Key Takeaways
- New York–raised DJ Miss Milan quit bartending in 2017 to fully pursue DJing. She broke through touring with Saweetie, and has since become the high-energy onstage partner and musical director–style DJ for Doechii’s live shows.
- Her tight, family-like chemistry with Doechii extends offstage, where she contributes creative direction, live scratching, and production and vocal work—most notably on “BOOM BAP” from Alligator Bites Never Heal, which earned her a Grammy.
- Beyond touring and festival sets built on uptempo, high-energy music and meditation-centered prep, Miss Milan runs EMPWR Beats, a free mentorship and community space for women and LGBTQ DJs, stressing passion, authenticity, and good energy as the keys to breaking into the music industry.
If you’ve seen a Doechii performance, then you’ve seen a DJ Miss Milan performance.
Miss Milan grew up in New York City with aspirations of being the next Beyoncé. Her on-stage ambitions were realized through DJing. After quitting her bartending job to fully commit to being a DJ in 2017, things started to fall into place.
Miss Milan’s first big gig was touring with Saweetie in 2018. Since then, she has become synonymous with Doechii’s flawless, high-energy performances, as the rapper’s DJ since 2020. She even won a Grammy, for her work as a vocalist and producer for Doechii’s 2024 mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal.
Miss Milan speaks about her chemistry with one of the hottest rappers in the world right now, her love for live performance, and the importance of true passion and community, below.
(This interview has been edited for length and clarity)
How did you get into DJing and performing?
I just had a love for being an entertainer. Growing up, I used to do different dance classes, and I was in little tournaments and award shows for my school. I always had this innate feeling of wanting to perform.
I've been such a huge fan of Beyoncé since Destiny's Child. At that time, Beyoncé was the rising mecca as we see her today. I literally remember being like, “I want to be the next Beyoncé.”
I always had a passion for music and performing. I didn't see a lot of women DJs, so I was like, “Maybe this is something that I can do where I can still be a performer, but not the whole thing that comes with having to be the main performer.”
Can you describe how you've gotten to this point in your career?
I took a chance on myself. It was probably two years before the pandemic. I was trying to learn how to really DJ, and I still had my bartending job.
Working at that restaurant, I felt a shift in myself, like I needed to do something to create more opportunity for myself. I remember changing my shifts from nighttime to daytime shifts, making less money, but the opportunities [to DJ at night] were coming in.
One gig led to another gig. A lot of the events and things that I was getting booked for were strictly through word of mouth, so people were seeing me perform, and were like, "Woah, this DJ is really cool. We want to book her for other things.”
That led me to bigger opportunities to work with other brands, and then those brands led me to a few artists on the come up. I always had a passion for upcoming artists, so I was affiliated with streaming services like Audiomack, where I would be highlighting women artists, because I'm a big girl’s girl. So, I used to do my own curation of promoting women artists, and one of the artists that I used to promote was Saweetie.
What was it like working with Saweetie?
We were working and gearing up right when “ICY GRL” dropped, and “Tap In”, and all those great things were happening, and then the pandemic shut everything down. I had to figure out a pivot for myself, and that's when I decided to shoot my shot with Doechii.
I saw her featured on one of my homeboy’s songs, and I remember hitting my homeboy up like, “Yo, who's the girl singing on the song?” I followed her, and I was like, “I really believe in what you have going on.” This is before she was signed to [Top Dawg Entertainment]. I was so impressed with her, and I was like, “If you ever need a DJ,” and she actually told me that she wanted to work with me because of seeing me work with Sweetie.
We just clicked. We literally had our very first show, after that, she got signed. And from that [first] show, we had the tightest chemistry ever, and we're now Grammy girls.
What is it like working with Doechii?
She’s the brainchild of everything. From where we first started, where there was hardly any budget for staging and things like that, she still had a vision for herself. I'm that type of person too, where I have a vision for myself. We're very big faith girlies, and we're very intentional, and very passionate.
Having those similarities, it feels more like family than it does a work-business relationship
We have been working [individually] just as much as we've been working together. Her as an artist, me as her DJ, and [then] me as my own artist in my own right. And when we collab, it's magic on stage.
What’s your role behind the scenes, and what’s it like watching these huge performances come to life?
