GET FAMILIAR: SLIMFIT
Quite the new kid on the Amsterdam DJ scene, Slimfit will be playing a set for Patta Soundsystem at Appelsap 2019. We had a little chat with her to get to know her better.
You’re quite new in the Amsterdam DJ scene. Could you introduce yourself to the people that might not know you yet?
That's right. Well, if I could describe myself as a person with a passion for culture; music, art, philosophy and politics make my heart beat faster and give meaning to my life. I’m an outgoing, sensitive and social type, I'm in love with my friends and I want to know all about all sorts of people with different lifestyles, backgrounds and stories; they intrigue me and their authentic way of living is a source of inspiration for me and my life.
What type of music did you grow up and how does that resonate to the music you’re playing now?
I grew up with a father listening to soul, funk, disco and rap; James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Prince, The Isley Brothers, Tupac and a mum listening to rock, wave and classical music; the Doors, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Joy Division, The Cure, Bach. I think this fed my interest in and appreciation for diverse kinds of styles and genres in music. When I was about 14/15 years old I started to collect by endlessly surfing on Youtube to find new tracks; when I missed something in a specific genre, I tried to fill this up by listening to another genre. I think that's what I do, I mostly play music that resonates very different styles into a new mix which is inclusive to all different kinds of people and makes them move along together.
What can we expect from Slimfit at the Patta Soundsystem stage?
I like to surprise myself and my audience, right now I still don’t know for sure what I will be playing. I wanted to honour female rappers, so it might be a female rap-mix but it’s most likely that I will play tracks from various genres; I hope to surprise my audience and myself.
With Appelsap being a festival that prides itself in giving upcoming artist a stage, what do you think upcoming artists should do to stand out nowadays?
I think upcoming artists should try to consider themselves as the curators of subcultures. Deejays have a certain responsibility in that way that they let the voice of the original music artists/producers be heard so that their sound will not die. As long as people dance on a song, it stays alive and is appreciated. And I think it's interesting for new deejays to play songs that didn't have enough appreciation yet, to find pearls that were forgotten otherwise so that another person's (musical) horizon can be broadened.
What does the future hold for Slimfit?
I hope that I can play at many more interesting festivals and venues, and would like to play abroad as well. For the rest, I’m currently exploring how it feels like to make music by collaborating with a friend who is a great producer and I would like to start an agency focussed on female-identifying and non-binary artists eventually. Now is the time for female-identifying deejays to be heard and taken seriously just like their male colleagues; fuck the pay gap and implicit sexism in the music industry.
