:: INTERVIEW ::

 

🔥Light Twerkerz: When and how did you meet Light Twerkerz?

📣DJ Innezz: 2 years ago, my first Bass Coast, I didn’t really know what I was getting into, and went to the Twerkshop and it was amazing and I had the best time. Christine (DJ Xtine) said I have to check this out, and I’m so glad I did. I felt so inspired to be a part of that scene. Just because it made me feel so good, and feel good about my body. For somebody who’s gone through body dysmorphia and eating disorders growing up, it was really healing for me in a lot of ways. 

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🔥LiT: If you were sharing this DJ mix to someone you were crushing on, how would you describe Light Twerkerz to them?

📣DJ Innezz: I would say the same thing I’d tell anyone, that it’s a safe space to shake your booty and celebrate your body in all shapes and sizes and appreciate body movement and having fun. And anybody that you’re dating should support that. 

 

🔥LiT: How would you describe Light Twerkerz to your parents?

📣DJ Innezz: I can’t really describe a lot of things I do to my parents but I guess I would tell them that it’s similar to a traditional Berber ceremony. That’s my origins as an indigenous Algerian. 1/4 German (born) ¾ indigenous Algerian. 

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🔥LiT: How did you first discover twerking?

📣DJ Innezz: Going back to the Berber ceremonies, I went to Algeria when I was 12 years old and I saw these women wearing the traditional outfits, and it’s similar to belly dancing except you’re not showing your belly but really shaking your ass but detached from the rest of your body. And I saw that that was like a thing in my family, growing up in Canada I never really was exposed to that until I actually went and visited my family there. Ever since then I’ve always wanted to shake my booty, and I discovered it’s actually a global thing and very popular in many different types of cultures. 

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🔥LiT: Have you ever had a “twerkthrough” (booty movement-related mind-body epiphany) experience? 

📣DJ Innezz: My honest answer is when I went to Re-Up Trippy Shit (R.U.T.S. - popular club night that moves around Vancouver, run by long-term veteran DJs Rico Uno and Genie) for the first time. I just twerked my life away.

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🔥LiT: Any other crews or shout outs you’d like to make that opened doors for you? 

📣DJ Innezz: I def want to shout out Intersessions (collective founded by Rhi and Chippy Nonstop and Shy Daughter). They started doing workshops around the city and I went to a few of those and that really opened the doors for me as far as meeting other women nonbinary queer people who wanted to learn how to DJ. It was a hub, and it was really great for the community. This was two years after my first experimental bass music night, Phases.

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🔥LiT: Any memorable time as a DJ you had to adapt your selections to a particular audience while playing booty music?

📣DJ Innezz: Yeah, playing clubs versus playing underground raves. Totally different vibe. You get asked for requests, it’s a different crowd. It’s people who are not necessarily exposed to different sounds, different experimental sounds that are booty shaking sounds in the end, which could lead to a nice surprise of them discovering new music and dancing the night away and twerking their life away. Or they could just not be into it. It depends. At the end of the day people are there to have a good time regardless. That’s really what a club night or otherwise has in common is a dance floor is a dance floor and it’s meant to make people dance. And sometimes at an actual real-ass club night I’d get not one request, and I feel on top of the world, like I conquered the nightlife scene. 

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Also I think the queer community is just generally a funner crowd, no offense. It brings so much more flavour to the dancefloor, and that makes it more fun for me because the response to me trying something new is almost always guaranteed a yes. It’s just more energy, more everything. It fuels the fire. It’s encouraging for me because it makes me take risks when I’m DJing versus sticking to a formula when I’m playing non-queer parties sometimes. I mean the genres are so broad, you can go from playing footwork and juke to trap and 90’s acid house. There’s just more diversity in genres, no matter what you play it’s just fun and exciting.  

 

🔥LiT: What is the most butt-tastic dancefloor activity you’ve ever witnessed while DJing?

📣DJ Innezz: Oh my God. It was like a booty human centipede situation. There was this girl underneath someone, and it was just like a line of booties. It was wild. It was at Bossy, this regular club night run by Softieshan and Chavi. 

 

🔥LiT: What does a booty/body positive dance floor mean to you as a DJ?

📣DJ Innezz: So many things. It’s really empowering, and when I see that happening on the dancefloor, it gives me such a confidence boost. I’m like OMG I’m giving people an opportunity to shake their asses and be themselves, and I think that’s the most important thing as a DJ is to make space for people to express themselves and dance and share joy on the dancefloor.

