PAWSA (real name David Esekhile; born in March 1992) is a British DJ, music producer and label owner who grew up in London. One of the prominent figures on the contemporary tech house scene, he is the co-founder of Solid Grooves Records, founder of his own imprint PAWZ and one half of the GOLFOS project alongside Dennis Cruz. His production is built around minimalist house rhythms, short samples, functional basslines and a “less is more” philosophy in which a relatively small number of sonic elements can generate a powerful dancefloor groove.
London, family background and his first turntables
David Esekhile grew up in London in a family with different cultural roots: his father is Nigerian and his mother is Irish. Unlike many producers who begin through music school or playing in bands, PAWSA entered music directly through DJ culture. He bought his first pair of turntables in 2010, while still a teenager.
The artist has explained that what first attracted him to DJing was the ability to change the mood of a room instantly with the right record. This idea of music as a physical interaction with the dancefloor remained central to his later production work: rather than focusing on complex melodic structures, PAWSA places particular emphasis on rhythm, repetition and the way individual elements function inside a club.
By the beginning of the 2010s, he had become part of a new British wave of tech house. London was developing a scene that combined house, minimal, rough-edged basslines and a more direct sense of club functionality. It was within this environment that the conditions for the future Solid Grooves began to emerge.
Meeting Michael Bibi and the real beginning of Solid Grooves Records
The history of Solid Grooves needs to be divided between the parties and the record label.
Michael Bibi began organising events under the name Solid Grooves around 2011. PAWSA met him at a London warehouse party in 2013. They quickly discovered a similar outlook on music and artist development, after which Esekhile began playing at Solid Grooves events and working much more closely with Bibi.
One of their first major steps together was a performance in Berlin. Afterwards, PAWSA invested the money he had saved from a season working as a DJ in Spain into a new joint project. In 2015, PAWSA and Michael Bibi founded Solid Grooves Records — a fully established record label that grew out of the existing club series.
For this reason, describing PAWSA simply as a “co-founder of Solid Grooves” requires clarification: he is a co-founder of Solid Grooves Records, while the original party series had been launched by Bibi earlier.
Pilot and the first professional releases
PAWSA’s official discographic career began in 2014, when the British label Lost Records released his Pilot EP. The record became his first significant release beyond the local London scene.
After Pilot, his music began appearing on larger specialist labels. PAWSA released material through Relief Records, associated with Green Velvet, and MOOD, Nicole Moudaber’s label. This range of early releases shows that before building his own catalogue, the artist was already working at the intersection of house and techno scenes.
PAWSA’s most recognisable musical language did not appear immediately. He gradually reduced the number of elements in his arrangements, increased the role of the bassline and made growing use of short vocal or instrumental samples. This aesthetic would later become characteristic of a significant part of the Solid Grooves catalogue as well.
PAWZ and The Groovy Cat
In 2017, PAWSA launched his own label, PAWZ. Unlike Solid Grooves, where the artist works within a shared musical brand, PAWZ gave him a platform for highly personal material and experimentation without the need to fit into the catalogue of a larger imprint.
One of its earliest releases was Party, followed on 22 December 2017 by The Groovy Cat — a track that would become one of the most recognisable records in PAWSA’s early catalogue. By 2021, DJ Mag was already noting tens of millions of streams for the track, despite its extremely concise structure: bass, percussion and a carefully selected sample provide almost all of the central musical material.
This simplicity became an artistic principle rather than a limitation. PAWSA has repeatedly emphasised the value of removing unnecessary material from a track. He also connects this approach with his interest in painting: too many details can ruin both a picture and a piece of music.
Solid Grooves Raw
Alongside the main label, Solid Grooves Raw was launched in 2017 as an imprint focused on tougher, more minimalist and directly club-oriented tools.
For PAWSA, the platform became a natural extension of his production aesthetic. Raw released tracks such as Get Down, Whippin’ and later Hypnotic Dub. The Get Down EP arrived in 2018, Whippin’ in 2019 and Hypnotic Dub in 2021.
