Jul 7
Rave, Reclaim, Repeat: How DJ Xhosa Is Electrifying Queer Nightlife in 2025
READ TIME: 3 MIN.
Reclaiming the Floor: The Rise of DJ Xhosa
On a humid Friday night in late June 2025, the industrial heart of Brooklyn pulsed with the throb of bass and bodies. The occasion: “Reclaim the Floor,” a queer-led dance event that drew hundreds of revelers, many draped in mesh, sequins, and platform boots, all gathering for one reason—to lose themselves in the soundscape of DJ Xhosa, a nonbinary Afro-Caribbean artist whose genre-blurring sets have made them the talk of New York’s underground and a rising icon in global queer nightlife .
Fresh off a headlining slot at the event—which doubled as a Pride Month celebration and a protest against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation—Xhosa spoke about the night’s energy: “Every track I play is a love letter to the ballroom legends, house pioneers, and all the queer people who kept dancing, even when the world tried to turn the music off.” Their words echo a wider movement among LGBTQ+ artists who are reclaiming nightlife as both a sanctuary and a stage for activism .
Soundtracking Queer Liberation: Music as Protest and Communion
Xhosa’s sets are a genre-melting tribute to the queer musical innovators who preceded them. Within their mixes, one hears the DNA of New Orleans bounce—where nonbinary artists like Big Freedia carved out space for Black queer expression—alongside the legacy of ballroom’s fierce competitions and the relentless pulse of early techno and house, both genres birthed in marginalized queer communities .
The event’s playlist was both history lesson and future vision: tracks that sampled classic vogue beats, remixed with afro-diasporic percussion and vocal snippets from recent protest marches. Attendees—many of whom identified as transgender, nonbinary, or people of color—described the music as “a portal” and “a protective spell.” As one dancer put it, “On queer dance floors, we’re not just celebrating—we’re surviving, resisting, and rewriting the rules together.”
Fashion as Manifesto: Defiant Self-Expression
The crowd at “Reclaim the Floor” was a living gallery of 2025’s queer fashion revolution. Attendees wore platform boots with bare chests, pastel buzzcuts peeking from bucket hats, mesh tops layered over leather harnesses, and hand-painted slogans demanding trans and queer liberation . Body chains, glitter beards, and feather boas—once dismissed as clichés—were reimagined as tools of visibility and resistance.
Xhosa’s own look—a deconstructed suit by indie label Official Rebrand, paired with iridescent body paint and LED accessories—embodied the night’s ethos: “Our bodies are canvases, our clothes are protest. Queer fashion now is about telling your own story, loud enough that nobody can erase it,” Xhosa told the crowd before their set .
Community Rituals: More Than a Party
Events like “Reclaim the Floor” are part of a larger wave of queer nightlife that prioritizes community care and accessibility. Organizers provided sensory-safe chill-out rooms, a gender-neutral dress code, and a sliding-scale entry fee, ensuring that the celebration was as inclusive as possible. The night featured ballroom-style runway competitions, voguing workshops, and on-site mutual aid booths supporting LGBTQ+ youth and housing initiatives .
For many, the sense of ritual was palpable. “We come here to dance, but also to mourn, to organize, to imagine new futures,” said event co-organizer Maribel Ortega, a longtime activist in Brooklyn’s queer scene. “In a year when our rights are under attack, these dance floors become sacred spaces—and music, our shared language of hope” .
Looking Forward: The Global Impact
With tour dates announced for London, Berlin, and Mexico City later this summer, DJ Xhosa’s influence is poised to cross continents, further amplifying the message that queer nightlife is both art and activism . As more artists and event organizers embrace this ethos, the future of LGBTQ+ culture looks unapologetically bold, boundary-pushing, and brilliantly loud.
