Detroit’s Hottest Female DJs: Spinning the City’s Soundtrack and Beyond
Story by Biba Adams
These talented women are shaping Detroit’s music scene and making an impact worldwide.
Killa $quid
Born in Detroit, Killa $quid was birthed to a Motown melody. Influenced by her grandparents who were musicians, $quid's goal is to always bring a nostalgic feeling to every set she does and to encourage people to remember their inner child. In her bio, she writes, "Music is medicine and I bring a rhythmic remedy to the rooms I fill."
$quid has performed for numerous corporate clients and believes that the value in being a female DJ is their ability to curate music.
A fan of a diverse range of music, $quid lists Tyler the Creator, Lil Wayne, Stevie Wonder, and Quincy Jones as just a few of her musical influences. When on the wax, she loves to mix up her blends. "I might throw on some Solange back to back with Too Short, then, of course, a Detroit song or a jit song." One of her favorites to get a crowd going is "I Write Sins not Tragedies" by Panic at the Disco or anything by Paramore.
Her love for music and skills as an artist has expanded her career to model for companies like Foot Locker and her unique style has led her to be an ambassador for Hat Club.
In a new ambassadorship with Visit Detroit, $quid is excited to connect with her community and make great content. "I've always wanted to highlight women because we are the underdogs when it comes to a lot of things." She adds, "One of the things that I really love about Visit Detroit is that they are in tune with who are the creatives in the city, and they highlight things that are popular, but they also celebrate things that are more underground that don't get the same kind of shine."
Where to Find Her: Spot Lite Detroit, Big Pink Detroit
Instagram: @djkillasquid
DJ Skeez
It was nearly 20 years ago when Kyle Kentala bought her first pair of turntables. The former roller derby champion was a lifelong fan of Detroit hip-hop, electronic, and techno music and as she built relationships in those music circles—she found her own voice through the 1s and 2s.
After appearing in the 2009 hit movie, “Whip It” directed by Drew Barrymore as a roller derby champion—the music aficionado dedicated herself to music—particularly Detroit music.
“As an open format DJ, my favorite songs to play changes daily or by the venue and crowd. I'm obsessed with funky Detroit house baselines and killer vocals.”
“I truly enjoy watching people getting lost in the music I'm playing, dancing anywhere at any time,” Skeez says.
Rimarkable
Rimarkable is known for her unwavering knowledge of where electronic music comes from and where it is going. A first-generation Puerto Rican, the Afro-Latin sound continues to have a huge impact on her sonic leanings, alongside the unmistakable ear training of the city’s techno legacy.
Rimarkable has DJed professionally since 1997, first doing private events and then clubs in the early 2000s. She started producing in 2006 after she grew tired of male producers either not understanding how she wanted to sound, or taking advantage of her musical prowess.
A multi-hyphenate musician who has found various creative outlets over the years, Rimarkable believes in DJing and producing as a spiritual practice, exploring alchemy through the DJ art form as well as African spiritualism, healing, mental health and self- care.
"It’s a philosophy that eventually manifested as a lecture and classroom series called ‘The Alchemy of DJing’," which, she explains, is a means for her to creatively engage in social justice, and empower women and youth. It’s taken her to various cities such as Nairobi and Berlin, and US institutions such as Yale and Queens Museum. She is also an Adjunct Professor at NYU-Tisch in the Clive Davis Institute, where she teaches the younger minds this sacred art of alchemy of the DJ.
Rimarkable has been signed to UK house music institution Defected since 2021 including the Defected Music publishing arm, and stepped up as a presenter for the weekly Defected Radio show. 2023 is Rimarkable’s year for new releases but 2022 did not go a miss, as she hopped in the Studio with Honey Dijon to write and perform for Honey's latest album ‘Black Girl Magic’.
Where to Find Her: Motor City Wine, Touring Nationally
Instagram: @iamrimarkable
DJ Minx
In December of 1996, DJ Minx founded Women on Wax, a collective of female DJs from the Metro Detroit area. From then on, she worked with promoters and DJs across the country to solidify the career of several top female DJs and singers.
