Today we’d like to introduce you to Henson Christian better known as Fwea-Go Jit.
Hi Fwea-Go, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
At the age of 5, my parents had the bright idea of buying a keyboard and enrolling me in music lessons. Between the ages of 5-8, my Saturdays were dedicated to learning the art of music. I would have an hour piano session and my mom would have an hour long guitar session. By the age of 7, I picked up the guitar and was now dedicating the first hour session to piano and the second to guitar. My music teacher at Sabal Palm Elementary, Mr. Cox, seen a brilliance in me that could’ve easily gone overlooked and insisted I learn to play the trumpet. By the age of 8 I was able to fluently play the piano, guitar, trumpet, recorder and glockenspiel.
With my transition to JFK Middle School and the removal of the band program the year I entered along with most of my time being dedicated to baseball, my instrumental inclination took a drastic fall. Although I wasn’t actively playing instruments anymore, my musical mindset was ever-growing. Between attending summer camp at Uleta Park, Allen Park, and Victory Park, listening to 99 Jamz, Power 96, 103.5 The Beat, 101.5 Lite FM, Hot 105 and 88.7 Blaze FM, as well as being a descendant of West Indian (Dominica) parents who mainly had soca, dancehall, and reggae music playing in the house, my musical palate became well-versed.
That’s just the intro, now let’s get into what you really want to know.
When I was younger I would listen to the radio mixes and hear a song I liked, but most of the time, the part I truly enjoyed was always at the end and never got played. I used to also crave to hear the underground songs that were never played in the regular radio rotation. I used to wonder how DJs even mixed music the way they did and why they would never play the best parts. It was this curiosity that sparked my DJ mindset. The first song that introduced me to the Miami underground music world was Beam Ahh by DJ Chipman. I first heard this song in NMB’s City Hall Auditorium and the synergy of the surround sound speakers and the auric sound of the overall production illuminated a light in me that has yet to go out. Watching the other kids bop and jook to the song invigorated a high vibrational energy within me, it was truly enlightening and I couldn’t understand why at the time.
During my 7th grade year, I heard one of my dawgs singing “The way I do my dance, you can tell that I’m on it” and he just went to cuttin’ up! This was the first time I ever heard of the artist by the name of Jay R. His songs: “I’m On It”, “Kill It”, and “Watch Me Jook” had JFK in a chokehold; everybody had Jay R’s music on repeat and as a ringtone. He made feel good music that made you feel like nobody could dance better than you, but because of this you’d have a wave of jits battling each other. At that time, Jay R’s music was only accessible on JamGlue. (For those who missed out on the JamGlue experience, it was basically a site where you could upload music, create your own mixes, download ringtones, etc. It was way ahead of its time as it was the main source for all your underground needs but stopped servicing after 2009. If SoundCloud and Pro Tools had a baby, you’d have JamGlue.) One day I was roaming around the back of the school listening to “I’m On It” in my headphones but singing the lyrics to “Kill It” out loud and was like “damn I wonder how these two songs would sound together if they were actually mixed!”; this thought process changed the whole trajectory of my life. I went home from school everyday to see what new underground songs got uploaded to participate in a trial and error process of making a sonically pleasing mix.
One day I was vibin’ in the spillout with some of the homies and we had a bright idea to create a dance group by the name of 5.3.2 Live Ent. Boyz. One of my dawgs in the group put me on to the software called Virtual DJ where you literally had full control of DJing without the need of any physical hardware. I went home, got acquainted with the software and on January 10, 2010, Fwea-Go Jit was born. The name stemmed from the slang used in school. Fwea or fweago meant something or someone that was cool, it’s also a play on the Spanish term “fuego” meaning fire. Jit is Miami’s equivalent to NY’s “son”, a term used to refer to someone. The term “Jit” can also carry a connotation referring to being short or younger in age. So being that I was that kid who was usually top of my class in scholastics but also lit/cultured enough to vibe with some the popular kids of the school and being able to maintain a balance between the two, Fwea-Go Jit was the moniker that stuck and I haven’t looked back since.
Right before my transition from JFK Middle to NMB High, I was introduced to MySpace. I noticed that MySpace allowed for music to be added to your profile page so whenever someone visited your profile, they’d hear your delegated songs. This sparked the idea of “I wonder how I’d be able to get my own music on MySpace”. It wasn’t long before I learned there were regular MySpace pages and MySpace music pages that were strictly for uploading a catalog of up to a 10 song max. Me creating a music page on MySpace was my first form of self promotion for the discovery of my music. I was generating tens of thousands of plays from the mixes I had uploaded, but due to the 10 song max and me not wanting to lose my accrued insights, I ended up running a second back up music page.
