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Nastia Voynovskaya [00:00:05] I’ve always like kind of casually watched the Warriors, but I’m not a huge sports head.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:00:11] This is Nastia Voynovskaya. She’s the Associate Editor of Arts and Culture here at KQED. And her gateway into sports fandom was the Golden State Valkyries.
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:00:25] It feels so amazing to go to an arena of 18,000 people where they’re all celebrating women’s strength and agility and skill. And I had never experienced that before. And I was just like, wow, this is how men must feel all the time watching the NBA. So I think a lot of people feel that way too.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:00:46] The Valkyries just wrapped up their first season, and next week, they’ll be the first WNBA expansion team to appear in the playoffs. And they aren’t just good, they’re fun. Part of their appeal is the women-forward and queer-friendly community the team creates. It’s a community that’s very much represented by the team’s official DJs, whose job is to set the mood at Chase Center, AKA Ballhalla.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:01:37] Today, the Valkyries’ official DJs and how they make Balhalla roar.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:01:52] Kind of embarrassed to say I still actually haven’t gone to a Valkyries game yet, but I’ve heard a lot about them. I mean, how would you describe what it’s like going to a Valkyries game?
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:02:05] There’s this huge super celebratory energy and it’s so different from going to a Warriors game because you can just see the sheer numbers of women and queer people in the stands. Everyone’s wearing really cute outfits. Everyone’s in purple. There’s families with little kids, lots of families with girls who play sports, and it’s just incredible vibes. I know a lot of people that don’t really like basketball that much, but they go for the vibes.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:02:44] I’m curious for this story, there’s so many things about the Valkyries that are kind of groundbreaking, but why did you want to focus on the DJ specifically?
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:02:53] Well, I think the Valkyries have made really savvy moves just tapping into various Bay Area cultural communities and just making fans in the Bay feel really part of their rise and the excitement. And I cover music and nightlife a lot, I cover LGBTQ culture a lot. And I was really excited when they announced that Lady Ryan and DJ Shellheart were the DJs because both of them have been killing it in the bay areas music scene for years and are really influential.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:03:22] So it sounds like they both have roots and connections in the Bay Area already. Tell me a little bit more about them and who they are, starting with DJ Shellheart.
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:03:32] For sure, so DJ Shellheart has been DJing for 11 years. It’s hard work, hard work literally working years after years after years and being seen. She is the tour DJ for Rexx Life Raj, who’s a really popular rapper who was born and raised in Berkeley. She’s really big in the hip-hop scene. She has shared stages with people like DJ Jazzy Jeff and Anderson Paak recently.
DJ Shellheart [00:03:58] The club is fun. But it’s just like I get to I feel like I get a little bit more motivated being around sports.
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:04:07] And Lady Ryan has been DJing in the scene since 2006.
Lady Ryan [00:04:12] You know, when people are there at their first game, you know and you can, you catch that vibe, you know? So it makes you want to be involved in this major unison of excitement and celebration.
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:04:24] And she is one of the most influential people I would say in the LGBTQ nightlife scene. She co-founded a couple of really popular parties called So Lovely and Sweet Spot that are just banner events of Oakland queer nightlife. And she and her partner Denise actually just opened their own bar and it’s called Golden ratio in downtown Oakland.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:04:48] How do they get this gig? I feel like it’s like the coolest possible DJ gig you could get in the Bay Area.
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:04:55] Yeah, I think it was sort of through, I think, connections in the DJ world. So Lady Ryan told me she kind of entered the sports DJ orbit, filling in for the Giants official DJ, Umami, who also DJs for the Warriors sometimes. And then Shellheart filled in for Warriors DJ, D-Sharp. And he was a champion of both Lady Ryan and Shellheart and sort of a mentor to them both.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:05:22] And are they themselves basketball heads or do they consider themselves basketball heads?
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:05:27] Yeah, they both said that they grew up watching basketball and are huge WNBA fans and Shellheart in particular told me that she has been watching some of the Valkyries players like Tiffany Hayes since they were college players.
DJ Shellheart [00:05:39] Now I’m at the age where I understand that I watched these people from high school to college. I’m like, oh, okay, yeah. It’s more fun when you know where the players came from.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:05:54] I know you went to Chase before one of the games as the team was doing their warmups and the DJs were there too. What was that like?