Numerous PAWSA releases also appeared in the main Solid Grooves catalogue, while the label itself developed into an international platform for Dennis Cruz, ANOTR, Ben Sterling, Blackchild and other producers. In 2023, Solid Grooves won Best Label at the DJ Mag Best of British Awards.
PAWSA and Michael Bibi: different roles within one brand
One reason for the longevity of Solid Grooves is the difference between the roles of its founders. According to PAWSA’s own recollections, Michael Bibi understood event organisation and the development of the party brand particularly well from the beginning, while Esekhile focused more heavily on the music itself and the label catalogue.
PAWSA aimed to combine minimalist underground house with more accessible club energy. This balance gradually became one of the defining characteristics of Solid Grooves: the music could remain minimal in terms of the number of elements while still being designed for large dancefloors.
Over time, Solid Grooves grew from a British party series into an international brand with large-scale events and a long-standing connection to Ibiza. PAWSA and other artists from the collective played seasons at Sankeys, Privilege and Benimussa Park, while Solid Grooves later established itself at DC-10 Ibiza.
GOLFOS with Dennis Cruz
A separate branch of PAWSA’s career is connected with Spanish producer Dennis Cruz. Together they created GOLFOS — a collaborative DJ project, performance series and their own platform, GOLFOS TRAXX.
The project allows both artists to focus on a deeper and more minimalist house sound. GOLFOS regularly performs extended back-to-back sets in which the boundary between the individual styles of Cruz and PAWSA is deliberately blurred. The project has appeared at Club Space Miami, KOKO London, ADE and other major venues and events.
GOLFOS demonstrates that PAWSA’s work extends beyond standard festival tech house: a significant part of his musical identity is rooted in minimal house and music designed for long-form club sets.
From the underground to the UK charts
For a long time, PAWSA’s commercial success existed almost entirely within the electronic club scene. That changed noticeably in 2024, when several of his tracks moved far beyond Beatport and DJ sets.
The first was PICK UP THE PHONE, featuring vocals from the late American artist Nate Dogg. The track entered the UK Official Singles Chart and reached No. 49, while climbing to No. 13 on the Official Dance Singles Chart.
It was followed by TOO COOL TO BE CARELESS, which reached No. 51 on the main UK chart and No. 8 on the Dance Singles Chart. For an artist who had built his career around minimalist club house, this represented a significant expansion of his audience.
An even bigger success came with Dirty Cash (Money Talks), a reworking of the classic Adventures of Stevie V hit. The track entered the UK Top 20, reaching No. 17 on the Official Singles Chart, and remained on the main chart for 19 weeks; it also climbed to No. 3 on the Dance Singles Chart.
PAWSA did not, however, transform his style into conventional dance-pop. Even his most commercially successful records retain the structure associated with his production: a stripped-back rhythmic foundation, a prominent bassline and a recognisable vocal or instrumental fragment.
Best Producer and the growth of an international audience
At the end of 2024, PAWSA received the Best Producer award at the DJ Mag Best of British Awards. The publication specifically highlighted both his club-focused work and the success of Dirty Cash (Money Talks).
The next phase brought a further increase in the scale of his live appearances. In 2025, he staged the standalone PAWSA In The Park — All Day Long at London’s Gunnersbury Park, while Solid Grooves marked its 100th release with the compilation Summer Sampler 2025, featuring the new PAWSA track Rendezvous.
That same year, PAWSA entered the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs for the first time, placing at No. 69. The result is better understood as an indicator of growing international mainstream recognition rather than an assessment of his historical significance or production ability.
His expanding live audience was also reflected in performances at Alexandra Palace, Coachella and major international festivals. At the same time, the artist maintained his regular connection with Solid Grooves and Ibiza club culture.
PAWSA and vinyl culture
Despite the digital nature of his own production work, PAWSA maintains a strong interest in vinyl and digging culture. His PAWZCAST series has featured vinyl-only sets, while he also uses platforms such as Bandcamp and Discogs when searching for music.