 

🔥LiT: What inspires you to move your butt as a dancer?

📣DJ Innezz: If the song is like a banger, then I’m shaking my ass. 

 

🔥LiT:  Do you have any body image related anecdotes to share regarding your personal relationship to your butt?

📣DJ Innezz: I think for me the biggest anecdote was living in a time right now where having an ass is sought after. I was born in the 90s and the early 200s was not about that. It was about looking like a pre-pubescent boy. So I think I have the times to thank really. Because if that didn’t change, I don’t think we’d be here right now talking about booty shaking. 

 

🔥LiT: Do you have a favourite kind of butt?

📣DJ Innezz: I like all booties.

 

🔥LiT: What kind of a butt do you have?

📣DJ Innezz: I would say I have a peach. Like the emoji.

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:: TRACKLISTING ::

 

1. Circling— APPLEBLIM & PEVERELIST [Skull Disco, 2008]

2. Jumanji— AZEALIA BANKS prod. HUDSON MOHAWKE & NICK HOOK [Self-released, 2012]

3. Romantic Call (BLK.ADONIS remix KUNQ)— PATRA [Self-released, 2012]

4. Throw Dem Bands (OURI Bootleg)— LAPALUX [XLR8R, 2016]

5. Sparkle— ELEMENTAL [Hotflush, 2006]

6. Rake it Up (intro edit)— YO GOTTI & NICKI MINAJ prod. MIKE WILL MADE-IT & 30 ROC

7. Dustin’— DJ POLO [Roska Kicks & Snares, 2018]

8. She Throwin’ Azz (feat. RAINEY)— SWISHA x ACEMO x KUSH JONES  [JukeBounceWerk, 2017]

9. Type Freaky (feat. DONMONIQUE)— CHUCK INGLISH [Sounds Like Fun Records, 2015]

10. Vroom VIP (HOODCORE x SANGO DJ Tool)— FALCONS & GOLDLINK feat. MISSY ELLIOT [Self-Released, 2015]

11. Get Your Freak On (LOL MISSY ELLIOT edit)— MR CARMACK Trap remix

12. Whirl— TSVI [Nervous Horizon, 2018]

13. Uh oooh, Uh oooh (Remix)— LUMIDEE feat. BUSTA RHYMES & FABOLUS [UMG, 2017]

14. If It’s Loving That You Want— RIHANNA [The Island Def Jam Music Group, 2005]

15. Bad Gyal Riddim— LIMITLESS [Self-Released, 2018]

16. Boasty— WILEY x STEFFLON DON x SEAN PAUL feat. IDRIS ELBA prod. MUCKY x TODDLA T [BMG, 2019]

17. Boasty— NICK BIKE’s ‘ZEZE’ Blend [Self-Released, 2019]

18. Money— LEIKELI47 x BIGGIE x YOUNGBLOODZ x LIL JON (MORRISBX mashup) [That Hustle, 2019]

19. 100 Bad (CHARLI XCX remix)— TOMMY GENESIS [Downtown Records, 2018]

20. No Small Talk (feat. KARI FAUX)— CHILDISH GAMBINO prod. KARI FAUX & BLACK PARTY [McDJ Recording, 2014]

21. Tomboy— PRINCESS NOKIA prod. SAINT [Self-Released, 2016]

22. Get It Shawty (LAKIM Back It Up Bootleg)— LLOYD [Potholes Music, 2013]

23. Chanel Slides— DREEZY, KASH DOLL [Interscope, 2019]

24. Drama Trap— HIGH-KLASSIFIED [Booty Bakery, 2012]

25. Get Money— CUBAN DOLL [Bill Mania Media, 2016]

26. Free Focus (COMMODO Remix)— GANTZ [Deep Medi, 2015]

27. Lately (feat. RICO NASTY)— BBYMUTHA prod. PARIS ADEN x CHASE RACCS [BBYSHOE, 2018]

28. Simon Says— MEGAN THEE STALLION feat. JUICY [300 Entertainment / BMI, 2019]

29. What’s Your Name— OAKK (feat. LUDACRIS’s The Potion prod. TIMBALAND) [Self-Released, 2019]

30. Uknowhowwedo— BAHAMADIA [Chrysalis, 1995]

31. Zmell Gud— BONGIOVANNI [Booty Bakery, 2012]

32. Boss Mischief— TEEDRA MOSES prod. MISCHIEFPRODUCTIONZ [Pearly Whites, 2019]

33. The Sun On My Skin— THINH [Cawkain Audio, 2019]