How a South Jersey DJ ended up in Beyoncé's setlist

Not many people can say they would willingly give away two floor tickets to Beyoncé. Then again, not many people can say that Beyoncé has used their work in her world tour either.

Maybe South Jersey DJ Reese Howard, better known as Hyped-Up Reese, just isn't like many people.

The Jersey Club remix that changed it all

Howard's first DJ event was her grandmother's 60th birthday party. Ten years later, a Hyped-Up Reese mix was used in a Beyoncé show.

The Willingboro native initially planned on selling the extra Beyoncé tickets she had snagged, but, when nobody was hitting them for resale, she decided to bet on herself and her music instead.

Via a Tiktok challenge, she created an opportunity for fans to win the tickets on one condition: they had to dance to at least 15 seconds of her "America Has a Problem" Jersey Club remix.

At first, Howard was worried that there wouldn't be enough interest in the tickets. The contest was nearing its close and only about five people had submitted their dances.

Then she changed the rules. Anybody could enter.

"Real BeyHive fans, they kept posting and posting and posting," Howard said. "The traction started moving."

And a TikTok dance trend started by a user named Josiah blew her remix up.

"He just blew my mind," Howard exclaimed. The submissions and dances kept flooding in.

Seeing how far that collaboration soared was something that she described as "beautiful," especially after the initial concern that the contest wouldn't take off.

Howard's original contest video has since reached almost 157,000 views, and her remix has over 7,000 posts on the app.

Beyoncé's Renaissance Tour

Howard and her wife, as well as the contest winners, joined the crowds of BeyHive members for Beyoncé's MetLife Stadium show on July 30.

But that wouldn't be the last time she saw the Queen on this tour.

When she purchased yet another pair of tickets, this time for Bey's Oct. 1 Kansas City, Missouri show, little did she know she would see her remix being used live in concert by Beyoncé herself.

With only a handful of shows left on the Renaissance Tour, Beyoncé had added Howard's remix to her set during her Sept. 21 show in Arlington, Texas and used it for the remainder of her U.S. shows.

Videos were, of course, posted all over TikTok.

What started as a competition to drive fans to her remix turned into a much larger outcome.

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Howard kept the appreciation for Beyoncé throughout this process: "Everything is in Beyoncé's hands," she said.

She explained that the laws for remixing often give the producer the "short end of the stick," so, even though Howard hasn't been in communication with Bey's team, knowing that her work is being elevated and she's able to get credit for it has been a positive step.

Howard also reveled in the connection she had with Beyoncé's tour, adding importance to the part that her remix has played in it.

"I'm gay ... I'm a woman ... I'm a person of color, and that's all that the Renaissance has been about," she said.

'Delayed but not denied'

There was a time before this that Howard thought she'd had it made.

She was selected by A-Trak to perform at Brooklyn Steel after submitting for a beat battle called the Goldie Awards, elated after giving her all in a performance and ready to keep learning from people from all over the globe.

Then the pandemic hit, causing her to go "back inside the house" with her beats.

"I really just went introspectively and just relied on my own circadian rhythm and what I knew about songwriting and making music," she said.

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When Beyoncé first used the DJ's remix, Howard's social media was blowing up with notifications, and she didn't even know — she was coming off of a social media detox and a hospitalization for her mental health that very same day.

"It was just so beautiful because I was just questioning a lot in my life," Howard said of the timing.

Now, Hyped-Up Reese is looking forward to what the future may bring, and what this affirmation in career means for her and her community.

"It just fills my soul because I'm here. I'm doing the work. I'm alive to experience this ... and that's what it's about," she said.

Kaitlyn McCormick writes about trending issues and community news across South Jersey for the Courier Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times. If you have a story she should tell, email her at kmccormick@gannettnj.com. And subscribe to stay up to date on the news you need.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Beyoncé's Rennaissance meets Jersey Club music with a SJ twist