Oscar G at Output and Jason Ojeda in The Panther Room

If you were to get out a map and track the history of house music – with endless lines sprouting from New York, Chicago and Detroit to points all over the world – you'd have to make a big, red circle around Miami, Florida, and start drawing.
Miami was never ground zero to a full-fledged subcultural movement. But it is where Oscar Gaetan, better known as Oscar G, has lived every day of his life. And that fact alone makes it a hub on the global underground.
An award-winning songwriter, producer, and DJ, Oscar is one of dance music's brightest and most enduring stars. As part of seminal production teams Liberty City, Murk, and Funky Green Dogs, he boasts hits – Billboard chart-toppers as well as underground smashes – in every decade, every trend, and every market. "Some Lovin'," "Fired Up," and "Dark Beat" are more than just tracks: They are moments, shared by clubbers worldwide. They're the kind of moments Oscar still creates at Space Miami, his hometown superclub, where he's been a resident DJ for a staggering eight years – coming full circle after a globetrotting career.
Oscar and longtime friend and production partner Ralph Falcon grew up in a Miami enlivened by the fresh spirit of hip-hop. "Break dancing, graffiti and the music that went along with it: That's really what got me into DJ-ing in the first place," he says. By the age of 12, he was already spinning at school dances.
Oscar and Ralph started working together at the end of high school, blending the sounds of their youth with the beginnings of house, like Ten City and Blaze; and the darker Euro bands of the time, like Depeche Mode and New Order. "We were always big on doing our own sound, with our own feeling and vibe in every aspect of it; from the way we mixed things to the sounds we chose," says Oscar. "I remember being obsessed with that for years, and then people started to listen."
The early years bore some of the work for which they're still best known, like often imitated, never duplicated vocals "Some Lovin'," "If You Really Love Someone," and "Reach For Me" (Tribal). Upon their release in 1993, the pair became instant superstars. "Europe kind of grabbed us," says Oscar, so they spent a good amount of time touring overseas, eventually visiting every major and minor outpost of the global dance scene, including Zouk Singapore, Ministry Of Sound London, and Stereo Montreal.
"Fired Up!" (Twisted), their biggest hit ever, followed in 1996. It topped the Billboard Dance chart, and even cracked the Top 100, peaking at No. 80. They would go on to remix countless major pop artists, from Madonna to Cher to Donna Summer; and appear on mainstream outlets like MTV and Top Of The Pops. The boys also cut two complete Funky Green Dogs albums for major label MCA, "Star" (1999) and "Super California" (2001). But their own measures of success were still decidedly underground: "Once Junior Vasquez played our records at Sound Factory [in New York], we felt like we could retire, and at that point we were like 20," says Oscar.
In March 2000, Space opened in downtown Miami with Oscar as the Saturday night resident, just as the world was paying its annual visit for Winter Music Conference. The club – with its cavernous main room, pummeling German sound system and nitrogen blasts – was the talk of dance world, and the legend of Oscar's residency began to grow.
The year 2003 was a big one. Oscar released the "Live @ Space" (Star 69) compilation, and won the Club World Award for "Best Resident DJ" (which he won again in 2007). Murk set a new Billboard Dance chart record, with five No. 1's in a single year: Four singles from their self-titled artist album on Tommy Boy Records, and "Dark Beat" (Twisted), tribal house's first real vocal anthem, which found its way from dance floors onto mainstream radio. "We came up with 'Dark Beat' in about 15 minutes. Whenever things come that quickly, you know there's something to them," says Oscar. "But we didn't think radio or anthem; we were thinking more like, 'Oh man, Danny Tenaglia's gonna be all over this!'"
In 2006, Oscar became one of Pacha New York's only non-NY-based monthly residents, strengthening his bond with his home-away-from-home, and its rich dance history. He released a second installment in the Space series in 2007, starting new relationships with Nervous Records in the U.S. and CR2 in the U.K. CR2 also snapped up the Murk catalog, and commissioned new remixes of the classic tracks, including Paul Woolford's takes on "If You Really Love Someone" and "Reach For Me." And in 2008, after nearly two decades making music, Oscar released out his first solo album, "Innov8" (Nervous).
Even though his passion for music creation is undeniable, it's in his DJ booth where Oscar feels most at home. "On the music side, I've felt pretty energized lately, because the changes in the industry really enable you to be a lot more experimental and take more chances," he says. "But DJ-ing to me always comes first: I really believe in it as an art form. Having a residency like Space, with a regular crowd, it's the ultimate."


It should come as no surprise that Jason Ojeda has emerged as "one to watch" among the next crop of young DJs vying for the coveted status of National Circuit Party DJ. Known today for his hard house beats and smooth soulful grooves, Jason grew up in a household where DJing literally was the family business. He was spinning records for his uncle's mobile DJ company on Long Island, NY at nine years old.

"I mostly did weddings and sweet sixteen’s back then," Jason explains. "My mom would drop me off and pick me up at the end of the night."

Jason landed his first local club gig and residency at 15. "I was running the party before I was even legal to drink," he laughs. After that, Jason bounced around local house music clubs on Long Island before being offered a residency at CPI's, a Hampton’s night spot regularly frequented by partying summer weekenders from New York City. The exposure from CPI's led to gigs at top New York City venues including Sound Factory, Limelight, Life, Roxy, Roseland and the prized residency: opening for Junior Vasquez's Saturday night "Earth" party at Exit.

"I'm excited about where I am now," says Jason who defines his sound behind the booth as tribal, funky, vocal and very soulful. "I've been wanting to break into the gay scene for a long time and Exit's been my key. Now I have my sights on the circuit scene. I want to be in the circuit so bad. All the records I have ever made were for the gay community in mind."

Three of Jason's remixes have charted on Billboard's Top Twenty including Abigail's "You Set Me Free" (Groovilicious Records) which hit #1.

"I actually owe my start in production to Robin S. She heard me spin one night and asked me to remix her new records, "All that I've Got" and "24 Hour Love." I accepted without hesitation, even though I didn't have a clue about producing or working in a studio! I figured I couldn't let a golden opportunity pass me by."

Luckily, Jason had some notable and experienced friends willing to help him out.

"DJ Razor hooked me up with DJ Guido who back then was producing country music out of a shack behind a house on Long Island," Jason laughs. "Together, Guido and I remixed Robin's songs and turned them into immediate club hits. Our remix of "All that I've Got" ended up being featured on the soundtrack for the movie Space Jam."

Soon after, Guido joined Razor to form the superstar DJ/production duo of Razor & Guido. Jason aligned with DJ Motomo 315 to form the production company, MindTrap. Under MindTrap, they produced a plethora of dance party remix staples including Inaya Day and Chino Ro's "Movin' Up" (Nervous Records) and Kim English's "Missing You" (Nervous Records).

After MindTrap's recent split, Jason Ojeda has found success on his own with dance floor hits "Hope Have I" by Sphinx and "Crying At The Discoteque" by Alcazar – the latter of which appears on the Queer As Folk Soundtrack (RCA Victor).

"The biggest misperception about me is that because I'm a straight DJ, I can't party with the best of them. When you're on my dance floor, you can be pretty damn sure that I'll work your body up to a frenzy and get you tweakin' in ways you never imagined possible."