Pop Convergence 2021

The Power of Club Quarantine: A Special Conversation with D-Nice and Jason King about Uniting the World Through Music in Times of Flux (Room A: Sky Church)

A First-Time Collaboration between Pop Conference and the Kennedy Center’s Hip Hop Culture Program

This year's version of the Pop Conference focuses on themes of change and flux in popular music. Few artists in contemporary music have had a year marked by surprising shifts and pivots like New York born and bred DJ, rapper and producer Derrick “D-Nice” Jones. In the midst of widespread global pandemic lockdowns and social restrictions in March 2020, D-Nice launched Homeschool at Club Quarantine: a nightly DJ party on
Instagram Live designed to bring people together. Club Quarantine became an instant sanctuary and runaway success, virtually uniting people from all walks of life, including many prominent celebrities, to dance "together" and socialize online. Leveraging his Club Quarantine platform in service of others, D-Nice supported numerous social justice, civic and humanitarian efforts, and raised awareness about health and wellness protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic. For his vital contributions to music, culture and society, D-Nice was awarded the 2020 Webby Artist of the Year in the Special Achievement category, a LEVEL "Best Man of 2020" Award, a 2020 BET Hip Hop Award for Best DJ of the Year, a 2020 BET Shine A Light Award and the 2021 Entertainer of the Year Award at the NAACP Image Awards.

With a 30+ year trajectory of uniting people through music, D-Nice'ss pre-pandemic career has also been full of transitions and shifts: he was an early founder of Boogie Down Productions and produced the Stop the Violence Movement's classic Self-Destruction before becoming signed as a solo artist to Jive Records where he released his debut album and classic single “Call Me D-Nice.” As a DJ, he has rocked dance floors from Times Square to South Africa and events ranging from Essence Music Festival to the White House. Equally excelling as a photographer, he has both documented the Culture and provided its soundtrack. D-Nice will join Jason King—Pop Conference co-producer, Clive Davis Institute Chair, and fellow Kennedy Center Hip
Hop Culture Council Member—in a conversation about the connections between music, flux, change and the enduring connective power of the DJ.

This program is co-presented with the Kennedy Center Hip Hop Culture Program’s Council Conversations series.