwork to Chicago. And, even as the internet and record labels have threatened to steal the juice, the original still stands, because it is more than turning a knob. It’s a culture. Below, is a lightly edited interview with DJ Frisco about his remixes and the homegrown South Florida sound.

Pitchfork: Who made you want to start making fast music?

DJ Frisco954: Fun fact: I started DJing because of DJ Fetti Fee. He’s from Tampa and another one that people go to when they looking for fast music. He’s a few years older than me, and, since Tampa got a bit of slower sound—they like chopped-and-screwed stuff over there—there’s a lane for both of us. But he was the first DJ I heard who would pick apart the songs, restart it, and then have someone from the hood come and do a voice-over before the drop. It made it feel so authentic.

Are the drops at the beginning your favorite part of the remixes?

Yeah, looking for a part to start the song, then figuring out which effects to put in. I used to get a lot of local people to add voice-overs, but, now, I try to find some local celebrities.

You upload so much music. Is it stressful trying to keep up, making sure you’re on top of all the new music?

I get overwhelmed sometimes. I been thinking about starting a team of younger DJs to help me out, and it makes sense since I was influenced by the generation before me and the younger generation is influenced by me. But I do it for the love. As long as people appreciate what I’m doing and give me my flowers while I’m here, I’m good.

What was growing up with fast music like?

There would be so many DJ groups that there were groups inside of groups. Fast music is such a cultural thing that I don’t think there’s a DJ in my city that doesn’t speed up music. You know those hood birthday parties at the park with the bouncy houses? That’s all they would play; the DJs would just be playing their own remixes. So, it started at parties, then went to mixtapes or USBs, then to underground radio. And then when SoundCloud and YouTube came around, everyone started putting it on there. Now, nine times out of ten, when you go to a club in Broward, the DJ used to or still does make fast music. That’s why I love my city because everyone is doing it and everyone show love to my face.

Do you consider it dance music?

It is. It’s happy music, music that just makes the vibe better. Come to any of our parties, everyone is dancing to it.

What type of dances do you hit to it?

Depends where you are; over in Miami they do a lot of footwork. What we do in Broward, we call it “sauce.” It’s more of an upper-body swing, with your hands and shoulders.