Within a year of me getting accustomed to running my MySpace pages, there was a great migration from MySpace to Facebook so I was forced to switch up my strategy. By this time, I was beginning to get into YouTube and had just learned how to create movie/video files. Back then, my strategy was to create a post asking my friends on Facebook to like my post if they’d want to be featured in a slideshow, from there I would DM each person that liked my post and ask them to send me the picture of their choosing that they wanted me to use for the slideshow. I would load up all the pictures onto Windows Movie Maker and add whatever mix I was looking to promote at the time. At that point, I’d render the file, upload it to YouTube, post the link to the video on Facebook and then tag everyone whose picture was featured in the slideshow. This promo strategy skyrocketed my fanbase as it gave my supporters a sense of importance/recognition while also providing me with free promo as they shared the links to their circles of influence. Along with the slideshow videos, my entertainment group and I would skip out on our lunch breaks to record dance videos to my latest mixes. We’d rotate holding the phone that was used for the recording and all take turns jumping in front of the camera to cut up. I would take those video recordings, edit them to fit the mix and upload them on YouTube. This became such a second nature process that we generated over 200,000 total views at that time.
Another pivotal moment in my musical journey was when I was stopped on the way to one of my classes by my homeboy Errol. I was running late to my class and was already threatened with a detention if I showed up late again, but Errol insisted that I listened to the song he had playing in his headphones. I took 2min out of my life to listen to what was DJ Jayhood’s Heartbroken Mix. This was my first ever encounter with Jersey Club Music and it changed my life forever. The BPM, placements of the samples used/chopped and the vibrant energy of the overall production had me in a trance. From that day on, I became an archivist of Jersey Club Music.
After my 10th grade year I unwillingly transferred to School for Advanced Studies, a dual enrollment school, meaning I left behind the momentum I generated at NMB but that didn’t stop me from continuing to grow my musical IQ. During my school bus rides on the way to and from school, I would go through an endless rabbit hole of mixes on SoundCloud. I was so inspired by the flawlessness in these Jersey Club producer’s mixes and the frequency of how often they were releasing their projects. At the time I was only aware of Virtual DJ (a DJing software) prior to finding out these producers were using ACID Pro and FL Studio (production software). As much as I tried, my mixes never came out flawless like those producers and I couldn’t understand why at the time, but my determination to get it done with the software I had turned me into a better DJ in the long run. While becoming acquainted with Jersey Club music, I was still tapped in with the Miami underground sound from artists/DJs/producers including: Major Nine, Rippa, DJ Ghost, Sam Sneak, Ball Greezy, ToeDoe, Rhymer, PATeezy, Jay R, C.O.A. Babii, DJ Chipman, Ice Berg, Lil Dred, Mike Smiff, Jimmy Dade, Reesehead, Snappy Jit, Piccalo, Jube, GrindMode, etc. just to name a few of the many influential puzzle pieces to my musical mental construct.
During this time I was getting booked to DJ around South FL and was one of the founding members of a dance group by the name of Aint No Chill Ent. Whenever I got booked for an event, I made sure to provide an experience; that meant inviting the whole team to come turn up any and every event I was booked for. Between the song selections and the entertainment provided by the group, the experience was unmatched.
Transitioning to FAMU, during my freshman year I came up with the idea of creating a Miami styled line dance. Once I solidified the order of the moves, I taught it to my Aint No Chill Ent family. We didn’t have a song for the routine at the time so we did it to whatever song came on. There was one song in particular that caught great traction causing the Miami Slide dance to go viral, that being “Change Positions” by Mike The Producer out of Jersey. With the assistance of DJ Schreach being able to secure a beat for us to create vocals on in addition to the magic of Mike The Producer and DJ Telly Tellz collaborating on that original beat, the official Miami Slide beat you hear today was made. During that Spring break of 2015, Me, Schreach, and DJ Ghost (R.I.P.) decided that we would set up a studio session and all record vocals over the track. Unfortunately DJ Ghost was occupied at the time so Schreach and I went in to our first ever studio session not knowing what to expect. At the time, we’d never recorded anything before and never realized how quick an hour could fly by. We spent the first 45min listening to the song trying to see how we would approach it. Three takes and 10-15min later, Miami Slide was recorded as we were being rushed out of the session. I would’ve never imagined it to reach over 1,000,000 streams worldwide & become the national anthem it is today. (Major shout out to DJ Jam and DJ Loosekid for breaking the record at every event.)
Right before graduating from FAMU, I came across the work of a guy by the name of Tre Oh Fie. His productions reminded me so much of what the Jersey Club producers were making as far as energy and cleanliness, but his work was different; it had that Miami/island flavor to it. Tre Oh Fie inspired me to learn music production as he created that nostalgic sound I didn’t even know I was looking for. 2017 became the year I decided to lock in and teach myself how to create my own productions from scratch, it’s been up ever since. After a long and much needed studio session link up, SoFloJook was founded by Me, Tre Oh Fie, DJ Schreach, ShesCreamsMiren, and DJJam305. We became a mastermind behind the Miami version of what Jersey Club was to us. We became the front runners influencing a whole dance culture with our gifts of production and collaboration.
