# The 8 Best Juke and Footwork Tracks of All Time Chicago house accelerated past the point of comfort and handed to dancers. Ghetto house became juke became footwork: 160 BPM, chopped vocal fragments, and triplet kick patterns written to answer a dancer's feet in real time. - **Origin:** Chicago, Illinois, 1992 - **Tempo:** 150–165 BPM - **Also known as:** footwork, juke, chicago juke, ghetto house - **Tracks:** 8 - **Updated:** 2026-08-29 - **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/ ## Curators on Juke and Footwork - [The Waxonia Desk](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/): 5 picks. Five records tracing how Chicago's footwork reached a listening audience that had never seen the dancing — mostly through a British label that spent a decade putting it in front of everybody else. ## The list ### 1. [Cajmere](https://waxonia.com/artist/cajmere/) — [Percolator](https://waxonia.com/track/cajmere--percolator/) *1992 · Cajual* One bleeping figure, endlessly repeated, that became a genre's shared vocabulary. Thirty years of Chicago records quote it, and a whole category of track is still named after it. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Cajmere%20Percolator) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=BYAZ-lq_KLg) ### 2. [DJ Deeon](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-deeon/) — [Freak Like Me](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-deeon--freak-like-me/) *1994 · Dance Mania* Ghetto house at its most reduced: a drum pattern, a bassline and a chant. Deeon made records that cost nothing and worked on any system, which is why they travelled so far from Chicago. Also on: [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/), [Miami](https://waxonia.com/theme/miami/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Deeon%20Freak%20Like%20Me) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PIpWP5gcPCw) ### 3. [DJ Funk](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-funk/) — [Run](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-funk--run/) *1995 · Dance Mania* The Dance Mania house style, taken at a pace that leaves no room for subtlety. Crude by design and enormously influential on everyone from Daft Punk to the entire French filter-house scene. Also on: [Miami](https://waxonia.com/theme/miami/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Funk%20Run) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4I4A1ixsMYQ) ### 4. [RP Boo](https://waxonia.com/artist/rp-boo/) — [Baby Come On](https://waxonia.com/track/rp-boo--baby-come-on/) *1997 · Dance Mania* A white label built on an Ol' Dirty Bastard sample, and usually named as the first footwork track: the moment the beat stops being four-to-the-floor and starts answering a dancer instead. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — 160](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/), [The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/RP%20Boo%20Baby%20Come%20On) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=L17sHYmwTWY) ### 5. [DJ Rashad](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rashad/) — [Feelin](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rashad--feelin/) *2013 · Hyperdub* Rashad's gift was making the style hospitable without slowing it down — soul samples and drum-and-bass warmth over patterns that still refuse to resolve. The record that took footwork worldwide. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — 160](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/), [The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rashad%20Feelin) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MC5zj4eLM3k) ### 6. [Traxman](https://waxonia.com/artist/traxman/) — [Footworkin on Air](https://waxonia.com/track/traxman--footworkin-on-air/) *2012 · Planet Mu* A Chicago veteran demonstrating how much melody the format can carry. Traxman's crate-digging is the counter-argument to the idea that footwork is only rhythm and shouting. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Traxman%20Footworkin%20on%20Air) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=LnunCPpdNzQ) ### 7. [DJ Nate](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-nate/) — [Hatas Our Motivation](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-nate--hatas-our-motivation/) *2010 · Planet Mu* Made on a phone-era budget and released to an audience that had no context for it. The strangest record on this list, and the one that convinced Europe something genuinely new was happening. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Nate%20Hatas%20Our%20Motivation) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hMWOlHaDs-I) ### 8. [Jlin](https://waxonia.com/artist/jlin/) — [Erotic Heat](https://waxonia.com/track/jlin--erotic-heat/) *2011 · Planet Mu* Footwork detached from the dance entirely, by a producer from Gary who never made tracks for battles. Two singles on a compilation before any album: all the rhythmic complexity, none of the samples, and a completely personal result. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Jlin%20Erotic%20Heat) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Jlin%20Erotic%20Heat) --- Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.