A selection byThe Waxonia Desk
Juke and Footwork
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.
- Picks
- 5
- Genre
- Juke and Footwork
- Years
- 1997–2013
- Curator
- The Waxonia Desk
- Updated
- 2026-08-29
Listen to the whole list
Play it through here →One record after another, with the verdicts
Take 4 of 5 to YouTube → (opens in a new tab)
Opens the list on YouTube as a playlist you can save to your own account. We never see your account, and nothing is stored here. 1 of these records have no verified YouTube link yet, so they are left out rather than guessed at.
The picks — selected, not ranked
DJ Nate / Hatas Our Motivation
2010 · Planet Mu
The first footwork signing a foreign label made, found by following YouTube uploads back to a contact address. The distance between hearing this music and being able to release it was the whole problem.
Also on Juke and Footwork
RP Boo / Baby Come On
1997 · Dance Mania
The record usually named as the first of its kind, thirteen years older than the compilations that made the genre legible abroad. A scene is always much older than its export edition.
Also on Juke and Footwork, The Waxonia Desk — 160
Traxman / Footworkin on Air
2012 · Planet Mu
The crate-digger's answer to the accusation that footwork is only rhythm. This is the record you put on for somebody who has decided the genre has no melody in it.
Also on Juke and Footwork
DJ Rashad / Feelin
2013 · Hyperdub
The one that went furthest, and it went out on somebody else's label. Opening a door and then watching other people walk through it is the standard fate of a scene's first champion.
Also on Juke and Footwork, The Waxonia Desk — 160, The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts, The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred
Jlin / Erotic Heat
2011 · Planet Mu
Footwork with the samples taken out and the battle taken out, by somebody who never made tracks for dancers. Whether it is still footwork is a fair question, and the answer is probably no.
Also on Juke and Footwork
About the curator
The people who write the rankings on this site. We keep the lists honest, we argue about the order, and we get asked the same question more than any other: where should someone actually start. These are our answers.