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DJ Kittie brings the retro vibe to her Vegas sets

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Kittie is everywhere, from Tao and Hyde to the Bank and Beauty & Essex.

You can catch her playing at Tao, the Foundation Room, the Bank, Hyde Bellagio, and other clubs on the Strip and beyond Las Vegas, too. But when you catch DJ Kittie at the new Beauty & Essex at the Cosmopolitan, you’re really getting her in her element.

“The Beauty & Essex lounge area is really cool, and it fits the music format I love, which is more of an ’80s and ’90s vibe, maybe with a little ’70s,” she says. “Nineties hip-hop is my heart. It was just a different sound and style those artists created in their music and their videos, and you can’t really do a whole set of [that stuff] plus R&B from that era when you’re in the club, [such as] Usher and Anthony Hamilton and D’Angelo.”

Kittie has been manning the decks for about seven years now and is equally well-known as the touring DJ for Chanel West Coast. She broke into the business in her native Kansas City after learning the ropes from friends and gigging at dance-music and hip-hop fests. She landed in Vegas four years ago “with a dollar and a dream,” she jokes. “I just networked, networked, networked, and that’s how I got on [first] at Tao. I was just a hungry DJ and felt like I gotta make it, and it’s a little crazy how things fell into place.”

Next up for Kittie: honing in on her producing skills and working on a single. “I’m trying to get the sound right, but I have a lot of artists who are pretty big who said they’ll give me verses,” she says. “Part of learning how to produce is trying to bring back that sound, and creating something of my own. It’s a new thing, been about a year now, but I’m gonna get it right.”

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Brock Radke

Brock Radke is an award-winning writer and columnist who currently occupies the role of managing editor at Las Vegas Weekly ...

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