Lil Dave Presents Motown on Mondays: “It’s Like Paying Tribute to the Music of the Past.”

Here’s the latest installment of our monthly mixtape series, which is curated by GUN$ Garcia. This month, she brings us Illvibe Collective member Lil Dave, who has partnered up with DJ Junior to bring a nationally-known party to Philadelphia.

Motown on Mondays has appeared in cities across the United States, from San Francisco to Boston. The event premiered locally at Silk City last month and runs every week.

Our Brianna Spause spoke with Lil Dave about the idea behind the movement.

Motown on Mondays at Silk City is brand new. How has it been so far?

It’s been off to a good start. It’s going to be a little bit of work to build it up to just the right crowd but there’s a lot of potential there. Everybody who came out so far has just enjoyed the music and the atmosphere and had a good time.

How do you break down the music?

It’s Motown based but it’s also taking into account all of the music that was influenced by Motown. We play a lot of remixes, remakes, covers, and songs that are in that vane. It’s really open. I like a lot of different music that is soulful. It’s like paying tribute to the music of the past. This party gives me the opportunity to do that.

Why Motown?

You get to communicate with people through music and really just make them feel good. Most of this music that I’m playing is very fluid. Most people know Motown – even if you don’t think you know it, you know it. It’s pretty ubiquitous, all over the place. They play it in commercials, movies. At every wedding, there’s probably 30 or 40 Motown songs played at one point. Everybody can relate to it. It’s music you know you like, even if you don’t know it.

What’s the atmosphere like at Silk City during the party?

It’s a family atmosphere. People come in just to enjoy the music, a good drink and see some friends. Even if you’re not family, you’ll feel like family there. People came in the door dancing at 9:00 at the first one. There’s plenty of music that everyone can relate to.

What’s it like to be a part of a national brand?

The Motown on Mondays brand has a lot of remixes they put out, so they get the producers from their towns to send in remixes of classic songs. And all of the DJs from all of the different cities pick from this stuff. It gives us more ammo, a bigger weapon to use to keep the dance floor full.

There are people outside the city pushing for it and people from other places who live in Philly now who are already familiar with Motown on Mondays. When they see it happening here, they’re all ready to go. The first night here, we had a bunch of people from Portland and a few other places who knew about the party and came out. That was cool.

Are people receptive to another party on a Monday?

It’s especially difficult in this city. People are very working class, blue collar, 9-5. When you say you’ve got a party on Monday night, people are already like, “Well I’ve got to be up at 8 a.m.” We start at 9 p.m., so you can grab dinner here. And we don’t charge any cover. A lot of the obstacles aren’t there that would hold you back. It’s fun from the beginning to the end, so you can show up early and still have a good time.

It’s feel good music that makes you smile. Nothing negative, lots of positivity. Positive attitudes from the people around you, just good feelings.