01 March, 2016
The Inside New York video series brings the SUITCASE New York guide to life by filming five of our favourite New Yorkers in their corners of the city. For more stories and insights follow SUITCASE Magazine on Viber Public Chats.
There are few people more equipped than DJ Kitty Cash to make sure you have a good night out in NYC. PR manager for G-Star Raw North America by day and "DJing every other second of the day", Cash has the infectious energy and admirable confidence of her hometown, New York City. "I don't necessarily need a turn-up place to come out with friends. I am the turn-up."
Cash first started DJing when her friend Kilo Kish, the singer, needed someone to open up her tour. Since then she's played the perfect balancing act between fashion DJ and a serious music talent. She's played parties for Opening Ceremony and Rag & Bone and opened for heavyweights like The Dream and Hudson Mohawke. The clincher? She dropped Three 6 Mafia at Solange's Saint Heron party and Beyoncé was dancing to her set.
Always spinning classic hip-hop, R&B and rap, her go-to crowd warmer is Luther Vandross' Never too Late and go-to dance move is the body roll. You won't find her standing behind the decks at any party. "I'm always dancing, getting low, hands on my knees - actually getting down. It makes everyone comfortable and breaks the ice."
Born and raised in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, by a Trinidadian father and a half Puerto Rican mother, on a night out Cash naturally gravitates towards the Caribbean scene. She throws a monthly party called Ting & Ting at Williamsburg's Kinfolk 90 venue and usually ends the night at tiny Afro-Caribbean spot called Bembe. "I like to find places that aren't too well known that are super cosy and intimate."
For our interview we met with her sister and model, Moon, at Ode to Babel, a new lifestyle bar in Brooklyn. It's been her secret spot that she's been coming back to ever since her friend played a reggae soca set at this hidden gem in Flatbush (and since she figured out they make sorrel cocktails). "It reminds me of my grandmother's living room and that is because my grandmother is one of the flyest people ever. You feel like you're at a girlfriend's house and you can just drink all the time and no one will judge you."
Here Cash gives us some of her favourite venues and drinking spots in NYC:
I naturally gravitate towards Caribbean culture so Ode to Babel is a new secret spot I have been telling all my friends about. I came here one night when a friend of mine was DJing a reggae and soca set. They had a sorrel cocktail and I nearly lost my mind because I can drink sorrel all day and night. It's a lifestyle bar with a little shopping element.
A fun spot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Wythe avenue where I DJ a lot. We actually throw a monthly Caribbean party here called Ting & Ting. It's a small space but has a great dancefloor and a really laid back, cool vibe.
If you have not been, you need to go. This is an Afro-Caribbean club and the punches are off the chart. The space is super small and you can jump on the couches and just dance. I love it because you have someone who is 22 and someone who is 65 and ready to dance. I'm like "Hey Grandpa, let's go!"
This is one of my favourite venues in New York because when people go to Terminal 5 they are going to enjoy real music and real artists. Both small and big artists play here.
A cool music venue in Williamsburg that I go to a lot with friends. I played a few shows there and I always have a good time here. They have a wide range of live acts and DJ sets.
I love secret spots which are really low key. Elvis' guesthouse is below a little Japanese restaurant in the West Village. It is one of those music venues that you can play at and just have 20 of your friends there and have a great night. It's a packed room and everyone is having the time of their life.