Female DJs spin true Detroit sound

DJ Minx (Jennifer Witcher) is a fixture and mentor on Detroit’s music scene.

For two decades, the artist has had a house music show on the live stage of the Movement festival in Hart Plaza on Memorial Day weekend.

Her reputation and connections were a draw for DJ Holographic (Ariel Corley) who quickly turned to Minx for mentorship and inspiration.

“People said ‘if you don’t know Minx, you don’t know nothing yet. It uplifted me to see you, ” DJ Holographic explained to Minx during an interview with BridgeDetroit’s Micah Walker for One Detroit on Detroit PBS. “I knew I’m in the right place at the right time.”

DJ Minx said that before their first meeting, chatter about DJ Holographic piqued her curiosity, too. “Once I know about a young lady doing some music I gotta meet them. So I went to a party where she (DJ Holographic) was just to meet her specifically.”

The pair bonded and both regularly take part in the annual festival in the city regarded as the birthplace of the electronic music genre, which originated with The Belleville Three in the 1980s.

Ahead of World Techno Day on Dec. 9, the artists sat down with Walker to talk about how their friendship began, musical influences, and the excitement of playing on the Movement stage. 

Being in the heart of Detroit “to hear music that African Americans made — house music, techno — is gratifying,” said DJ Holographic.

DJ Minx said the festival highlights electronic music artists and brings together people in the LGBTQ+ community. 

“It’s like building another family on top of the one we already have,” she said.  

Both DJ Minx and DJ Holographic are queer artists; each shared their personal coming out stories with Walker as well as what projects are on their respective horizons.  

“We’ve got something brewing. Very, very Detroit,” DJ Minx said.

This segment was produced by One Detroit’s Zosette Guir.