Music
Moodymann
· house producer, DJ, label owner
Detroit's most defiantly local house producer, whose soulful, sample-rich records and Soul Skate parties celebrate the city's Black music culture.
- Birth name
- Kenny Dixon Jr.
- Also known as
- KDJ · Mr. House
- Detroit years
- infancy–present
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Kenny Dixon Jr. was born in Los Angeles, but his Detroit-born mother brought him home when he was three weeks old. He grew up in the city's roller rinks, dancing to Kraftwerk's “Trans-Europe Express” and assuming for years that the group were Black men from Detroit. As a young man he sold hip-hop beats to local rappers and DJed house parties as Mr. House; he later DJed with Sherard Ingram (DJ Stingray) and held a residency in the mid-1990s at the Outcast Motorcycle Club, while working in record stores, including one owned by Blake Baxter. Coworkers turned his childhood nickname into Moodymann. His 1997 debut Silentintroduction on Carl Craig's Planet E became a deep-house landmark, and he founded the labels KDJ and Mahogani Music. With Theo Parrish, Rick Wilhite and Marcellus Pittman he formed 3 Chairs. Since 2007 he has hosted Soul Skate, a Memorial Day roller-skating party in Detroit.
Highlights
- Debut album Silentintroduction (Planet E, 1997).
- Founder of the KDJ and Mahogani Music labels.
- Member of the Detroit house supergroup 3 Chairs (from 1997).
- Has hosted the Soul Skate Memorial Day party since 2007.