Anytime we do any shows, whether it's festivals or her sold out tour, Alligator Bites Never Heal, she trusts me with my musical input and opinions. She'll let me explore some form of creative direction, musically. I'll have an idea to put something together, and then she'll be like, “I like that. Let's use that for the show.”
One of my favorite [touches] was adding the umbrella scene when we did the School of Hip-Hop [at Lollapalooza 2025]. Her incorporating me for the DJ aspect—where I'm scratching, and I'm live scratching too, there's no faking it. We're keeping the essence of hip-hop and the culture of it.
She lets me be me, and I think that’s important when it comes to an artist and who they're working with. Whether it's a DJ or a band, she pours into her team and gives [them] their flowers. She's always congratulating me and giving me my flowers publicly, on stage, and everything, so I'm always grateful for Miss Doechii.
You got producer and vocal credit on Alligator Bites Never Heal. Any memories from creating that album?
We are now officially saying goodbye to that era for sure, but so many great things happened. I mean, the Tiny Desk performance itself was something where people really got to see her versatility, and just her creativity as an artist, and me as a DJ—how I implement, and I come in with certain parts of the songs and things like that. But my major contribution to Alligator Bites Never Heal would be “BOOM BAP.”
I remember the recording for that. It was a fun time, it was a cool song, like we were just having fun. I had some production credits on it, as well as some vocal credits, because I have vocals where I'm like, “Boom, boom, boom, boom, talk to ‘em Doechii.” And then, “You know exactly what it is.”
I remember seeing that specific Swamp Session drop as the last Swamp Session to introduce Alligator Bites Never Heal, and I remember crying because they didn't tell me that it was going to make the mixtape or anything. I found out when everyone else found out, and I remember calling my dad, and I'm like, “Dad, she dropped the song that we did.”
I really couldn't believe it. You work hard all these years, and you try to do what you need to do, and you do things the right way, and you just hope people will do things the right way too. It was just such a fire thing for her to include me on [“BOOM BAP”], and then include me in the rollout with our performances.
That [producer and vocalist] credit got me my first official Grammy. As a DJ, more specifically a black woman DJ in this entertainment business, in this culture, in this world, I'm a shining light for others that anything is possible.
What is in the Miss Milan set or performance starter pack?
First and foremost, meditation. Got to zen, got to be zoned, got to be focused, because I still get nervous before anything.
Music-wise, we're doing a lot of uptempo BPMs that are 115, 120, 130, maybe even 160. You know, high-energy, get the party going vibes. I can go anywhere from Beyoncé to Doechii to Slayyyter. I love that song, “CRANK”.
I think people fail to realize that being a DJ, you need good energy. People believe in what you're doing because of the energy that you're presenting. So, if my energy is off, people can tell in the music.
You have such strong values of community and using your influence for good. I wanted to know more about EMPWR Beats and your main goals with your mentorship program.
Without community, I would not be in the position that I'm in now. I always wanted a woman mentor. I was like, “Let me just be what I want, and the change that I want to see.” So, I decided to formulate EMPWR Beats, a women's DJ community that is also inclusive to the LGBTQ community, because the spaces that I'm creating are for those that don't have those spaces.
It is a boys club when it comes to the DJ game, and it's hard to find spaces where people aren't trying to do extra. So, when I have time, I offer 30-minute mentorship sessions, one-on-one, with people that just want to pick my brain. Everyone is charging for services, but this is something that I don't even charge for.
I also do panels where I give flowers to any of the women DJs that I feel are just doing amazing. It doesn't matter how popular you are, if I feel like you're out there pushing the culture forward, I highlight you as a panelist. I've had the legendary Jersey club mother, Uniiqu3, as one of the guests, as well as Princess Cut, who is a legendary DJ in Atlanta. Then, on top of that, the workshops that I do are spaces for the girls to have community and spaces where they can actually DJ. So many girls are always saying how much they want a space just to practice, just to meet other DJs, so I'm glad that I'm able to provide that.
What advice do you have for young people who are trying to break into the music industry?
Passion has to be the first thing. A lot of people are doing things just to do things. That's why it's oversaturated. You have to just do what feels good to you, what speaks to your heart, and just be a good person. Don't feel like you have to do anything, or you have to be anything other than yourself, to get what you deserve.
