Forty, Bring your Lapto— Actually, Nevermind.

Saturday night started off so right. After leaving an event around 10pm, I decided the night was young and hit up one of my girls for a last minute, semi-spontaneous night out downtown. Like most people looking for a good time, we ended up at The York. Why? Because DJ 40 was spinning (or curating the vibes, if we’re being cute about it).

The energy was there. I saw so many people dancing, chatting and overall having a great time. The music was exactly what you’d expect, hip-hop, R&B, all the songs that make you scream-sing with strangers. It was giving all the things… until it wasn’t.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I see DJ 40 on the flyer, I already know what kind of night I’m walking into. That’s the whole point, right? So, imagine the confusion when the music just stops (I was mid verse by the way… smh). The crowd was quickly informed that the vibes had clearly been cut short, and there was a ton of “he said she said” and speculation about why.

Well, fast forward to today, by pure coincidence (although nothing ever really is) I ran into DJ 40! Naturally, I had to ask what exactly happened and of course get his blessing for this post.

According to him, the owner of The York came up to him not once but twice during his set, making comments such as, “Are we going to have to listen to this music all night?” and, “If you’re not going to play what I tell you to play, then you can get out.” And guess what? He did. He grabbed the mic, said “I’m out” and the crowd left right with him.

What DJ 40 described, in an Instagram post, as a non-positive moment turned into something kind of beautiful in my opinion. It was a whole community saying, “Well, if he’s not welcome, neither am I.” Although unfortunate, it was still a moment of togetherness and honestly that’s more reason to get out into new spaces anyways. I know that’s not entirely the point but was anybody genuinely surprised?

I know this blog is usually about my good nights out, the laughs, the music, the people. But it's also about something deeper: finding and protecting the spaces where we feel like ourselves. Where we’re seen, heard, and safe. Sometimes that means telling the truth about when those spaces fail us too, even if it is just having poor taste in music (if that’s what you want to call it).

So yeah… shoutout to DJ 40 for standing his ground and shoutout to everyone who stood right there with him.