Review: A Chaotic Dance Party For One – Jaboukie Young-White’s ‘Djaboukie 1.1.21’ Mixtape

By Greg P.

As a result of the pandemic, many people were forced to self-isolate in their homes and find new hobbies to occupy their time. Whether you learned how to make sourdough bread, read books, do puzzles, or perform sleight of hand magic, picking up a new hobby during quarantine was absolutely essential to staying sane during these difficult times. 

Of course, with learning a new skill, sharing and posting about it is almost always guaranteed to follow. There’s one person that has been sharing quite a bit during their time in this pandemic, and that person is Jaboukie Young-White. 

Actor, writer, and comedian Jaboukie Young-White is a name that you should know if you are at all in tune to the digital world. With almost 900,000 followers on Twitter, being a correspondent on The Daily Show, landing guest roles on Bojack Horseman, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and HBO’s Crashing, Jaboukie is slowly but surely becoming a household name popping up everywhere.

To raise the stakes of risk taking during the pandemic, Jaboukie has been dipping his feet into the world of music by writing and producing his own songs, as well as curating a music playlist entitled “Djaboukie 1.1.21.” 

On New Year’s Day, Jaboukie tweeted out a Beloved link to a mega-mix of club bangers, booty-clapping anthems, and chaotically fun jams ranging from Cardi B, Arca, Nelly, and even an unreleased track by Jaboukie himself. The mix begins with a smooth, slow jam to provide the listener time to catch their breath before entering a nonstop dance mix for the remaining 30 minutes. 

Follow Jaboukie On Twitter

“In Da Club Before Eleven O’Clock” by DJ Rashad kicks off the party at full speed, taking off at a million miles per hour. Luckily, the next track transitions right into Ciara’s “Get Up” with the DJ Rashad instrumental still lingering. From here, the listener is essentially committed and there’s no slowing down. The BPM stays at a consistent 300 (allegedly), allowing whoever happened to stumble upon the link to release all that pent up angst and aggression that they have been holding in since last March to evaporate into the air. 

The mix holds a consistent electro dance beat making it essentially impossible to not bob your head. Of course, just as any great DJ does, once you start to get comfortable in the music, the vibe changes entirely. Megan Thee Stallion’s “Circles” dominos into a block of grimey, female rappers including Flo Milli and Nicki Minaj, and then smoothly transitions into “I’m a Slave 4 U” by Britney Spears. 

If anything amazes about this mix, it’s how coherent each transition is and how each song fits perfectly within the context of the project as a whole. Somehow, we are at Nelly’s “Flap Your Wings,” an absolute classic Pharell production. We don’t stay here too long as the beat immediately drops and we are now in the middle of Champion & Mina’s future pop banger “XYLA.” Listening to this section of the mix alone in your bedroom feels detrimental — thinking about how going to clubs used to be a thing and envisioning a future where that will ever happen again seems a tad unrealistic. 

As the last half go the mix rounds out, it’s evidently clear there is no time to take a water break as Djaboukie throws us some Arca and Kid Cudi back to back. Kari Faux and Ms. Tee & Magnolia Shorty obviously make an appearance towards the end of the mix because it would be a sin not to include them. 

Listen To The Mix

One noteworthy moment on the mix occurs exactly at the 26-minute mark where Jaboukie adds his very own banger, “26.” On the track, he spits incredibly witty and aggressive bars like “26 but my gun 27.” It’s a nice addition to the mix and only a taste of what Jaboukie has in store for the music world. 

It’s almost impossible to put into words how euphoric-inducing the tail-end of the mix feels.  Overall, this mix is so much fun and a nice bit of distraction from all the tragedy happening in the world. Jaboukie’s chaotic online persona blends effortlessly into the song choices and vibe of the Djaboukie mix, which his fans hope to be the first of many more to come. 

To experience the mix yourself, listen to “Djaboukie 1.1.21” here.

About The MouthSoap Staff 2164 Articles
Betty Bema is the creator of The MouthSoap and Pabulum Entertainment. She produces digital shows Thinking Out Loud and TV, Film & Foolishness, while also managing editorials for TheMouthSoap.com.