Dj Shaun-d - From Bubbling To Dutch House (2025)

Bubbling, the influential Afro-diasporic sound that emerged in Den Haag in the 1990s as a hi-NRG answer to dancehall, may have hit its peak early when it quickly spiraled into moombahton and EDM, but it never completely disappeared. A decade later, the movement grew new legs, integrating dancefloor-friendly 4/4 rhythms and reestablishing itself in a vivid, internationally-minded club landscape (think Chuckie's 'Dirty Dutch' series, Hardwell's 'Eclectic Beatz' or Vato Gonzales' 'Dirty House') - bubbling house was born. Spurred on by bubbling anthems provided by veteran producers like Naffie, DJ Chippie and DJ Chuckie, a new generation of teenage beatmakers were determined to put their own signature on the sound, but it was DJ Shaun D who almost single-handedly shuttled bubbling house into the spotlight. Unlike many of his peers, who were content with churning out crowd-pleasing remixes, Shaun D engineered original bubbling house productions that kept an eye on the future, peppering his tracks with elements gleaned from hip-hop, Baltimore club and techno.

His stand-out hit 'Pull Up', which netted an eye-watering one million plays on now defunct Dutch social networking site Hyves, sounds like an Afro-Dutch answer to Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz' 'Get Low' and Debonair Samir's energetic 'Samir's Theme', while maintaining its connection to early Dutch house, like Funkin Matt's squelchy edit of Gregor Salto's 'Bouncing Harbour'. And this was music that lived and died in the moment, spread via word-of-mouth and using early file-sharing technology such as MSN Messenger and Limewire. The central node for bubbling house was PP2G, a self-styled "urban community website" that worked as a DJ guide, posted club dates and linked to music, something like a cross between MySpace and HipHopDX, and Shaun D's output soon had listeners from across the Netherlands flocking to Rotterdam to catch the monthly Bubbling Beats sessions at Hollywood Music Hall.

'From Bubbling to Dutch House' maps out Shaun D's story so far, starting at the very beginning of his career with vital early productions like 'Danger', 'Magic Stick' and 'XXX Machine', made using free tracker software and released under the Young Thug Records Moniker. Then, of course, there's 'Pull Up' and 'Boeke', a bubbling house holy grail that was inspired by Surinam legends Aptijt and features his younger on guest vocals; these were the two tracks that propelled Shaun D to the upper tier of the Dutch underground, alongside his B2B partner DJ Master D. And we get a look into the future with brand new tracks 'Outta Control' and 'Ultra Instinct', that show the genre has never stopped evolving. It's the first time this music has been available officially, and with the bubbling revival in full swing thanks to artists like De Schuurman (who cites DJ Shaun-D as one of his key influences), there's never been a better moment to rediscover the roots of bubbling house. 100% schuren guaranteed!