WHO’S IN TRANSIT: Our Crush On Cuba Kapowski: In Transit

I first met Cuba (real name Beverly Cardenas) on Dec. 12, 2012. Now I can only recall that exact date, not because of some extraordinary memory skills, but because some mutual friends put on a very epic party to start the end of the year. And how hard is it to remember “12-12-12” right? While I was quite comfortable just relegating our encounter to just another pretty face amongst pretty faces I was pleasantly surprised to find her at another shindig but this time she was providing the soundtrack to the evening. A monthly set she puts on with her colleague Mike G Gallion appropriately titled “1985”. So I was eager to sit down with her and gain some insight into how a first generation Cuban American becomes a dope DJ.

“I was actually intimidated by DJing” At her suggestion we meet at Del Friscos Grille, “I love their patio!” she says. She has the same bright smile as I remember when I first met her and more open than I anticipated. “I felt like a bit of an outsider here (in Dallas) growing up. I just knew I was going to end up in New York. I was one of the only girls I knew listening to Wu-Tang and breakdancing growing up. I was rocking Timbs and the whole nine. I wanted to master all elements of Hip Hop.” Even though there is a certain tone that leads me to believe life wasn’t a box of chocolates growing up for a young girl searching for her place in the world, the smile is constant. She shares that even though the love was there in her household, the support wasn’t necessarily for what she wanted to do. “I’ve wanted to DJ since I was a kid”. So while she never made it to New York as a youngster she was able to connect with some like-minded individuals by attending the Art Institute of Dallas and working at 97.9 The Beat. Then things weren’t so lonely and it at least sparked her creativity but it was years before she actually got behind the 1’s and 2’s. Some years later she found herself working at Max FM, a short-lived local radio station in Dallas where she had actual access to DJ equipment. “I went to a party that Chris (DJ M Knight) was spinning at and I watched him the whole night and I thought to myself I can do that”. With that bit of inspiration she began practicing for 2 to 3 hours every night after work. While she was able to get pointers here and there from some local and nationally known DJs, she considers herself to be self-taught.

Our conversation shifts back to Dallas, “There’s just an energy here right now that makes it exciting.” There’s the smile again. She even sees it in her day job. When she’s not spinning for the W Hotel Pool Wetdeck or at the Arcade Bar on first Sundays for “1985” she’s helping Dallas’ urbanites locate residences as one half of the Dallas Uptown Girls in the hippest neighborhoods in the city. It’s with that I’m left with the idea that it’s people like her who are injecting the freshness into the metroplex. That constant cool that is breathing life into the “Big D”. And to think…we almost lost her to New York.