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AFROJACK
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
AFROJACK · Afrojack is the stage name of Nick van de Wall, born in 1987 in Spijkenisse to a Dutch mother and a Surinamese father. He learned to play piano at five. After a year at the Grafisch Lyceum in Rotterdam he chose music. At fourteen he was already DJing in pubs and clubs and, alongside that, building websites for other musicians. In 2007 his first recording under the name Afrojack appeared, the single In Your Face, and he founded the label Wall Recordings.
Music and breakthrough
His international breakthrough came in 2010 with Take Over Control, a collaboration with singer Eva Simons. The track charted in ten countries. In 2011 he contributed to Give Me Everything by Pitbull, with Ne-Yo and Nayer, and to Run the World (Girls) by Beyoncé. With David Guetta he won a Grammy for the remix of Revolver by Madonna. For years he ranked high in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs and played festivals such as Tomorrowland, Ultra and Coachella. His debut album Forget the World followed in 2014.
Influence
His music is electronic dance music for big stages: hard, tight basses, a build-up to a drop and synthesizers that cut. Afrojack shows how Dutch DJs of the 2010s came to define global dance culture. Under the name NLW he has also been making rougher, more underground-sounding tracks since 2017.
Listening
Take Over Control · AFROJACK, 2010Apple Music ↗
Discography
Studio albums
- 2010Afrojack, Volume 1
- 2011GF Masters Vol 4
- 2014Forget the World
- 2018Press Play
- 2022Afrojack presents NLW