DJ Ron Trent on the Importance of Club Curation

For Chicago’s legendary DJ and music producer Ron Trent, Bali proves to be a paradise in more ways than one. “It’s interesting. You have to come all the way around the world to give one of the best spots that I have seen in probably the last 20 years or so,” he told Globetrotter’s Kennedy Ashinze, following his set at Klymax Discotheque at Potato Head Bali. “They build a beautiful club here. Dope sound system, dope room. Which used to be standard back in the day. It’s a rare fine nowadays. And Bali did it right. You know, of course, with the curation of [DJ] Harvey and his crew.” 

Trent knows a great deal about good curation, as he has curated several projects in the past, including “Walk the Night”, a photo exhibit on nightlife and club culture circa 1997 to 1990, which was held on 8 and 9 December 2023 to coincide with Miami Art Week. He also co-founded Africa Hi-Fi, a party dedicated to Afrobeat and African music in general.  

“It starts off as a vision. And you have to incorporate that vision into something that could be digestible by someone who may not necessarily understand what’s going on, but they need it. You gotta bring it to their level in the sense so that you could take them to the next level, you know, making it [into] something that they can take home with them and then grow off of.” 

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