The end of the year brings a rush of feelings. Most of it? Introspection. We find ourselves not just looking back on the past few months, but longing to answer the question: who am I today and how did I get here?
For Black women, there’s a nostalgia for girlhood that isn’t about living in the past, it’s about understanding how it shaped everything we became, and are becoming. The first concert we went to. The “unknown” artist we claimed we discovered before anyone else. The songs that cracked open our emotional palette. The worlds we escaped into through headphones in our bedrooms.
That’s where DJ AG creates from.
Ashley Gill—AG—is a North Carolina-born, New York–based DJ and budding producer known for sets that move effortlessly between jungle, footwork, East Coast club, rap, techno, and anything at 140-160 BPM. Just a few years into the scene, you can find her at every dancer’s favorite spot: Mood Ring, Jupiter Disco, Le Bain, Elsewhere.
This October, she dropped her debut EP Grab The Wheel: a high-energy, nostalgic take on footwork, juke, and club music, shaped by growing up Black in suburban America in the 2010s. It currently sits as one of Bandcamp’s best-selling footwork projects.
I first heard AG on a random stumble-in night in the summer of 2024, in the basement of Midnights in Williamsburg. Even then, she was mixing high BPMs with tracks you’d forgotten were once staples on your playlist. Something I had yet to hear.
A few days before her post-release party for Grab The Wheel, I met her outside Mood Ring on a rainy Brooklyn afternoon. She rolls in with her sister, her presence reflecting her music: smiley, a little whimsical, and rather quickly – an open book. Off the record, she’s excited, slightly nervous, lighting up talking about the new music she’s making and her recent gig in Houston.
We sit down to talk about Grab The Wheel, the inspiration behind it, and her thoughts on being a Black woman shaping her own world within electronic music.
Your sets are known for fusing jungle, juke, and footwork. What draws you to those sounds?
AG: I think it’s just a feeling, to be honest. When I first started DJing in New York, I was still learning Rekordbox [a DJ software] and playing mainstream music. Once I started diving into electronic music, it was like—there’s not really anything else. I literally had a folder called “unknown genre” because I didn’t know what to call anything I liked.
Even early on, I always had this inclination to play jungle and throw rap on top of it. Those were my favorite blends, even before I had the right setting to play them. I love the genres I play because there are no rules, no limits. Footwork especially—it’s jarring, off-the-grid, mentally stimulating. When I look back at my old SoundCloud digs, I was always into electro sounds. I just didn’t have the language for it yet.
What makes a great DJ set for you?
AG: You always want to get people moving…but I also want to introduce the crowd to parts of myself. You have to give the crowd things they know, but if I can throw in a crazy rap-footwork flip and turn it into some bassy club moment? That’s my favorite.
Playing with no limits. Speeding up 120 BPM tracks, dropping something into halftime even if it sounds off-putting. That’s exciting to me. A great night is a diverse lineup with people who bring their own energy and aren’t afraid to experiment.
You’ve been DJing for a few years now —why did now feel like the right moment to produce your own project?
AG: I always knew I wanted to produce, but I had no idea where to start. When I first moved, I was very close with someone who knew Ableton [music software], and if I asked to have a session, he’d laugh or shut it down. Once I got out of that, I had a busy year with DJing. When you play every weekend for a year and a half, you learn your sound. Once I got settled, I finally knew what I wanted to do.
You describe the project as an ode to being a Black girl in early-2000s suburbia. Why this theme of nostalgia and identity?
AG: I was just practicing: 1 beat a day for 30 days. And all the songs I was sampling just happened to be songs I grew up on. I was just going off what I know. I knew the genres I liked, how I wanted things to sound from DJing, and the songs I adored and grew up with.
I love rap music. Grab The Wheel is actually named after a Lil Uzi Vert song. In highschool, me and my best friend Makayla would blast Kanye, Uzi—7 am before the bell rang, after school, going to the mall. Those songs were like the pledge of allegiance for me. It was just a special time. The music became a cool blend of the things that shaped my taste —rap music— and where I am now.
How did you know the project was ready?
AG: When I made these songs, I had no intention of making a project. Like I said, I was just practicing. But then I had a session with another DJ friend, nextdimensional. I played her a few in a row and she was like, “Oh, are you making an EP?” She told me they all had this jazzy, rap element, and I’d never thought about it. I assumed I’d make an EP way later.
