Microgenre Moment: Florida Breaks

Ever wanted to throw down some obscure music knowledge to impress friends and strangers alike?  In Microgenre Moment I try my best pass along some basic Wikipedia overviews and links to relevant videos to get you up to speed on a specific sub-sub-genre of music.  I guarantee these posts will grant you the intellectual high ground in your next music-centered conversation.

"Florida breaks, also referred to as Florida breakbeat, is a genre of breakbeat music which, as the name suggests, is most popular in the areas around the US state of Florida but is recognized as a unique sound around the world. Florida breaks became popular in the club culture of the southeast United States during the mid and late 90s. Its sound at that time was described as 'funky' and often included recognizable samples from 80s pop, funk, and hip hop. Its current sound has a lot in common with nu skool breaks although it is also influenced by other music popular in the same area such as freestyle, electro and Miami bass. Its largest influence was in the clubs of Tampa as the more popular DJs in this genre hail from that city. More recently, Floridians have taken to calling the genre electro breaks despite the lack of electro characteristics included in the tracks, but this is most likely due to the parallel electronic dance music sub-genre of electro bass being billed at many of the same events as Florida breaks."

"While Kimball Collins and Dave Cannalte were promoting the sounds of progressive house and trance at the legendary Ahzz, DJ Stylus & D-Xtreme are considered the pioneers since it is they who inspired and introduced countless patrons of the Abyss to the genre of Breakbeat. Brad Smith and Huda Hudia were regular guest DJ's at the Abyss as they too were promoting and playing breakbeat at residencies in Tampa. The first production in Florida Breaks can be attributed to DJ Icee or now known as DJ Icey. His numerous labels and countless releases served as the pioneering sound of Florida Breaks, and he was the first to put Florida Breaks on the map globally. Later successful productions were followed by Brad Smith, Huda Hudia, & Dave London out of Tampa. It was the efforts of these first 6 artists that paved the way for other artists, who in their own right, successfully followed."