Boo Williams

Willie Griffin grew up on Chicago's South Side and started DJing in 1981, too young to get into the Warehouse but old enough to catch Ron Hardy's raw edits at the Music Box. He came up playing local spots like Mendel High School, the Humming Bird, and the Bismarck Hotel, and met Glenn Crocker, later known as Glenn Underground, as a regular at Lil Louis's parties.

The two became close collaborators, co-founding the Strictly Jaz Unit, and Griffin released his first EP, A New Beginning, on Relief Records in 1994, followed by a joint record with Underground in 1995. His 1996 album Home Town Chicago became a genre landmark, and he followed it with Universal Limits in 2001, recording as Boo Williams for labels including Relief, Cajual, Djax, and Peacefrog.

A 2010 reissue of his track "Mortal Trance" on Rush Hour introduced his catalog to a new generation of house fans, and he's remixed artists including Green Velvet and Miles Maeda.