Time to Hit the Dance Floor: Blacktronika

In late June, King Britt and his Blacktronika experience will close out What Now: 2026 with a full week of parties. We talked with the professor and DJ about his musical roots, the world-changing Philadelphia club scene of the 1990s, and the importance of elevating Black electronic music to its proper place in history.

Here is Britt’s story, in his own words, as told to ArtPhilly... 

King Britt: I was born in 1968 and raised in Southwest Philly. My mother — Rest in Power, love her, her spirit’s here — she was a homemaker. But before that, she was a nurse and also worked on the weekends for the USO club in Fort Dix, New Jersey. And she loved music. She knew all these musicians, everyone from Duke Ellington to Dizzy Gillespie to Art Blakey. My dad, born in Florida, was in the army and stationed at Fort Dix. He met my mom and they fell in love. They both were beautiful. It was inevitable. And they moved to 56th Street, and a year later I appeared. 

My dad owned a barber shop and worked for the Navy, so my mom was with me all the time when I was small. Music, 24 hours, all day, every day. She was into jazz vocals, avant garde jazz and soul, R&B. She was friends with Sun Ra and the Arkestra. My mom would take me to all the concerts, even if they were in bars or whatever. I remember going to Sun Ra rehearsals with her, and not really enjoying the music because I was too young to comprehend, but seeing them rehearse as a unit. They were superheroes to me.

My dad? Funk. He saw James Brown in 1956 and that was it. So I had the best of both worlds as far as Black music.

I grew up in Southwest Philadelphia, but went to school downtown at the [Albert M.] Greenfield School. That school changed my life, because we had music appreciation class with Mr. Fell, and that shifted everything. There were only three or four black kids in the school at that time, and so I got exposed to Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd– the gamut of rock and classic rock. And then I started listening to WMMR and going to shows, seeing bands like The Police. 

Fast Forward to Central High — I'm 245, that's a Central thing. I graduated in 1986. My whole high school was like a John Hughes movie. And musically, I was exposed to everything. I'm working under the table at the Gallery, but also skipping class to go to Third Street jazz to get the new Depeche Mode imports, because only three or four on vinyl come in. I'm making these mixtapes for people. And so music has become kind of my equalizer — like I'm friends with the jocks, I'm friends with the nerds, I'm friends with the goth kids.

I went to Philadelphia Community College for a year, and then Temple [University]. While at Temple, I started working at Tower Records on South Street. I was the 12-inch dance buyer. So I'm in a position of power and also being able to share my knowledge with everyone. 

I grew up with Jazzy Jeff, Cash Money — all of them were friends —  but I never thought I'd be a DJ. And then I started working at Tower, and I'm starting to meet all the DJs, one being Josh Wink, and he was roommates with my best friend Blake. So everybody started to gravitate towards DJing, not only for personal parties, but for clubs. 

Revival was my first DJ job. Revival was the 1980s after-hours club. I mean, everybody would wind up there. It was a great way of networking. I did a lot of business there in the club. I had just gotten signed to Strictly Rhythm [the groundbreaking house record label and brought Josh in on the project]. I'm starting to put out music. I've been collecting keyboards and synths and drum machines and all of that since high school. 

We're starting to create the scene, and it's parallel to the music that's coming out over in Europe. We're getting all these imports of Depeche Mode and all these great records, but Chicago house, Detroit techno, all of that was coming out of the U.S., being exported over to Europe for the second Summer of Love that happened between 1988 and 1989, and then it’s coming back to us. 

I'm buying this music, and because of my position bringing these imports in, we started to create our own movement here in Philadelphia. I started in 1990 at Silk City. No one wanted to come to Northern Liberties then, but they came for my party, “Back to Basics.” There was a club called The Bank, which was owned by Stephen Starr. I played there on Fridays with my friend Blake. Then there's Revival. Then there's Black Banana. That's where Josh and my friend Dozia played. And so we're all doing our thing. The scene's growing. Me and Josh put out a record. It blew up. We went to London to play. We're starting to travel as DJs, so this was new territory. 

In 1990 into ‘91, I met Ishmael from Digable Planets. We became super close. Then when he got signed, he's like, “You gotta go on tour with us.” So I quit Tower Records and went on tour. Then, of course, that blew up. Digable won a Grammy. I played at the Grammy’s. Madonna is in the front row. 

