After the umpteenth time blasting her mixtapes in the studio, I decided to test my own rhythmic and musical skills and ask this lovely lady to teach me how to DJ. Last week, we trecked to Mo’s in Fort Greene where she showed me how to crossfade and mix songs like Beyoncé’s “Drunk in Love” with old school 90s hits, using the DJ software Serato and turntables. Over a few margaritas, Kitty Cash dished on Brooklyn, how she got started, and throwing on "Sippin' on Some Syrup” at parties in Montauk. Read our interview below!
Mecca James Williams: Where are you from and what do you do outside of DJing? Cus' I know every DJ has a day job.
Kitty Cash: I’m from Brooklyn, born and raised. I’m a New York City lady, which I hear is very rare. And I do PR, which is a pretty cool job, too.
Let’s talk about DJing. How did you get started?
It was very random. My best friend Kilo Kish and I were hanging out at our favorite chill spots [in Brooklyn]. I’ll never forget, because we were drinking margaritas and at that time we were looking for women DJs [to accompany Kilo Kish on her music tour]. We would go into restaurants and hunt for female DJs. We’d be like, “She’s good but I don’t know if she fits." This one day, [Kilo's] like, "Why don’t you be my DJ?" And a few margaritas in, I’m like “sure!” [Laughs] I’m not gonna lie and say this is something I wanted to do since I was four years old. It’s like you fall in love with something new and you learn something about yourself. You’re like, "Wait, I put my mind to it, I did it, and I’m kicking ass." It’s really refreshing and it makes you fall in love with yourself all over again.
Having the chance to tour and travel with your best friend must be so fun.
The first tour we did was in the US, then the second was international. We toured Europe with The Internet. That was ill! We were in Belgium, Paris, and London. One place was called Suffolk warehouse; it was underneath a bridge. That party was, like, ten hours. It was awesome to come home and say I was in Belgium and Scotland and I was here. And being on the road with [Kish] was so fun because we have an understanding and know when to give each other space and private time.
Girl power! So how did the mixtapes come into play?
The first one I did was for Dossier Journal. One of my friends works for them, and she jokingly said, “You should do mixes for us!" From there, I realized making mixes was fun and I love the idea of curating music around a theme. Shortly after, my friend MeLo-X referred me to MTV Hive. That mixtape is actually based off a crazy craving I