We were lucky to catch up with Nix Corporan recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nix , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is one I’m currently working on now– my baby, THIQUE! THIQUE is a dance party unlike others, as its intention is to celebrate one of the most marginalized queer communities– the plus-size queer community. It’s super important that parties like THIQUE are prevalent in this day and age, as we’re approaching what appears to be a “Y2K”-esque revival of diet culture and eating disorders. With prescriptions like Ozempic popularizing, trending “aesthetics” like the clean girl aesthetic, and even our government and policies being enforced in the White House, these are all attacks in this particular community. As a proudly fat, Dominican, non-binary femme person, it feels like this is my purpose in life– to find and build a community for people like me. Since I’ve launched the party, we’ve had interest in 6 other cities throughout the US, including red states which makes me incredibly happy because we know now more than ever, they’re going to need all the community we can give so my mission is to make this party a touring one.

The first stop of THIQUE is January 31st at Bushwick’s very own The Bush! It features myself and two other DJs, two drag acts including a plus-size drag queen girl group and two very hot gogos! It’s going to set a fat revolution, for sure.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

KLK! I’m Nix, the mastermind behind MANGUMAMI, a Dominican DJ demon in my head! I have to make that differentiation because… MANGU’s like…. the Hyde to my Jekyll. Anyway, dramatics over!

I’ve been eating, breathing and living music all of my life. From chorus in elementary school, playing the flute in middle school, three saxophones in high school, and learning piano for some of my classes in college, music’s always been my first and forever love. As I got older, I yearned for that chance to be creative again and I technically began DJ-ing during the pandemic. I got a super super basic controller with my stimulus check, but my laptop was older and would freeze so I kinda gave up and picked up DJ-ing again the summer of 2023 after getting heartbroken. Since then, it’s been love at first jogwheel scratch.

I’m what you’d consider an “open format” DJ, meaning I play a variety of genres, preferably within the Black and Latine diaspora– latin, afrobeats, dancehall, soca, zouk to name some. I also like to play alternative, K-Pop, and other varying genres as well.

If I’m not mixing, I’m dabbling in editing tracks! I do want to produce my own original works, but I’m starting to familiarize myself with FL Studio and figured some of your favorite tracks with a MANGUMAMI twist will have to do for now.

What sets me apart from other DJs/producers is not only the range in music that I play but the intention behind each blend. I try to incorporate skills from my expertise in music (i.e. pitch + word play, phrasing) to give you quality transitions.

What would you need to know about me? A MANGUMAMI set is going to have you grooving– twerking is the standard, but grooving’s the bare minimum. That… and I’m extremely punctual and professional. I’m all about twerking, and liberating yourself on the dance floor, but I am extremely professional and take my work rather seriously.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The rewarding aspect of being a creative is the community forming in the audience, definitely! I prefer to work within queer spaces, because they’re home and so it warms my heart when after a gig or as I’m about to go on, someone speaks love into me for doing what I’m doing.

I remember the weekend after the election, I was scheduled to go my residency (shout out to Dani’s Queer Bar in Boston, love you guys!) and… you know, we were all worried and anxious for not just our lives, but our future. So I was playing, with just crazy anxiety inside, and someone to the side of me’s talking to me and mentioning how she saw me in New York, and wanted to come see me in Boston but also thanked me for trying to bring positivity and light, and let the crowd escape what was going on in the world, and that hit home. Nightlife has always been an escape for me when I needed a distraction from reality– I would just go to a club or a party, put my phone in my bag or take it out to record a clip from a DJ’s set. To hear from someone else that I’m now providing a light during a dark time really humbled me and made me appreciate my craft.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Absolutely– right now actually! I lost my job back in September. I was DJ-ing “part-time,” with a full-time job. With this job economy, it’s been extremely hard finding a new job and so I figured while I job hunt, I would pick up more gigs to survive. This “pivot” of DJ-ing part-time to full-time has allowed me to travel freely to cities like Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington, DC. It’s allowed me to sit down and conceptualize THIQUE. It’s been showing me very subtly that if I do continue at the rate I’m at, and decide to want to DJ, produce and curate events full-time, that I’d be in good hands. My anxiety says otherwise, haha, but like… at least it’s been giving me a preview of what that life could look like. Rejection is redirection, after all, and this period right now’s kind of showing that.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djmangumami
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/djmangumami/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MANGUMAMI
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mangumami

Image Credits

Justine Martinez
Dara Shakhanava