As of December 2023, the genre of SoFloJook has generated over 25,000,000 streams across multiple platforms, featured on Fortnite, Google, Netflix and is becoming one of the top emerging genres internationally across the world.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think any journey worth living is ever smooth. Being a descendent of Caribbean parents, it was always difficult to go all in on this music route due to their preconceived notions, diminishing the validity and seriousness of this career path. They always had pure intentions and wanted the best for me when it came to what I chose to do for a living, but at the same time they couldn’t understand the vision of success I had in my head. It was always a battle between trying to please them by going to school for a subject/career path that I could care less for and pleasing myself by betting on myself, my abilities, and my manifestations. It was always hard to make decisions for myself when I had parents with the “my way or the highway” mindset. Despite their misunderstanding, they’re still loved deeply.
Being in a relationship where I wasn’t equally yoked with my partner at the time was one of my greatest struggles. I lost a lot of my vibrance and vitality throughout those years of misaligned equilibrium. When things were good, they were great, but when it was bad, it was destructive in many ways. I fought an excruciating battle of silent depression but God and music were my saviors.
Another struggle I’ve dealt with and still try to break out of is the fact that I’m an introvert. My social battery depletes at an exponential rate. I love to be behind the scenes and out the way while still remaining as optimally impactful as possible. Sometimes that can be unavoidable but more often than not, I’m to self. Closed mouths don’t get fed and I can admit that I starve myself (figuratively) at times because of that. I tend to be a perfectionist and hate to have blemishes in anything I do but that has also caused me to miss opportunities that had my name on it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
On the generic end, I’m a music producer/DJ/ remixer but I like to refer to myself as a musical surgeon. I specialize in remixing songs by reverse engineering them and turning them into upbeat dance tracks. To some, I’m most known as a lit DJ, to others I’m most known as Mr. Miami Slide. To most, I’m most known for my genuine personality, motivational guidance, intellectual mindset, and ability to connect like minded individuals. I’m really an unsung hero.
I’d say I’m most proud of the fact that I went against the grain and chose a path that is truly fulfilling to me; if money didn’t exist, this is the path I would’ve chosen. My parents always emphasized the fact that they wanted me to find a career path that I can work in for a lifetime. I’ve invested in myself to the point where I’m self sufficient in what I do. I taught myself how to produce but invested in courses, books, and an audio engineering school (SAE) to enhance the preliminary knowledge I gained. I’ve invested in software and equipment to where I don’t have to leave the comfort of my personal space to create my art while still being mobile enough to travel anywhere and still be able to work. I’m proud of me for graduating college with my A.A. before my high school diploma while graduating high school with a 5.397 GPA. I’m proud of me for graduating from the best HBCU (Florida A&M University) as a magna cum laude graduate within 3 years. I’m proud of me for connecting and collaborating with some of the local artists/producers in my city. I’m proud of me for creating such an extensive catalog of music that brings joy and exuberance to the neurons of those that take the time to listen. I’m proud of me for showing up for me. I’m proud of me for leaning on and believing in God despite the trials and tribulations I face. I’m proud of me for planting the seeds of intellect and creativity allowing me to bear the fruits of the lifestyle I’ve paved for myself.
One of my favorite quotes I wrote down a few years back is:
“Life is an ongoing transcript that you can’t backspace but can only add on to, with not your words, but your actions.”
Operating on this principle along with the succession of my accolades is what sets me apart from anyone else.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting?
My advice for any one who’s interested in being a music producer is to be an archivist. Organize your files thoroughly and have back ups on back ups because you will lose files! I do recommend learning how to DJ because the song combinations I used to put together is what sparked so many ideas I’m able to remake today. Find your niche. I grew up listening to Soca, Miami Jook, and Jersey Club music. I’ve always been on the upbeat/GVO end of the music spectrum. Find your tribe. YOU CAN’T DO THIS ALONE! Don’t force relationships, the most authentic ones gravitate naturally. Lock in with a few people who you resonate with most and grow with them (shout out to my SoFloJook team and OmgAddy). Always be a student, seek mentors if necessary. The moment you feel like you know it all or feel like you’re on top is the very moment you begin to pave the way for your disintegration. Don’t aim for perfection, aim for progression. Find your Ikigai. Breaks are necessary, don’t overwork yourself and lose the passion for what’s supposed to bring you peace and prosperity. Give people their flowers. The vibrational energy you sow into the world is what’s going to mirror back in your life tenfold. Understand that we are all souls operating this exterior human shell of a body. You gotta remember that you are not a reflection of your circumstances, your life can change in the blink of an eye. You have a talent that somebody will appreciate so keep doing your thing. Allow the presence of your energy to never be forgotten. Procrastination is expensive! Take time to understand your vision and goals, plant seeds and water your environment. Learn how to play chess. Always know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Be the change you want to see in the world and match the energy of the blessings you wish to receive. All the rules are fake, live your life. Don’t forget to celebrate your wins. Life is an ongoing transcript that you can’t backspace but can only add on to, with not your words, but your actions and you need to do what you gotta do to get to where you wanna go to be who you wanna be.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fwea.go.jit/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FweaGoJit
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/fwea-go-jit
- Website: https://linktr.ee/fweagojit
