- March is Women's History Month, and our next story is about two pioneering women on the Detroit techno scene.

They are known as DJ Minx and DJ Holographic.

Both are scheduled to appear at this year's Detroit Movement Festival over the Memorial Day weekend.

"American Black Journal" contributor Micah Walker from "Bridge Detroit" talked with the women about their musical influences, their personal coming out stories, and what's next in their careers.

- [Micah] Detroit is known as the birthplace of techno.

Adding to that legacy, DJ Minx, a legend in the city's techno scene, and DJ Holographic, who's learning from those who came before her.

How did the two of you meet?

- Ariel and I met through of course music and being two black women from Detroit, playing this thing called techno and house music.

- Yeah.

- And me being mentorish, once I know about a young lady doing some music, I've gotta meet them.

So I went to a party where she was, just to meet her specifically.

- I love that.

- [Micah] Holographic looks up to Minx, and the two have formed a bond for music.

- I'm super honored to get to know her more and more every day.

And I'm trying to remember the first time I met you, but I know how many times I've heard of you.

I heard so many people say like, "If you don't know Minx, you don't know nothing yet."

And I was like, you're right.

And it just uplifted me to see you because I knew I'm in the right place at the right time.

- Both of you performed that movement this year.

You've been there several times.

What makes each time so special?

- I would say each time is so special 'cause I've been going since I graduated high school, and I've been going every summer, every year.

The Heart Plaza and being the heart of the city of Detroit to hear music that African Americans made, a house music, techno, it's gratifying.

For this past year, oh my god, it was like the best one.

I got to play a really fun, phenomenal set and I gotta see some of my favorite artists, like Terrance Parker, and I got reinspired and getting to dance and express myself and seeing my other family, 'cause that's what it is.

Movement is like another family.

- Absolutely.

Movement is like a family reunion every year.

And a lot of people around the world actually know that.

- [Micah] Minx has been a fixture at the Movement Festival for more than 20 years.

- I have a stage every year, so I do a house show live stage and we bring in artists that a lot of them haven't played Movement or been there before.

But the elevating of not only artists period, but LGBTQ community that come in and they play and they dance with us, it's like building another family on top of the one we already have.

- What were some of the music that you grew up listening to?

- At Motown, Michael Jackson.

- Diana Ross, honey.

- Diana Ross.

- Yes.

The Jacksons, Marvin Gaye.

- Aretha Franklin.

- Yep.

- A lot of Michael Jackson for me.

At 18, I started listening to Prince, and then the radio, it's the radio that really raised me for music here in Detroit.

- Electrifying Mojo.

- How has that shaped the music you're making today?

- First of all, with us talking about the Electrifying Mojo, he was on WGPR and he introduced me to a lot of the music that I still play today because his music is timeless as well.

He played a lot of prints, he played a lot of tracks that no one else played on different stations, like the B52s and Massage, Frequency 7 stuff.

He played a lot of new wave.

And this is stuff you hear right now that's being produced by house music DJs, using the same samples.

- [Holographic] Yeah.

And we can still play that music today.

- [Micah] How did clubs, like the Music Institute, help you realize that you want to be a DJ?

- Going to the Music Institute and seeing those people dance like they cared about nothing in the world, and them, just being such a togetherness at this place, that was a feeling that I wanted to deliver.

I saw the DJ at the Music Institute and he would be getting down.

I was like, "Ah, I think I can be a DJ."

But realistically, it was my mentor that pushed me to say, "Well if you wanna be a DJ, be a DJ."

The first thing I thought was, "Nope, I'm a woman.

I can't do that."

So then I started hearing about the women that were DJ'ing, like, there was Stacy and there was Kayhan, rest her soul, and Serena Tyler.

And I just, you know, started practicing and realizing that it is something that I as well could do.

- I worked at a nightclub called Nocto when I was 20, and I used to be in the Nectarine Ballroom where Jeff Mills was the wizard, like long ago.

And he had a residency there and I would hear the DJs perform there every night and hear how he would get people to come to the dance floor, but also let them go to chat and mingle with other people.

So I can see like there was an art to it and I just wanted to be a part of that.

- [Micah] DJ Minx and DJ Holographic share their coming out journeys as queer artists as well.

In 2021, Minx came out publicly on Instagram, saying in the post, "So here I am, Minx, DJ, producer, mama, partner, lesbian, friend."

- I've got friends that thought it was a bad idea for me to come out.

I've had a husband, I have daughters, and I looked like the, I guess, homebody that people wanted to see out there DJ'ing.

But just constantly hearing that it wasn't a good idea to let people know that, you know, I lived the way I lived, so I had to get over that.

Finally just let it go.

When I actually did come out, the phone calls that I got, like at that moment, like the posts went up, I'd sat and my managers were all like, "We're gonna be up."

But people that read the post were calling me.

"Holy smokes, I cannot believe it.

I love you so much.

Thank you for doing this."

One person said, you know, "You just helped me.

I just came out.

But you let it be known that it can be done."

And like an entire world opened up.

- Even with my family, like I came out in a weird way of being bi.

And people also, even the community, in our community, are not the nicest to bis.

But it was still that moment of when I told my family this, this is where it got kind of weird 'cause I expressed it to my mother.

It was a whole 'nother topic that we were having, and then it came up slightly to this topic of being, okay, this is when I'm gonna be vulnerable with you.

We're talking about something else where I'm gonna be vulnerable with you and honest about me, liking this girl at school.

But I don't know she fully understood or like, was willing to make the next move because I don't know, there was no book on the conversation, but she was listening and then of course, she told her mom, which is my grandmother and my grandmother just said, which really made me very happy that she said like, "As long as you meet someone that respects you."

And that was really nice, 'cause that means I got like, reinforcement there.

I played a majority only queer places in my first five years of DJ'ing.

So there was not a conversation of like, coming out.

I'm like, I'm here.

(laughs) Like, I'm here, I'm here and I'm queer.

- But it was always naturally there.

- What's next for the two of you?

Any future collaborations?

- Yeah, we've got something brewing.

Very, very Detroit.

I am currently planning my 2025 Movement stage.

I have a few remixes coming out soon.

- I only wanna think about five minutes ahead, but in truth, it's gonna be music, it's gonna be art, and it's gonna be Detroit, always.

My biggest thing right now is, the Zodiac thing is a big project for mine, and just like really just working on my music, honestly.

Like I love digging and working on music, though.

I have a lot of stuff.

The funny part is like, I'm an ambitious person, so I don't think I'm doing a lot.

- You're probably doing a whole lot.

- I'm doing too much.

- Yeah.

- I'm doing the most.

- Exactly.

Right, you're the one that's doing the most.