His DJ sets are not built exclusively around his own catalogue. PAWSA deliberately combines new tracks with older house records, using less obvious selections to maintain the overall rhythm and dramatic arc of a set. He regularly tests unreleased productions directly on large sound systems, then returns to the studio mix to refine the material further.
This is why his DJ work and music production are so closely connected: the dancefloor functions as the final testing stage for a record.
How the PAWSA sound is built
Tech house remains the foundation of PAWSA’s music, although the term does not fully describe his catalogue. Minimal house, microhouse, classic house and elements of older British club traditions are also clearly present.
The central feature of his production is economy. Instead of using multiple synthesiser layers, PAWSA usually builds a track around only a handful of elements:
- a solid kick drum and prominent bassline;
- short, syncopated percussion;
- one highly recognisable sample or vocal phrase;
- small arrangement changes rather than large EDM drops;
- an extended groove designed primarily to produce a physical reaction on the dancefloor.
Dennis Cruz has described this approach as a rare ability to make a minimal number of elements as effective as possible. PAWSA himself also speaks about house as music whose power lies in repetition and rhythm.
Sampling plays a particularly important role in his catalogue. Rather than treating a sample as a decorative layer, PAWSA often turns a single vocal or instrumental phrase into the central hook of an entire track. The clearest examples from his later period include PICK UP THE PHONE and Dirty Cash (Money Talks).
Painting and release artwork
Outside music, PAWSA is also involved in painting, and this is more than a private hobby. He creates a significant proportion of the artwork for his own singles himself.
He draws a direct parallel between visual art and production: painting taught him to accept imperfection more easily and to recognise when to stop instead of overloading a work with unnecessary detail. The same principle also explains his musical aesthetic, where removing an element can be more important than adding another one.
PAWSA discography
PAWSA has not yet released a full-length studio album. His discography is built primarily around EPs, club singles and standalone tracks, a format typical of functional house music.
Selected EPs and early releases
- 2014 — Pilot EP — Lost Records
- 2017 — Party — PAWZ
- 2017 — The Groovy Cat — PAWZ
- 2018 — Get Down EP — Solid Grooves Raw
- 2018 — Obsession — PAWZ
- 2019 — Whippin’ — Solid Grooves Raw
- 2021 — Hypnotic Dub — Solid Grooves Raw
- 2023 — ON THE MOVE — PAWZ
- 2023 — Dog Days — Solid Grooves Records.
Major singles from the later period
- 2024 — PICK UP THE PHONE — feat. Nate Dogg
- 2024 — TOO COOL TO BE CARELESS
- 2024 — COLLECT THE COMMAS
- 2024 — Dirty Cash (Money Talks) — PAWSA / Adventures of Stevie V
- 2025 — BANG BANG
- 2025 — DOUBLE C
- 2025 — Rendezvous
- 2026 — Ride On Me.
GOLFOS
Together with Dennis Cruz, PAWSA releases music and performs as GOLFOS, developing a separate strand of minimalist house and extended back-to-back sets. The project is connected with its own imprint, GOLFOS TRAXX.
PAWSA’s place in the contemporary house scene
What makes PAWSA particularly interesting is that his career trajectory does not follow the familiar pattern of an underground producer moving into EDM. He did not abandon minimalist club structures in order to reach larger stages; instead, those very structures gradually became popular enough to take him to festivals, large-scale solo shows and national charts.
Alongside Michael Bibi, he helped turn Solid Grooves Records into one of the most recognisable brands of its generation of tech house, while PAWZ allowed him to maintain a separate platform for his personal catalogue. GOLFOS added another dimension, connecting his name with the contemporary minimal house scene.
The commercial success of PICK UP THE PHONE, TOO COOL TO BE CARELESS and Dirty Cash (Money Talks) is particularly revealing: PAWSA’s music reached the UK national charts without abandoning the fundamental club-oriented principles of his production.
His influence is therefore connected not with inventing a new genre, but with reimagining minimalist tech house for a new generation of large dancefloors. Concise production, a strong focus on sampling, vinyl culture and the close relationship between studio work and DJ sets remain at the heart of PAWSA’s aesthetic regardless of the size of the venue.
