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DJCODEEN x ENVY by ANITAH
Anitah: Where do you first see your music taste first start to take shape?
DJ Codeen:
My whole life I have been surrounded by music. My dad's a DJ. That was his first passion before playing basketball. He loved music. He went to Dominguez High School, which I’m pretty sure Snoop Dogg had went to. It was an art school in LA basically. Instead of going to a basketball school, he chose the art school because he wanted to be a DJ, and he wanted to make music and stuff like that. Somebody else went there but it was an LA school that was for arts. And he went there and he's always played music in my house for as long as I've remembered. During Covid, he was playing music so loud in the house, skating around, it didn't matter what time of day. In the morning, we're waking up to it all the time. So I feel my whole life I've kind of liked every type of music, because I've always been around my dad, and he's a very open format DJ, so he DJs all types of things. So I feel I've always been super open.
And also through getting your own Pandora and getting your own SoundCloud and your own stuff like that. I definitely think for a while, hip hop and rap was always my main go to, and then I feel as I’ve gotten older, I kind of sunk into a lot more R&B and slowing down. I feel like smoking weed kind of influenced a lot of that, just wanting to chill and not feeling so riled up all the time. But more or less, I feel I kind of still like everything. I put shuffle on my thing, and I'd be scared of shuffling in front of everybody else. But for me I'm jamming to every song. It doesn't matter what it is or who it is. I'm kind of always been into everything, because of my dad. And my sister was born in the 1990s and she was in high school in 2010, so I'll always love jerk music, Bay Area music. My dad is from LA so I always am influenced by beats like that, and just a lot of influence on the West Coast. But I mean, from being in middle school and on DubSmash and Instagram and stuff, especially being from Arizona, I do think now that I'm so much more into house music, and especially black house music. I mean, house music is black music, you know what I'm saying. But I think just always being on Instagram and being on the black side of Twitter and the black side of things, especially being from here kind of enhanced my music taste as well. I mean, even sometimes I hear tracks from Florida, or even real footwork tracks that are like “Okay, I don't know if I can play this at Gracie’s or Contact…
A:
But I want this sound in my backyard too.
DJ Codeen:
…But when I do play it, I think that person feels it every time. That person does come up to me like “Bro, I'm from Chicago, I'm from Florida, I'm from wherever, and you played this track. And we hear that at home all the time,” and that feels so good. I'm like, “Yes! You know what I'm talking about. I'm with you”
A:
What genres do you like to spin the most? You've done a lot of different open format events. You've also done some events that are more specific to a ghetto tech sound or an afro beat sound.
DJ Codeen:
I would say if I had to pick one it would be probably ghetto tech. I love bouncy music. I love Jersey club. I love that bass and that shaking and that literally bouncing, it feels like you're bouncing. I would definitely say ghetto tech. That's one of my favorite genres that I get to spin. I feel that's influenced a lot of my sets that I do spin. It’s that or Miami bass, I feel is another one that's on that cusp of ghetto tech and Miami bass. It's kind of similar, and probably Jersey club. I would say hip hop too. I feel now, as I've gotten more comfortable behind the deck, I've really interpreted a lot of hip hop and rap into my sets, and then switching it into a Jersey club or a mixed song. So I would say those two.
A:
I think we need more of that in Phoenix.
DJ Codeen:
That's what my sets are for. Sometimes obviously when I do a market or something, I'll go more into my house bag and really do just more chiller, but still hard hitting songs that are memorable. I think the majority of the time you finna sweat a little bit, that's just what it is. That's why in the beginning, I've been doing a lot of hip hop and rap to kind
A:
That is something that I've noticed that you do, you know how to throw out that hip hop track that everybody knows, and then you reel them into a completely different view.
DJ Codeen:
Because If you hit them in the beginning if it's a really foreign sound, that's why I like to bring in the mix of a ghetto tech and a regular song into it, a lot of times, as long as they know the lyrics, they're more or less likely to sing along to it.
