Image by Crystal Wise
She's a slight woman with a pair of headphones draped over her right shoulder as she switches the song in her set from one by The Weeknd to “Polly” by Nirvana, a steady house beat in the background strings the two pieces together.
She moves the headphones up to her ears as Kurt Cobain asks, “Polly want a cracker?”
DJ Asa Aziz, known professionally as Asa Ace, performs for the Amon Carter Museum during its College Night. Later in the evening, she will perform at Curfew Bar. Aziz loves the night scene but still performs for venues like the museum to keep herself open, continuing to follow what feels good for her and not necessarily what will get her ahead.
“I'm a person on a journey of the self, trying to avoid being trapped in the usual or the rat race,” the 32-year-old says.
Asa gets the freedom she craves in her DJ residency at Hotel Dryce, where the setup is comfortable. But Aziz knows she has to be adaptable, a skill she learned by moving to Fort Worth 16 years ago as a rebellious teen. “I could have gotten into trouble coming here as a teen and not wanting to be here,” Aziz reminisces. “I had a choice to make my life, good or bad.”
Instead of crumbling under her disdain and teen angst, Asa started infusing Fort Worth with what she thought was missing; she focused on a cultural purpose and ways she could add value.
Image by Crystal Wise
Her lemonade-from-lemons reflex also comes from traveling, the pursuit that broadens one’s perspective of things that, according to Twain, “cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
“My grandpa was part of the Nation of Islam,” she says, “so his job was to educate people on the religion, and I grew up going to Ghana a lot.”
Traveling exposed Asa to people's everyday struggles and gave her appreciation and direction. Asa worked hard and eventually became a respiratory therapist, but a bad breakup and COVID soured the profession for her. She found herself looking for a hobby to escape.
“I was drawn to the craft of DJing and how they moved the crowd," says Aziz. The hobby stuck, and Aziz found a new purpose. “DJing put me in a position to meet so many people that I wouldn't have known, and I found a family [in this industry].”
Aziz now travels the world, but Fort Worth is still home. “I've spent my entire adult life here, so it's a huge part of my growth,” she says. “And it's easy to grow here. Everything you need is here. I found my career and was able to buy a house. It was all meant to happen.”
DJing is Asa's full-time job, but she's also a sound healer — the use of music, tones, and other sonic vibrations to balance and heal the body, mind, and spirit — and her newest baby is a creative project called Love Is Real. Partnering with her sister, Nia, the two connect local creatives to the community through workshops. The sisters held their most recent workshop in May at Blanc Cowork Studio. Aziz wants to develop these workshops and take them on the road, hopefully internationally.
“Fort Worth's culture is like slowly riding horseback on your way to a party,” laughs Aziz, and while she still might be learning to slow her stride, wherever she is, it's definitely a party.
Asa's nine favorite places for inspiration:
Hotel Dryce
Cafe Modern
Happy Lemon Boba
Blanc Cowork Studios
Taco Heads Montgomery
Salsa Limon — University Drive
sweetgreen — University Drive
Curfew Bar
Black Coffee
