Jus-Ed

Jus-Ed, born Edward McKeithen, has never let anyone forget where he's from. "I'm not from New York, I'm from Bridgeport, Connecticut," he has said in interview after interview, and that insistence matters more than it might sound: through Underground Quality, the label and party concept he built from that unglamorous base, he became one of the most direct links between New York's deep house underground and the artists who would go on to define house and techno's next generation, Nina Kraviz among them.

Drums, Decks and a Hard Reset

McKeithen's musical life started early. He began playing drums as a child alongside his grandparents in a touring jazz band, and he was DJing professionally by the early 1980s, working clubs in New York City and his native Connecticut. Multiple interviews describe a hiatus that followed, tied to personal and legal troubles, before he returned to DJing around the turn of the millennium and began rebuilding the career that had stalled. It's a rougher, more honest arc than the clean rise-and-rise story most artist bios settle for, and Jus-Ed has generally told it himself rather than let it be softened.

Underground Quality

That comeback took real shape in 2001, when Jus-Ed and fellow DJ Vic Money started throwing parties under the Underground Quality name, meeting and recruiting musicians partly through Brooklyn's Halcyon record shop. The party grew into a record label a few years later, built around a rawer, less polished strain of house built on simple, heartfelt arrangements and vocals rather than studio polish. Underground Quality's first wave of artists, Jus-Ed included, was small and tight-knit: Levon Vincent, Fred P, DJ Qu and Anton Zap all came through the label in its early years, and the roster's importance to New York house's mid-2000s revival is hard to overstate.

The clearest single example of what Underground Quality did for a career is Nina Kraviz. Jus-Ed put out her debut solo release, "Voices," on the label, giving her a first real foothold outside Russia before Rekids and her own imprints made her a global name. We've written about that turning point in her career in more detail elsewhere, but the short version is that it started with Jus-Ed hearing her demos and deciding to release them.

Residencies and Home Life

Jus-Ed has held long-running residencies at Diesel Lounge in New Haven, Connecticut, and at Halcyon in Brooklyn, the same shop that helped seed Underground Quality's early roster. He is married to Jenifa Mayanja, herself a DJ and musician, and by his own account has balanced a career built on constant travel with a genuinely rooted, family-oriented life back in Connecticut.

Live at RTS.FM

Jus-Ed's set in RTS.FM's archive was recorded at the channel's Moscow studio in April 2009, days after Anton Kubikov's own Moscow session and squarely inside the year our own archive data shows outperforms everything else in RTS.FM's catalog, by a wide margin.

FAQ

Who is Jus-Ed?

Jus-Ed, born Edward McKeithen, is a house DJ and producer from Bridgeport, Connecticut, best known as the founder of the Underground Quality label and party.

What is Underground Quality?

Underground Quality is the party and record label Jus-Ed started with DJ Vic Money in 2001, built around a raw, vocal-driven strain of New York house music, with a label roster that included Levon Vincent, Fred P, DJ Qu and Nina Kraviz in its early years.

What is Jus-Ed's connection to Nina Kraviz?

Jus-Ed released Nina Kraviz's debut solo track, "Voices," on Underground Quality, giving her an early platform before she became one of techno's biggest names.

Where does Jus-Ed hold residencies?

He has long-running residencies at Diesel Lounge in New Haven, Connecticut, and at Halcyon in Brooklyn, the same record shop where several early Underground Quality artists first connected with him.

Has Jus-Ed performed at RTS.FM?

Yes. RTS.FM's archive includes a DJ set Jus-Ed recorded at the channel's Moscow studio on April 10, 2009.