With a nod to the collective’s legacy, she launched Women On Wax Recordings in 2001, seeking to amplify the talent of local and global artists and create electronic music deeply rooted in the unique rhythm of Detroit. Over the span of three decades, the independent label features such classics as, “A Walk In The Park” and the politically-charged, “Blind Amerikkka,” and has become a mainstay in Detroit music [her]story.
DJ Minx relaunched WOW in June 2023 with a new compilation, “Queendom Vol. 1,” in recognition of Pride. The release is described as “infused with the loving, upbeat, positive energy that Pride Month generates”, and aims to “refocus the vision of what Women On Wax set out to do when it originally launched over 20 years ago.”
Where to Find Her: Spot Lite Detroit, Touring Nationally/Internationally
Instagram: @DJminxwomenonwax
Stacey Hotwaxx Hale
For as long as there is music and those who faithfully dance, there will always be a need for the Godmother of House Music, DJ Stacey “Hotwaxx” Hale. Detroit’s 1st female of house music plays dance floor bangers and orchestral melodies with live music fusions. Hotwaxx Hale has made a massive impact in American music culture, whether it’s playing in famous theaters like the Apollo New York and the Fox Detroit, or legendary underground dance music clubs like ‘Studio 54,’ and ‘The Warehouse.' Currently, she holds residence at Spotlite Detroit, & Marble Bar Detroit. She also has an international presence, which includes performances in London, Ibiza, France, Mexico, Berlin, Amsterdam, Toronto, and across the USA.
She has residencies at two clubs in Detroit at Spot Lite Detroit as Housecats w/ Jenny LaFemme, and Lacasa Cigar Lounge. Hotwaxx currently produces & hosts three radio shows. Twisted Tuesdays on Deep Space Radio at 12 PM EST. She hosts every 3rd Friday a virtual show on Twitch & Mixcloud simultaneously thru Technoclub-net 4pm EST . She is one of the leaders in a daily broadcast on Blast Radio/Hotwaxx. Stacey is the creator and coordinator for Sheometry Arts and Music Festival launched in Detroit in August 2019 and returned in July 2024.
Where to Find Her: Spot Lite Detroit, The Boiler Room Detroit
Instagram: @hotwaxx
DJ Stacye J
Stacye J is a native of Detroit and a veteran DJ of her hometown’s independent music scene. With mentorship from underground legends like DJ Trickster, DJ Sicari, and Piper Carter, Stacye has earned her credibility as a force of reckon behind the turntables whether it be parties that place her as the headliner responsible for everyone’s good time, or playing sonic architect and helping performing artists like Detroit Che tailor their live show to the surprise and delight of the audience.
Emerging from her teenage years as a self-proclaimed “lame” into the stylish cumulative of matter-of-fact queerness, womanhood, and motherhood, DJ Stacye describes her style of auditory curation as “sophistiratchet”. This desire to move crowds in ways that are both primal and intelligent stems from deep love of Detroit’s claim to fame as predecessors of electronic music and its’ more urban extensions, namely ghettotech and “booty music”.
This genre that has come to define counter-culture movements across Detroit and other melinated-metropolis was originally DJ Stacye J’s sole reason for learning the ways of the turntables. Since her induction into mixing, scratching and matching, DJ Stacye J has since developed a following of dedicated supporters as a highly sought DJ, promoter, and event curator.
Where to Find Her: On the scene around Detroit
Instagram: @djstacyej
Sky Jetta
According to Teen Vogue, Detroit-bred selector and producer, Sky Jetta — who often performs sets for rapper-singer Baby Tate — was raised on the techno subgenre of “booty music” or Ghettotech, bass-heavy hard dance tracks set to intensified speeds. But although Jetta, an on-off Chicago resident, has adopted juke music in her live performances and acknowledges Ghettotech as an enriching part of her musical origins, she nods to two global genres as current dance sensations.
“I feel like every DJ has a bit of amapiano in their sets currently. Just from the log drums and the feeling of that sound, it just resonates with most Black Americans,” Jetta tells Teen Vogue. “Another sound that's been making its way over here that's slowly growing is jungle, which is something that I've been getting more into.”
Where to Find Her: Femme It Forward presents: House Music is Black Music Tour
Instagram: @skyjetta