In 1994, I came back into the scene. My party “Back to Basics” — which is part of the ArtPhilly activation — was going full force. 

*** 

So I'm fast forwarding like 25 years. In 2019, I got the offer to come teach at UC San Diego. And when I got here, I noticed that the pedagogy around the heroes and innovators of electronic music didn't really include a lot of people of color. They’re not talking about dub, house, drum and bass — all of these new genres that are rooted in Black and Latino culture. I want to start a course around that. So I created Blacktronika. The name comes from Charlie Dark, who started “Blacktronika” events at the ICA in London in 1999. Charlie and I have been friends since 1992. 

And it started with 20 students. Now it's 400 plus students. It’s one of the biggest classes in our department. I have guests every week, everyone from Herbie Hancock to Patrice Rushen to Flying Lotus. We got George Clinton — I had to call a friend — and he loved the class. And so I cover all the innovators of color and electronic music. And the logical progression from that was to start a party on campus, which is still happening, and then I started a festival. And now we've done Summer Stage Brooklyn. We did Harlem. We did L.A. We did Durham, North Carolina. We did the Big Ears Festival three years in a row. We did Paris. 

Everyone was like, “Why aren't you doing Philly?” 

But I was saving Philly. I wanted to do it right. 

ArtPhilly approached me. I didn't want to just do the normal thing that I've been doing. I wanted to pay homage to Philly and all the parties that I loved going to, but also we made the scene in Philly what it is. Every DJ that's playing now, they owe everything to these parties. And it's not even all the parties — this is just a handful that really cemented Philadelphia, on a global scale, as the place to go for music. 

ArtPhilly: It's interesting to think about this thing that was born late at night in nightclubs, bringing it to academia, and now bringing it to this art festival. Is it a way of legitimizing this music and saying it's just as important as classical or certain forms of jazz that, at this point, receive more reverence? 

KB: One hundred percent. House music in Chicago and New York started in the bedrooms, and it’s now a multi-billion dollar industry. The foundational sounds of House, Techno, all of that, started in underrepresented communities that needed safe spaces to be free and fight against oppression.

When we were all making this music, we didn't think we were creating history. I feel it's important now to document and establish that these parties were very instrumental in the advancement of not only the genres, but also Philly's place in those genres. When it comes to Black forms of electronic music, there is a void, right? And I feel that I've been chosen. It’s my responsibility — being in this great position as a tenured professor at UCSD —  to make sure that this music is platformed in a way that is on the same level as all those other sounds. 

I want to make sure that the new generation understands the vibe and importance of those times. A lot of music now is so separate. Like you'll go to one party, it's just new house. You go to another, it's just hip hop. We used to play everything. And so these parties embody that ethos. 

And I want people to leave these events understanding that, but also to have a good time. I wanted all of them to be free because this allows everyone to come — if they can get an RSVP. Imagine seeing certain heroes in a place that only holds 100 people, right? Those are stories that they'll tell their children. 

It's like a family reunion, you know. And it's the last week of the festival, so let's go out with a bang. The dance floor is a place of resistance. It is a place of protest: All like-minded people together under one banner of love and bringing unity together in our bodies. 

For more on Blacktronika: Philadelphia Then and Now at What Now: 2026, click HERE. While the pre-registration for these events is sold out, don’t despair: You can still hit the dance floor! Attendance is first come, first served. Get there early to guarantee your spot.

‍TES, PERFORMERS, and VENUES:

6/23: Tastytreats hosted by Flygirrl and Yameen Allworld w/ DJ Mike Nyce and surprise guest at Margolis 

6/24: Tribute to Dexter Wansel’s Life On Mars at Johnny Brenda’s (Britt on Wansel's passing)

‍6/25: Beat Society hosted by Hezekiah, Sao, and Stef Tataz at Johnny Brenda's 

6/26: Rockers hosted by Moor Mother at Solar Myth 

6/27: BodyRock with the Illvibe Collective at Kung Fu Necktie 

6/28: Black Lily Tribute with Tracey Moore (of JazzyFatnastees) at Silk City 

6/29: Back to Basics with King Britt and special guests at Silk City