ELLE (Canada)

Chippy Nonstop: The boundary buster

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Chippy Nonstop is going to make a change—whether you’re on her team or not. The Toronto-based DJ and rapper is the co-creator of inclusive sound initiative Intersessi­ons, a.k.a. DJ school. Started this year in Vancouver by Chippy and her friends Shy Daughter and Rhi Blossom (who starred in the latest Calvin Klein ad campaign), Intersessi­ons aims to fight inequality and sexism in the music industry by offering DJ seminars to women and LGBTQ individual­s. “We wanted to create a safe space for people to learn about DJing without feeling judged,” says the 24-year-old. Chippy feels the scene is oversatura­ted with male DJs because men dominate management positions, not because of a lack of female talent. “If I go to a show, people automatica­lly assume I’m someone’s girlfriend; they think I’m a groupie,” she says. “They don’t assume that a woman could be a DJ too.” Chippy broke into music when she was pursuing a rap career in L.A. and was approached by Diplo’s label Mad Decent. She has lived all over Canada and the United States and has built a strong network of friends in the industry. “There are so many talented people who are being ignored because they don’t conform to a specific niche,” she explains. Since its Vancouver debut in March, Intersessi­ons has caused a major splash on the DJ scene, running workshops in cities like Toronto, Montreal, NYC and L.A. At a workshop, you’ll learn the basics of DJing and try your hand at CDJing (music files stored on a USB stick), vinyl (old-school records) and Serato (on your laptop). “If we create more space for different types of people to become DJs, maybe it will change the perception of females and the LGBTQ community on a larger scale too.” Maryjane Peters n

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