“I love the process just as much as the gigs.”
- nadia

25 March 2023

How would you describe your music background?

The types of music I heard as a kid definitely helped develop my sound. Neither of my parents are music nerds per se, but they both showed me really cool music without realizing it. My mom is white American, from Ohio, and even though she would hardly admit it, she liked the music on 97.3. She would play it all the time in the car for us, thank God. But when she got fed up with a song like “My Humps” or “Milkshake,” she would make us listen to her Audioslave or Chris Cornell CDs. I hated it as a kid, but as I got older, I ended up really loving it. It opened up my ear to the grungier stuff I liked as I got older. And then my dad is from Egypt, but he moved to the states in the 80s. He would play a lot of Egyptian pop music and also a couple of random American disco joints.

I was a teen in the 2010s, and there were a ton of kids in Toledo that liked super cool music, so I had different friend groups with different music tastes. Toledo is pretty close to Detroit, so for any concert you wanted to go to, you had a squad to drive up there with. I still remember the specific types of music I’d bump with certain people—from bloghaus, to trap, to alternative hip-hop, to alternative rock, shoegaze, electronic. I’m seriously so thankful for my friends from that time in my life. Also around that time, my aunt (on my mom’s side) and I got close, and she is a huge fan of all things UK Rock. She took me to so many amazing concerts around that time, and I’m really thankful for her doing that.

What’s your dj aura like?

Thumpy, glitchy, grimey, and glittery. I’ve always loved slightly weird, syncopated music, and heavy basslines. Those are the elements of the sound I like, but it can be any genre. That said, I like and play so much music that doesn’t sound like what I just described so maybe my sound is just… I got range.

When did you start djing?

Technically in 2019, but I was doing college radio on and off for about 4 years prior. I wasn’t mixing, but I was laying the foundation for preparing mixes and sets. On a weekly basis, I was curating an hour of music, either with a theme or just somehow pairing songs in an inexplicable way that went together to me. As far as mixing songs with equipment, 2019.

How did you get into it?

I taught myself on my laptop using Serato and then eventually got a cheap used mixer. I was in Columbus at the time and would hardly see women DJing at the stuff I was going to, so I decided to learn. My friend Marlee (RUBiA) and I had an idea to throw a party at the end of 2019, so I practiced as much as possible and memorized a set for our party, which we ended up naming “Thigh Fructose.” The theme was basically just thot music, the stuff we actually want to hear when we’re at a party. It was a house party at our friends’ artist loft, and we’ve thrown a few since then when we're in the same city (she lives in Madrid). We had one at Elsewhere last year, which is such a crazy glow up.


Do you have any artists or songs on rotation right now?

There's this record label out of Argentina called AGVA, which makes a lot of experimental club music with elements of regional dance sounds in it. I'm obsessed with so much of what they put out.

I’ve also been gradually listening to more and more experimental ambient electronic music. It feels like I’ve been obsessed with Emeka Ogboh for months on end. His work is so amazing, and I listen to it all the time.

Connecting with the Laylit party series has made me really excited to play Arabic and North African music to a primarily SWANA crowd, so I've also been listening to electro-shaabi for inspo and hype music. It's Egyptian dance music that can be heard in a lot of parties happening on the streets, weddings, bumping out of peoples’ cars, stuff like that. It's really loud, autotuned, bumping like crazy, they're screaming on the mic... I love it.

Any go to tracks?

I have new fixations all the time, and I could probably make a huge list of go-tos, but here are a few immediate ones that come to mind: 

For an opening set: Walk On, Nothing To See Here by Deena Abdelwahed or Household Diety by Amazondotcom are some of my forever favs.

In a club set: O Matumbo by Dj N.K.

In a rap set: Make it Nasty by Tyga

For edits: Anything off VIP Edits Vol.1 by Toumba. He picked amazing samples for this project and did it so creatively. Every track on here is so versatile too.

Do you have a favorite moment or party you dj’d?

I’d say my favorite memories have been practicing and prepping with my friends. During the pandemic, I would go to Naj’s house like once a week, and we would play tracks for 3 hours back to back. We're just on the same wavelength of any genre in the fucking world… even indie music. It's hilarious. We'll start playing industrial club music, and then by the end of the hangout, we’ll be playing Two Door Cinema Club.

With RUBiA, who I started Thigh Fructose with, every time we get together, it's so fun. I haven’t figured out the best way to explain this, but we just jokingly call our combined sound the “recipe.” It’s a blend of throwbacks, rap, reggaeton, and some edits—even though I prefer a raw song over an edit. There are so many songs no one ever plays that everyone knows and wants to hear, so we just focus on unlocking a random lit memory from a track you have probably forgotten about. When we prepped for our Thigh Fructose party at Elsewhere, we gathered so many deep cut bangers, but when we got there, it was a lot of white girls. We wanted to play Gucci Mane, but we had to be a bit more in our Fergie bag for that. Still… so much fun.

Do you dj full time?

Nope, I work an architectural, experiential consulting job full time and have a handful of gigs a month. Thankfully, I am doing quality over quantity when it comes to gigs. I’ve been liking the cadence and work-life balance I’ve been having, but I would definitely like to DJ more often, especially for heavy, late night electronic sets. I’m always getting so much music I wanna play at a rave, and when I think about it, I haven’t actually played too many of those yet… cough cough, book me!

Are there any things you love outside of work and music?

I really like cooking and food. My whole life I’ve been watching cooking videos for fun, which has given me a lot of confidence and knowledge in the kitchen. I remember being ten, summertime, nothing to do, just cooking videos… not cooking, just watching them, learning… and now I can cook pretty well.

That’s why you have the recipes now. Djing and cooking!

Is there anything you wish to see in the scene?

More intention and care!


Lastly, what do you like about being a dj?

I love music, and I love being able to play music that excites me in creative ways - It feels like collaging. Every single day, for hours, I'm working on it to some capacity, whether just thinking about it, finding it, organizing it, or practicing playing it. I love the process just as much as the gigs.