A:
Well in that sense, I want to give you a space to reflect on a lot of stuff that you did last year. First with ClubCodename, you started that space. I'm interested to hear about what even made you want to start that club night. And what has it been like developing the sound for what you want that night to be?
You’ve also been jumping in for a lot of other events, on the bill with amazing DJs as well. But I want to start with a ClubCodename. So tell me a little bit about her.
DJ Codeen:
I was getting booked for sure, which I appreciate all the books I was getting, but I felt like I was putting in so much work behind the scenes that I wanted to really show everybody like “hey attention”. And it might sound a little selfish, but I mean, I had other things too, and just the rules that I originally made for a Codename for it to be so exclusive, like if you're not in theme, then you cannot come in. Because it's more or less about the community. It's like everybody came here for a goal. To have fun and dress up and come here and be immersed in the experience. I think I've always wanted to tell a story in whatever I do, whether it's my photography or whatever it is. And I think with picking the name, Codename, kind of gives me a broad thing to build off of every time with every event that I do. And then on top of that, it kind of helps me to build an experience for people to be immersed in. So that's why I am kind of sometimes anal, depending on the venue. Obviously, because at some venues, I can't control the amount of people coming in here and dressing in theme. But if I'm throwing it myself, then I can kind of control that. But I want people to feel safe here and feel we're all together, we're all one. So that's something big that I am super huge on, is just the community thing.
My aunt had told me that my name had meant community or something like that, something along the lines. And it means I'm here to bring people together and stuff. And ever since she said that, I was like okay girl!
And then I mean, also just wanting to create a space in general, especially with Girlcode. Girlcode I have taken a step back on it because I wanted to be super inclusive. I wanted it to be the girls and the gays. You know what I'm saying. I want them to feel safe. I feel like the first one, so many girls were telling me for months after that how safe they felt, how much they loved it. And I felt it really, really was a safe space for everybody to be in, and I loved that. And I just want to kind of keep capitalizing off of that, so that we kind of keep it as safe as possible, just so that it's a safe space for people to just be themselves truly, ideally. That's why I do the music that I play. It's self expression. I want you to dance. I want you to do whatever you do. And I feel that night was so special because of the energy in the room.
Especially when I leave the stage or leave the area after just zoning in for a whole hour and then I go out, and they were like, “Oh my god, can I thank you?” And I was shitting on myself because I just fucked up my technical things. And I was like, damn. I thought I did terrible. So thank you.
A:
The girls are gonna come out and dance for Codee, put some respect on your name. I also wanted to ask you about the other events that you've been on the bill for. You've done Midnight Club, Familiar Faces, Mahal House and then some. So I guess also from that experience, and working with so many DJs across this scene, just first what has your experience been in those spaces where you're taking your sound, but you're also adapting it to these different sound environments? And what community that you found within that as well?
DJ Codeen:
One thing that I've really appreciated, especially from Midnight Club, Om and Mahal, they are basically my brothers at this point. The trust that they have in me, and being on their bill and knowing that I'm gonna come and deliver what they want from me. I think that all of them do have their own personality, their own sound. With Midnight Club, I feel it is a very bouncy, a little indie sleaze in there. White girl wasted type of vibe. So with them, curating something that's super fun, which is very similar to what I already DJ. But I think all of them do kind of expect me to come as myself, which I really do appreciate in them.
And even when I did Familiar Faces, that was a super big thing for me too. It was still super cool though they had, hella trusted me. They were super open, especially coming from another state, and wanting somebody as young as me, and then on top of that trusting me to DJ your event that does have a good amount of motion. You're coming to a new state to try to promote that event which was really cool too.
And I also did Pangea Sounds earlier in the year, too. And that was one that,
I still am like “Damn, I really did that.” And for them to have the trust in me is super cool, too. And I think that is one of the biggest things too. Just the trust in me blows my mind all the time when somebody comes to me fully open arms.
A:
The girls love you. You are definitely reaching your target audience. I'm really happy to hear it, because sometimes being in space as a woman too can have its own implications, but it’s cool to hear that , everybody's open and welcoming and wanting you to show up as yourself in these spaces.