I also had a really crazy year. Getting older brings weird changes. What brought me back was pouring all that energy into my art. I poured everything into the music, had it mixed and mastered, dropped it the next week, threw together the cover art in 30 minutes, and started leaking sh*t.
You flip classics—Kanye’s “Mercy,” Travis Porter, Roy Ayers. Why was it important to prioritize these classic Black artists?
AG: It’s weird getting older and feeling the gap widen between the music you grew up on and what your parents grew up on. Sampling was a cool way to reclaim that — to touch younger listeners while blending in older generations’ music. Now, more than ever, we’re leaning into electronic music…it felt good to bridge everything. I wasn’t expecting people to connect with it the way they did.
What do you want people to feel when they finish Grab The Wheel?
AG: Comfort, calmness, nostalgia. Like the feeling when you hear songs you loved when you were younger and you’re returning to that moment, but in a new light. I want it to feel calm, mysterious, obscure—something you can chill to on the train, on a walk, or when you just need to zone out.
There’s a major wave of Black women reclaiming space in club and electronic music. How do you see yourself within that movement?
AG: A party with no women in the room — or on the decks — is a party nobody wants to be at. That’s why we’re so important. Women create spaces that feel loving, free, and expressive.
I don’t look to male-led spaces for validation anymore. And honestly, female and non-binary DJs tend to be the best. I’m just doing what feels right and hoping it connects.
Your release party at Mood Ring has an insane lineup of peers. Why is community important to you in this space?
AG: I’ve been inspired by everyone I’ve booked. nextdimensional encouraged me to drop the project. D3NIM gave me access to Ableton. 5spice is an incredible producer. These are people I can hit up for honest opinions. I wouldn’t be in these spaces without them.
What advice do you have for Black women who want to step into club or electronic music but feel intimidated?
AG: If you make music—just start. Everything I know came from opening the software. And if you’re a listener: support Black DJs. Go to shows. Buy our music. This music is for us.
For someone new to the EP, what track should they listen to first?
AG: PARI. That encapsulates the vibe.
Favorite NYC venues to play?
AG: It depends on the lineup, the crowd, the energy—it all affects it. But a venue I want to play? Paragon. Nowadays. Knockdown Center. That would be dope.
3 things inspiring you right now?
AG: My new digs: I’m tapping into a different bag—expanding outside just jungle and footwork into electronic, club, ghettotech.
Eras: I’m inspired by the concept of eras; it lets me fully explore artistry at a deeper level. Artists like Doja Cat or George Riley—people embracing different eras and vibes. With producing, it’s been cool to claim a vibe, fully live in it, and then toss it when I’m ready to move on.
Leisure: For some weird reason, chilling at home and doing nothing has inspired me. Just unplugging.
Lastly, how are you grown, and how are you growing?
AG: Hmm. Grown? I feel grown in how far I’ve come in my music career since moving to NYC. Growing? By creating this little world around my music. I’m reclaiming parts of myself. I have a hand in everything—the visuals, videos, designs, vlogs of my gigs, TikTok to express my personality. Seeing a woman talk about these things, creating visualizers and videos, it feels right. I want to make multiple projects next year.
EP Release Party Night
Just 48 hours after our conversation, I was back in the infamous chaos of Myrtle Ave, stepping into the red glow of Mood Ring. I arrived at that pre-peak sweet spot — just before midnight. Alongside a friend just dipping her toes into electronic music, I figured, what better way to give her the full experience?
A few steps in, the room was packed. With peers, regulars, faces you know but can’t name — people who live electronic music. Or, as I would put it, community as intended.
AG held the room for two hours straight, slipping between her own tracks and flips of the songs we grew up on, Lil Wayne classics included.
While she’s built a reputation on high-tempo energy, she still knows exactly when to let a track breathe, when to pull back, and when to prove you wrong, even when you think you know what you’re about to hear.
Her MC said it best before the final track: “We all have ass, so let’s shake it!” nextdimensional followed with a high-energy ghettotech opener, keeping the room’s intensity just as high.
A night of different sets, different speeds, but somehow seamless.
And for my friend? Experiencing this world for the first time, she had no notes.
As I left, I lingered on how looking back often sparks something new in us. In a time when revisiting our past selves or old moments usually comes with a cringe, a laugh, or a little shame, Grab The Wheel reminds us that nostalgia isn’t a burden, but a guide, often pointing us exactly where we’re meant to be.
Follow Ashley “AG” Gill on Resident Advisor to see where she’s playing next, and listen to Grab The Wheel on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple Music.