"Smashing through epic blend after epic blend."
Every Saturday throughout New York's long hot summer, MoMA PS1 presents Warm Up, the museum's annual courtyard party that celebrates music's experimental spirit. Each week, The FADER will be speaking to one of the billed artists to find out who they're psyched about playing with. This week, LA's finest genre-shredding DJ Total Freedom explains why Jersey Club connoisseur UNiiQU3 gets his vote.
I'm amped in general to play with everybody this weekend at Warm Up but if I've gotta pick one that I'm most excited about, obviously I'm gonna claim the main thing UNiiQU3 :-P. Not just because she's from NJ and so am I and I wanna claim sisterhood, but because I'm just into her shit overall...period. Her productions are dope, her DJ-ing is kinda ridiculous, her vibe in general is just like... the look. She's definitely 'grinding'—like, you know she clearly works really hard but nothing about the way she's out there seems forced or corny. She has a sense of humor about what she's doing and I definitely respect that. I think out of all her NJ club contemporaries and predecessors she's coming into the forefront cause her vibe is just dope. You definitely wanna hear her take on whatever the latest radio hit is, you definitely wanna be at whatever party she's DJ-ing, like you definitely just want to hang with UNiiQU3.
TBH I'm definitely equal parts excited and scared to play with her on Saturday. I've only heard UNiiQU3 DJ once. It was on Halloween last year at a Ghe20 G0th1k that I was added to the bill of last minute as a secret guest. When I got to the venue UNiiQU3 was already on...fucking tearing it. I just remember having to fight my way through a wet and ferocious crowd to make it to the DJ booth and UNiiQU3 was back there just casually smiling and swapping CDs out of the decks, smashing through epic blend after epic blend. I went on right after her and I was def in over my head. Before showing up at the party I had only thought as far as maybe playing some of the more evil files in my hardstyle folder and a Diamanda Galás song I had no idea how i could mix into anything—that didn't really hold a candle to the work UNiiQU3 had been putting in :-/. I don't really remember how that ended, I just remember it being a kind of severe struggle to keep up with the energy level UNiiQU3 had set up. Definitely a hard act to follow. Definitely a pro. I'm definitely gonna be taking notes on Saturday :-P