Blaqwell

The soul of a dancer runs through each interlocking groove, foot-stomping bass line, and
shoulder-shaking beat Blaqwell, aka Jamel Rankins, creates. Each note is brilliantly painted
with thick layers of sultry funk and tinted by the legacy of house music history. A talent often
recognized by DJs and industry luminaries the world over. His releases on Toolroom, Brobot
Records, Simma Black, W&O Street Tracks, and more have gained support from a diverse
group of artists including Low Steppa, Kerri Chandler, Marco Corolla, Maya Jane Coles, Roger
Sanchez, Mark Knight, Frankie Rizardo, and the late great Frankie Knuckles.

His symbiotic bond with house music culture stretches back to when he ditched his high
school prom to do battle in the dance circles at the legendary New York nightclub Limelight.
He cemented his love for house on the dancefloor, as one should. And as he became further
immersed, he fell deeper in love with the subculture that accepted and nurtured the natural-born
artist that didn’t always quite fit in elsewhere. He's regularly called upon to ensure that dance floors
from Amsterdam to Miami are properly laced and bumpin’ with his trademark grooves. Each time he
steps behind the decks, he does so intending to communicate his ethos to the dance floor through
music. He says, “I think there's a magnetism between the disenfranchised, the unaccepted, and those
who have not found their way yet. And this is the vibe that house music was born of.”