DJ Codeen:
I'm really glad that I did meet those guys. And you know, we are doing the things that we are doing for the city, and continue to support each other and and grow together. And I feel that's a conversation we have a lot, like it's us. You know what I'm saying, like all of us. I'm super lucky for them and everybody honestly around here.
A:
How would you define the sound of Phoenix? Because that's a question that I think everybody's trying to figure out right now, but I'm curious to hear your perspective on it as an open format DJ that's on the bill for your own events, on the bill for so many other events in the city, and then it's just a young girl who's going outside as well at the same time. How would you define it?
DJ Codeen:
Oh my gosh, it is a hard question. I don't have the answer for it, but I feel like it's true. Phoenix’s sound is truly what Phoenix is in a whole, that melting pot. Like how you said that migrated sound. I think that when we look at especially the DJs that are crafting that sound of Phoenix right now, we look at Midnight Club, who bring a lot of electric sounds, -even a lot of them use a lot of video game tracks and samples which are really electronic. They do bring a lot of West Coast flavor as well.
And even if you look at Nemo and the indie sleaze-ness of it all, and even Las Lloronas and what they bring to it. I love them, they eat it up so good, when they did my event she had everybody in there singing their ass off. So I don't know, I would say it's really hard to put it all at one, but I think it is truly what Phoenix embodies in itself. There is so much. It's a mixing pot. And especially with what I DJ, I try to bring everybody in, and pour into everybody's cup and everybody's culture, and try to get everybody together.
A:
This one might be a little bit easier to answer. Is there any space that you feel is underdeveloped that you'd like to see develop further looking ahead? Is there a need for another sound here, or is there a sound that already exists here, that's being spun but it's only being heard by a few?
DJ Codeen:
It is so hard. It is so hard because we have Mahal and Om and stuff like that, who are very open. Mahal is sometimes more on that baile funk and more Brazilian tracks, the more house tracks, or more on the afro beats side of it. It's hard because I hate to, I don't want to sound cocky, but I do cross a lot of those boxes off. So I guess Codename is that sound in the sense of trying to blend everybody together. That's why when I try to do my lineups, I try to scatter it. I'll have Nemo, and then I'll have Sol and so there's something for everybody.
What do I want to hear from here? I think we're in a great time, especially in our lives right now, especially all of us, mostly in our 20s. Everybody is so excited to be a community. I think right now that's what we're yearning for. And I think that we just keep bringing those niches out, whether it's a Gracie’s night on a Wednesday, or whether it's a Friday night themed Codename. I feel people we're getting those spaces to allow people to have those niche options now. So, yeah, it's a melting pot. Yeah, I think that we all have our own influence. I mean, even the old heads have their scratch nights. We have the Tia's and Tia's too. We have been crossing all the boxes off, truly, honestly.
What I really want to see is outside of the night life, if I'm honest, as a DJ, I want to see outside of the nightlife, outside of the club, outside the bar. Let's all go do something more community based. Like growing up, my dad fed the homeless a lot. I mean, even homeless block parties were feeding the home girls, and Grassrootz they're doing free breakfast, which is super cool. I don't know, I'm just yearning for more outside of the club activities.
A: I think music is so beautiful of how it can connect people and the youth of Arizona that are yearning for that. It's definitely our generation, it's cool to see you doing something about it.
DJ Codeen:
Codename, in the beginning, my events were 18+ when I did it myself. Because when I was 18, I was doing hoodrat shit with my friends. But I was also still that alt, artsy girl that wanted to be with all the other alt girls, and not the baddies crew, you know what I'm saying? Which ain't nothing wrong with that, but it's just like, there wasn't a spot. There wasn't a place for me. So I wanted Codename to be something like that. So when I was doing individually at Black show studio it was 18+, so you're not coming here to drink, but you can come here and party and dance. And I feel that's super big, because before I was 21, it was hard for me to fall in love with Phoenix, because there was nothing for us to do.
A:
I think that is super cool to see you carve out a niche, but you are also equally as committed to attracting music lovers of all kinds.
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