Nita Aviance, a seasoned NYC DJ on the underground scene, graciously let me interview him riding through Williamsburg in a black car, on his way to studio time with Adam Joseph. One part of the music force at Tubway, the Mr. Black party that he's run for three years, Nita is slave to the arts, his training is not only in music but dance, design and theater to boot.

How long have you been spinning, and how did you get there?
I've been DJing for about seven years -- it was kind of an accident. Formika called a friend of mine to fill in, and my friend was like, "you have more records than me, let's go do it together!" But then my friend got lit and I ended up [DJing] the whole night, and got a job.

So you already had a big music collection -- what kind of music do you spin?
I am totally obsessed [with music], I've been collecting for as long as I can remember. It's dance music, but right now it's really more about crossing genres. It's pretty electronic and danceable, but there's always been an element of hip-hop -- that's what I used to play when I was getting started.

You've actually written some hip-hop tracks.
You could call it that, yeah, I guess. I wrote some songs for La'mady with Jonny McGovern and Linda James. It's urban cunt! [readers can hear rap stylings of DJ Nita in "This is NYC, Bitch," the title track of the East Village Mix Tape from Gay/Nerd records.]

What are you working on right now?
We just finished a track for "Make My Body Rock" by Kevin Aviance -- it's a Tubway remix that is DJ Gant Johnson, Adam Joseph, and myself.

What is your process for making a remix or a new track?
It's the situation, and what I'm listening to at the moment. There's usually something in the song that will catch me -- a vocal bit, a bass line or what have you. I just build from there and know what I want it to sound like, and someone like Adam Joseph has the engineering skill to make it happen.

But how do you know when it's good?
Experience in playing really helps to determine how a mix is gonna go. I come from dance and have been slave to DJs in the past -- knowing what it's like being on the floor and losing your mind is what helps me as a DJ. You have to play in order to know how people are going to react, and you've gotta fail (as with any artistic medium).

I mean shit, there will be times when Gant will throw on a track [while playing together at Tubway] and I run [to the floor] because sometimes you just have to dance!

Sounds better than being locked up in the booth all night!
If I'm not having fun, then how can I do my job? I entertain people and it has to be fun for me -- that's how I choose where to take the career. I'm doing only one night a week right now; Saturday nights, honey. The weekends are back! I'm trying to become a weekend warrior again because a bitch has gotta work during the week.

Aside from the dance floor, where have your skills taken you?
I did a show in Seattle with Ericka Toure Aviance, in London I went to the Horse Meat Disco and they've been over to our party, as well. The dance music community is pretty tight. Also, the whole Tubway crew is going to be in Barcelona in August --we're bringing New York over to turn Barcelona out.

What is Tubway exactly? The music and dance party is New York-famous, but there's always installation art, decoration, late-night drag shows…
Tubway is a full production -- every week is like our black box theater production, we put on a different show every week… when you're doing a weekly you've got to keep fresh.

A lot of [the best] shows happen at five or six in the morning. We used to do a lot more impromptu, unrehearsed stuff. But when [those shows] happen they are a kiki -- a great reason to stay until the end of the night.

Quite a few people at Tubway are from the House of Aviance.
The Aviances involved with Mr. Black are our generation: we all came [to New York] in the late '90s. It's a collective -- there are a lot of us, doing different things in all mediums. Aviance welcomes all cultures and genders, and one motto is to "Do you, 500 percent." Like, do whatever you do, do it big and strong, even sometimes when it's wrong.

We're constantly challenging each other because we happen to think that we're the best at what we do, and we keep it close.

Is Tubway underground because it's at a gay club?
I really hate that it has to be lumped in that way. Yes Mr. Black is a gay club, but we cater to people who love music. All the best parties have to be mixed -- you have to have a little bit of every color and every sexual… whatever. It's about music first, and fashion, art, and dance.

So are you constantly looking for new music, or making your own tracks? Where does it all come from?
Thankfully these days DJs are a lot friendlier than they used to be… we learn a lot from each other, the Internet and magazines. All the regular sources, except maybe radio. Unfortunately there's just no point, so you've gotta trust your own ear.

And who are you watching right now?
You know who's really turning me out is this new producer Dubbel Dutch. He's got a sick bounce that you children are not ready for.

So do you feel legendary yet?
Up-and-coming legendary? I guess… I think we all want to be up-and-coming legends, so we all can be real legends one day!