Genre research project 29/1359: Ghetto House

Machinedrum - "Sacred Frequency" (Room(s))

By the mid-to-late 1980s, House music was an established and distinct style in Chicago. However, the house sound of names like Frankie Knuckles was played in the northern side of the city, the upscale clubs. In other parts of Chicago (most notably the slums - the ghettos - in the south and the west), a different style of house developed, seen as rougher and more suited to its locale. These tracks were often call-and-response chanted vocals (with heavy use of looped vocal samples), riddled with local slang and references, on top of 4x4 bass lines and uncomplicated drum patterns, usually at 140bpm.

This style, ghetto house, was almost exclusively released on one of the local house labels; Dance Mania, founded just before the ghetto house sound began to emerge. Dance Mania released many classic tracks by ghetto house pioneers, like DJ Deeon, DJ Funk, DJ Milton, and Jammin' Gerald, throughout the nineties.

Genres influenced by ghetto house include the Detroit equivalent, Ghettotech, the combination of Electro with ghetto house. Back in Chicago, the rising tempos of ghetto house led to a new sound, very much in the style of ghetto house but with highly unusual syncopation and a distinctive production sound; Juke.

[I dunno, man. That description doesn't sound like this album which is classified as ghetto house. Maybe this is the Juke sub-genre? Who knows.]