For DJs—and other music nerds—music is a never-ending
quest for the Holy Grail. No matter how large our music collections
grow, there’s always the nagging sensation that the quintessential
track, the musical unifying theory, is just around the corner. So we
keep digging, caught up in a quixotic adventure for completion. DJ
Sujinho’s quest has taken him from the clubs of New York to the favelas
of Brazil, whose baile funk brings him closer to his own nirvana.
For Sujinho (born Kienyo Timothy Coleman), baile funk is the latest
stop in a musical hunt started over 15 years ago. After over a decade
of producing, DJing, and playing bass guitar, Sujinho was turned onto
baile funk by his friend and later tag-team partner Cassiano, whose
brother would come home to New York with mixtapes from São
Paolo, Brazil, and share them with the pair. They latched on to the
sound, releasing mixtapes and promoting parties as Nossa. Soon, the duo
adopted the role of musical ambassadors for baile funk, helping to
bring the urban music north of the equator.
“It’s ugly, scary, fast, and super fun all at once,” Sujinho says in
a hurried phone conversation. “No one knows what it is, so you can
express yourself completely.”
Brazil’s sprawling shantytowns house the poorest residents, split
into territories by various violent drug gangs. Since the 1980s, the
bailes (literally “balls,” as in dance parties) have drawn thousands,
dancing first to imported American music, and later funk, the hybrid of
electro and Miami bass that congealed into its own form of
hypersexualized booty music, inspiring marathons of sweaty,
near-pornographic dancing. It’s only in the last few years that this
“baile funk” has made its way out of Brazil and into the crates of
American DJs.
Combining baile funk with American dance music, Sujinho amplifies
its mongrel nature, stretching the boundaries of what people expect
from the music. He’s willing to complement his Brazilian selections
with hiphop, Baltimore club, and ghettotech in a process he describes
as “culture smashing.” The result maintains the baile vibe and enhances
it with American flavor, turning baile funk into baile crunk. Sujinho
fully embraces that freedom, and it shows in his own output. “It’s a
little New York, a little São Paolo,” he says. “It’s just that
urban electronic sound.”
After spending the last two years largely in the NYC club scene,
Sujinho plans to spend much of the next year on tour across the U.S.
and abroad. More than just an occasion for partying, travel is, he
believes, an opportunity to find new collaborators and new sounds to
plunder. His latest output, an edit of Mike Jones’s “My 64,” leaves
most traces the baile funk behind, adopting a more Baltimore club vibe.
The departure is just a natural progression.
“My influences have started pushing my sound light years ahead,”
Sujinho says. “Once you start to label it too much that starts to
dominate the sound and that fucks up the music. I’m just looking for
the perfect sound.” 
DJ Sujinho plays Nectar Lounge (412 N 36th St) on Sat Sept 1, 9
pm–2 am, $7, 21+. KRNL PANIC (aka Rama) and Recess open.
donté@thestranger.com