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:06:03] Yeah, it was really cool. I met up with DJ Shellheart during the warm-ups.
DJ Shellheart [00:06:09] I love songs about sneakers and stuff.
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:06:12] She had her DJ booth set up on the court and the Valkyries were warming up on one side, the Phoenix Mercury were warming on the other side, so I got to see the players foam rolling and doing all these exercises. She kind of has to set the mood, you know, for them to get in the mindset to win. So she was playing stuff like Drake, Glorilla, also Bay Area songs from E40 and Lecrae. And it was awesome seeing her get acknowledgement from the players, like Kate Martin jogged by and fist bumped her. And you could really tell the music was kind of adding to them getting in the zone.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:06:55] How do they think about their role as DJs? And how do they know that they’re doing their job well, I guess?
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:07:03] Yeah, I mean, their job is to keep the crowd hyped, you know, from before the game to the moment the players run out on the court. The DJs are spinning during the players’ warmup. Then they’re playing music as people kind of trickle into the stadium. Then they play the Valkyries song that they run out to, which the most recent one I heard was Blow the Whistle by T-Short. And then they’re pretty much playing during all the time outs, all the interactive moments where they’re throwing t-shirts or prizes, halftime. And sometimes the camera goes to the DJ and they have to, you know, bring that energy hyping up the crowd. So they’re definitely an integral part to the hype that happens at Ballhalla.
DJ Shellheart [00:07:52] Yeah, I just try to play turnt up music, man. Because when I first started, I was like, OK, I’m going to play some cool shit. And then I’m like, that’s not what they want. I had to figure it out. They want some up-tempo. They’re about to play a whole game. Like, the crowd is coming in for a game. So I’m, like, these are the songs that I’m going to every time I DJ.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:08:15] We’ll I’m so curious about what they’re playing at the games. I have a friend who was like, I feel like they play a lot of female artists.
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:08:37] They do, yeah, definitely. Both of them told me Doechii is in heavy rotation. Songs like My House by Beyonce. I’ve heard Kamiya in there. So yeah, I would say it’s a mix. It’s like Bay Area girl power is the vibe.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:09:08] Is it different also from DJing, I guess like a usual DJ event at like a club or something? Do they think about that differently as well?
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:09:18] I think it’s pretty different because it’s not a continuous, you know, one or two hour set like a DJ would have at a club. You’re kind of interspersing, you’re injecting the game with energy during these really particular moments. Like timeouts and things like that are when they’re deliberating different rough calls like you have to keep the energy of the crowd up during those moments.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:09:40] Wow, that’s a hard job.
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:09:43] It is, but yeah, I’ve heard from WNBA fans and just basketball fans in general, but they really haven’t seen anything like the energy at Chase Center during Valkyries game in a long time. And people have compared it to Oracle or Roaracle during the Warriors championship run.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:10:01] They have a really big role in setting the vibe of the stadium. And I feel like it’s a pretty, very outward role as well. Like, how do they talk about that?
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:10:13] Both of them told me that it’s really empowering and exciting to be in this stadium that really celebrates women and queer women especially, and Lady Ryan talked about this.
Lady Ryan [00:10:26] In a way, this is my life, like it feels regular, but it definitely feels empowering.
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:10:32] And it comes at a time where the WNBA has really come to embrace its queer identity, which has not always been the case, but I think around 30% of players are openly queer. And back when the league debuted in the late 90s, it was marketed with this very feminine, straight image. Now the league has a culture where players are really allowed to be themselves and that they embrace their queer fan base that comes out in droves, and I think the DJs are just part of that.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra [00:11:12] I mean, Nastia, it’s been a very historic season for the Valkyries. They’ve sold out every single one of their home games. What do Shellheart and Lady Ryan just tell you about what it means to be part of all of that?
Nastia Voynovskaya [00:11:26] Yeah, they both told me they’re so grateful for this incredible opportunity and they want to do it again next year. And Shellheart in particular told me that she loves inspiring fans, especially little kids. A little boy came up to her for an autograph at her second game. And I think that makes it especially meaningful for both of them.
DJ Shellheart [00:11:48] That’s why I love this, and then coming in here playing for all these fans, playing for an arena is a dream come true.
