In 1988, Public Enemy warned: “Don’t believe the hype.” The message was stark then and perhaps even more applicable now in our modern media landscape that is oversaturated with noise and spin from the ever-present buzzing machinery of social media, influencers, and yes, even your steadfast, eternally humble, local newspaper reporters.
The only way to test any hyped event or personality is to show up and see for yourself, to either render the hype null or confirm that it’s not hype at all, but genuine interest. In rare cases, a name, a night or a place becomes magnetic.
In this case, it’s a newly formed R&B-centric showcase held once a month on Thursday nights at the Ruby Room on top of Green Light Social. A platform for community healing and creative power, Jojo Jam brings together artists and audiences for real connection. It spotlights underrepresented talent and provides a space for joy, artistry and sharing human experience. People keep showing up to see this for themselves.
The hype is very much real.
Jojo Spencer, From London With Love
Jojo Spencer, the founder of Jojo Jam, was born in England, a fact anyone who’s heard her speak can immediately confirm. Her accent hits Texas ears like a Royal Air Force Spitfire dropping 40 years of James Bond and Downton Abbey. “I actually grew up in a really artsy, open-minded city called Brighton, which is on the south coast of the U.K., about 50 miles away from London,” Spencer said. “In my twenties, I moved to London, then to Brixton, which is pretty much central.”
Along the way, she trained as an opera singer and worked in musical theatre.
“But I really wanted to push past the 'sing what is written’ thing,” Spencer said, with the pace and poise of Mary Poppins. “So I was really listening to music that was influential—people being able to express themselves and go off script.”
Her quest for personal, unscripted performance expression eventually led her to fall in love with ’70s funk, soul, jazz and disco.
“Anything that fits my ear, I’ll listen to,” Spencer said.
This shaped her career as a promoter. In London, she ran Afrobeat, dancehall and house music nights, booking shows but with an eye toward creating and curating culture.
Then came Dallas, trading in her English Earl Grey for perfectly sugared sweet tea, not just to create, but to contribute, and so too trading her top-down vista of promotional work for a sleeves rolled up, hair tied back, role in the cultural trenches of the music scene. Jojo Jam was born from that “get it done” instinct.
Ruby Room at Green Light Social
Jojo Jam first launched at Three Links in Deep Ellum in 2023 before moving to its swanky new home in the Ruby Room at Green Light Social. The Ruby Room is an upstairs patio that boasts Gatsby-esque cocktails, luxe drapes and a view of the Dallas skyline that could elicit a rousing “Oh, hell yeah!” from any Texan heart.
“I didn’t want it to feel like just another jam,” Spencer said. “I chose the Ruby
Room for a reason, it's downtown location paired with its dynamic take on nightlife.”
It’s half old-school supper club, half music venue, like the Copacabana if it featured local acts.
While most performers at Jojo Jam sing covers, the emphasis is on performance, not mimicry.
“Covers are fine,” she said, “but they should always be inside your own voice.”
Each month, a new lineup rotates through. The energy ebbs and flows depending on the crowd, but the expectations stay constant. The jam is less of an audition and more of a responsibility. Each artist comes to the stage with a fire burning inside themselves, hot enough that it's liable to burn the roof down.
Of one performer who played a song but didn’t connect with the audience or the moment, Spencer remarked, “You won—but did you?”
What Jojo Jam Feels Like
The audience is a hodgepodge of listeners, performers and Deep Ellum night dwellers, from Arkansas Slim, a professional pool shark and promoter, to Justin Hoard, a local singer-songwriter and drummer stopping by to find out if the hype was real, too. One patron wore a modified Stetson made into a baseball cap, complete with the MLB logo on the back, a perfect symbol of the jam and the Ruby Room’s shared aesthetic: old meets new, always stylish.
“I’d like to say this was all planned like everything else I do,” Spencer said, “but this community just sort of built itself.”
The house band, Jojo Haus, kicks things off with Spencer at the helm.
Following a particularly electric version of “Tell Me Something Good” by Chaka Khan and Rufus, Spencer yelled to the crowd, “That was fucking lush.”
From there, it’s upward and onward: 10 acts, interchangeably dynamic, chasing performance and polish, backed by Jojo Haus, the sound is surgical yet soaked in soul.
Showtime at the Jojo Jam
Jojo Jam shows no signs of slowing down. On July 18, Spencer announced a partnership with the AT&T Discovery District downtown to host what she’s calling a Showtime at the Apollo-style battle of the bands.But instead of a pat on the back, winners will receive tools to build their careers: press kits, studio time, a headlining gig at the Discovery District and more.
Beyond that ambitious The Jojo Jam Show competition series, Jojo Jam will continue its monthly residency at Green Light Social.
Only at certain shows does so much go right that the audience is able to coalesce into a single entity and become fully one with a performance. That symbiosis was present and perfect at Jojo Jam.
Believe the hype or don’t. Jojo Jam will continue providing a unique, methodically curated platform for emerging Dallas artists, with a flair that only Jojo Spencer can deliver.
The Jojo Show will be held on Saturday, Sept. 20, on the second floor of Exchange Hall, 211 S Akard St. General admission tickets start at $28.52 on Eventbrite.
