DJ Monie is a new face behind the decks, but a longtime staple in the industry and has worked on creative projects with influential artists such as Kash Doll, Trae the Truth and more.
Aside from your family, what got you into DJing?
COVID. So my husband and I moved to Las Vegas in February and then the world shut down in March. We were thinking we were coming to party. So after a little while of being in the house, I just decided to create my vibe at home and woke up one morning, ordered DJ equipment, and just started practicing.
What equipment are you working with?
It’s a Pioneer XDJ-XZ. That’s the new setup behind me that my husband and my kids gave me for Mother’s Day. I love it. It’s my new toy. So, I’m just trying to get familiar with it.
You are the founder of the Melanated DJs. What is the overall goal of the coalition?
Well, when I started DJing, I was looking for people who looked like me. I was trying to get some tips and pointers and all of that good stuff. And I also know we have a stigma as black women not being able to work together or we’re super catty and I just wanted to show the world that the stigma is not true. We can work together. I honestly, up until this point, have not been booked by a man, yet. All of my bookings come from women and the fact that I’m “The Risque DJ”, you would think there’d be some haters out there, but I love the sisters’ support. So thank you sisters for supporting me!
It’s funny that you say how you’re not booked by a man just yet, because a lot of times if you don’t have a certain look about yourself, they’re not going to book you. You have to be very fair-skinned. You have to have a curly afro and be of a certain size. What is your take on that whole situation?
I think it’s dependent upon where you are. Out here in Vegas, I could tell you in regards to brown skin sisters, LGBTQ sisters, they’re out there and they’re working. So I think it depends on where you are. Our first Melanated DJ, shout out to DJ Yas the Empress, brown skin beautiful sister, so I think with Melanated DJs, and I was very cautious and naming the coalition. I wanted it to be inclusive of anyone who was of melanated skin. So that’s our Asian sisters. That’s our Spanish, our Latina sisters. You know, our Black sisters. So if you are melanated, if you are a female DJ, listen, go to melanateddjs.com, look us up on Instagram, and slide in the DMs. It’s free membership right now for all of our founding members. And we would love to have you on board.
What do you think is the most common misconception about being a female DJ?
That we don’t know what we’re dealing with. Poor guys, poor guys. Keep thinking that. Keep thinking we don’t know what we’re doing because we’re coming soon to a city near you or a club near you.
What’s the one piece of equipment that you can’t stand?
I don’t know. In regards to equipment, ALL of this equipment. As you can see behind me, all of this is heavy. So just lugging that stuff around. Thank God for my husband/manager. He is my roadie also and carries all of my stuff. So I would say that’s probably as a female DJ, that’s probably the one thing that we don’t think about is like having to lug this equipment around from you know, gig to gig. I couldn’t imagine if we had crates around.
What is your “go-to” song?
You know, I’m a Capricorn. I’m kind of moody from time to time, So it does depend on what mood I’m in. I can tell you hands down. If I’m trying to get the party started, I’m going ATL all day. Like, it doesn’t matter what that is. We’re going to get lit!
Who’s in your playlist?
Everybody, believe it or not. I’m playing a lot of H.E.R., playing the new Drake, and Kanye. I like old Kanye.
You like “the first three albums” Kanye.
Yeah. “First three albums” Kanye was cool with me. Do you know what I’m saying? When you get to talk about other stuff, he started to lose me. I don’t know. But I listened to everything from rap, country, rock & roll, blues. I’m very well-rounded when it comes to my music collection.
You’re the first DJ that I ever heard say that they play country.
Really? Oh, I love country music. Listen, if I could ever perform with the Dixie Chicks, sign me up, I am a fan.
How is it being your alter ego, “The Risque DJ?”
First, I must say being “The Risque DJ” is very liberating. In my natural life, I don’t like clothes, so it does give me a reason to be able to go outside half-naked. You know, but when I started DJing, again, it was during the pandemic, everybody was on OnlyFans, everybody was making money. And I was like, “Okay, well, maybe I could DJ on OnlyFans,” and that’s really where “The Risque DJ” kind of came from. I started my brand on OnlyFans and I quickly learned that there were a lot of people who wanted to support me, they just didn’t want an OnlyFans account, so I had to consider that and me being the brand manager that I am, I was like, “Okay, let’s own our content. Let’s start live streaming for my website. I don’t have to share a portion of that with anybody.” So, it just made the most sense to me to move my platform over there, but yeah, it’s some on some women’s empowerment, body positivity. I’m 40, so the fact that I’m out here having a great time, just makes other people want to have a great time.
You look great.
Oh, thank you! Guys, it’s good skincare, but it was really about me embracing myself I haven’t had any surgeries I haven’t you know done any of that. I put myself out there and really show people that you don’t have to follow the trends and things like that just embrace yourself, love yourself and rock out and the rest of the world will rock out with you.
Do you think that’s the biggest issue that when women have? Not embracing themselves?
It’s hard and I don’t even think that we do it for men, it’s more so we’re in competition with each other and it’s hard out here you as you get older your boobs start sagging you want to pick them up. You had a baby, you want to tuck it away. I’m not saying anything’s wrong with it, but why do an elective surgery if I don’t have to?
So, how did you get on board with Trea?
So, this is an interesting story. So, Trea and I started of course, as business colleagues. I do, like I said, branding, so she has a lot of clients that she services such as myself, and so I was just working on a bunch of projects, and we just immediately became friends. She has turned into my sister-in-law. I’ve met her brother at her house, and we literally connected and have not spent a night apart. And it’s been almost two years.
How do you feel about music requests when you are spinning?
I do get requests, but you know…I don’t get it. Right? So I hear a lot of DJs complaining about requests. And there are some that you’re just like “No, I don’t have that one.” (laughs) Overall, I had one party, and when I first started, and I thought I prepared for the gig properly based on what the client sent me, but when I got there, it was a completely different vibe. You know, and I was like, “Okay, what am I gonna do on the fly”, but then people started requesting things, and really for me because I was new, that was so helpful. I didn’t have to think about what to play. Do you know what I mean? Like, if you give me one good song I can rock in with the rest of them. Yeah, it was cool.
Who are some of the people that have inspired you?
I have a lot of friends that are just in music. So, you know, from Prince Ice to D-Tek to my ex-husband, you know, it’s so many DJs that are just around me and then recording artists, my brother’s a recording artist, my brother in law’s a recording artist, so, music has just been around us. I’m inspired every day. I’m inspired by my kids. I’m inspired, by my friends. I’m inspired by the drunk girl at the pool. Inspiration comes from everywhere, so I just take it all in.
Shamika Sanders-Sykes
