As a multi-hyphenate artist and cultural tastemaker, Chippy Nonstop takes matters into her own hands.

Chippy ‘Chhavi Nanda’ Nonstop left Zambia at sixteen and shuffled between Oakland, Los Angeles, and New York City in her relentless quest to advance her rap career. Whether she was rubbing shoulders with Cory Kennedy and Sky Ferreira during the peak of the ‘indie sleaze’ era, closely collaborating with Oakland hipster-party rapper and friend Kreayshawn, and even going uncredited by Diplo for her genre-bending work on a Major Lazer dubstep-dancehall track – Chippy’s musical journey has been equal parts fascinating and turbulent.

Following a visa mishap that led to her being infamously deported from the US, Chippy relocated to Toronto and embraced the city as her home. It is here that she began to explore the art of DJ-ing after learning the bare minimum from a reluctant ex-boyfriend. 

When she’s not slammed with international gigs and hosting her latest residency on Rinse FM, Chippy performs her trademark, high-energy techno sets at her very own DIY rave-themed parties.  A South Asian diaspora icon pivotal to the curation of the Toronto DIY-nightlife scene, Chippy is a strong advocate for BIPOC and LGBTQAI+ communities. In 2019, she co-founded the locally celebrated queer collective, PEP Rally, with multidisciplinary artist/DJ Karim Ash. Fast forward to 2023. In collaboration with Boiler Room, PEP Rally catapulted to widespread global recognition. At this set, Chippy’s versatility shone through as she delivered an epic ‘hot girl’ techno set – blending elements of acid house, drum n bass, and jersey club. 

Tackling a male-dominated mainstream electronic music landscape encouraged Chippy, to create a femme-forward DJ workshop series called, ‘Intersessions.’ Alongside her peers (fellow local DJ legends Bambii, Ciel, and Nino Brown), the initiative offers free interactive sessions catering to QBIPOC and gender non-conforming youths.

Co-founded by PEP Rally, as well as community-adored electronic collectives, FORMAT and Last Planet, Chippy’s newest project includes the inaugural underground electronic music festival, Sojourn. Chippy personally curated, produced, and creatively directed the festival, spotlighting an eclectic roster of DJs representing the city’s diaspora soundscape.

I sat with Chippy on an upstairs deck at the ISO Loft Stage (to an incredibly loud set by Higher Heights Hifi blasting below us) to discuss her inspiration for this festival and the challenges that come with being a curator.

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What sparked your decision to curate the first-ever Sojourn Festival?

Chippy: We’ve already been doing PEP Rally for years now and I wanted to do a festival-vibe just because all the current festivals in Toronto are very mainstream… Me, Format and Last Planet’s vision of cultivating the underground scene and there’s a lot of artists that are underpaid and there are a lot of audiences that are underserved. This festival played every genre around the weekend from every culture that represents Toronto.

What do you hope this festival contributes to Toronto’s nightlife and music scene?

Chippy: I travel a lot for our work and I see all these different things and so much access that other countries have to nightlife, and the support from the government and everyone  and for us, people treat nightlife as if we’re ‘degenerates.’ When you think about any city, nightlife is important

What are some obstacles you’ve faced as a community organizer?

Chippy: Aside from this, I’m a small brown girl, very feminine, curvy… where people don’t take me seriously already and I’m in a boss position a lot of the times. Even just trying to get a venue is difficult just based on the way I look. A white man walks in, talks in his business voice even though I can get people in here and I could sell out… now it’s a little different. When I first moved here, no one was f*cking with me like, at all.

Do you hope to see this festival grow in the future?

Chippy: I’d really hope so – we need a lot more community support and I think that’s another thing too, that people get on the bandwagon when it’s already a thing… like no, we need your help now. If they want stuff like this, they better show up. We’re giving out discounted tickets, we’re doing a guestlist – if you can’t afford it, we can also support.

It’s also so expensive to live here. Groceries alone are crazy, apples are like f*cking four dollars. That’s another thing to take into account: people can’t afford to party because it’s a luxury rather than it being a necessity. It all trickles [down] to … the living cost.

The struggle is the city doesn’t even notice us. We actually wanted to do this [festival] outdoors but the city rejected our permits – they rejected our permit for this too [the warehouse]. I don’t know if I could’ve done this alone necessarily without Format and Last Planet, it’s [needed] to have dudes who can talk on your behalf with the city. When the bylaw folks/people came, I was ghost [chuckles].

How have your experiences playing in different parts of the world influenced your approach to preparing for a performance/set?

Chippy: I try to incorporate what’s [known] to be played in those cities. I play very different sets in each city and I know a lot of DJs play similar sets every night. I play based on the different countries I perform in.

I feel like you’ve led multiple lives, especially during your time in the ‘indie sleaze’ era—a cultural moment I wish I could have experienced. What was that like for you?

Chippy: I didn’t really grasp [that]… even people say that to me and I don’t even understand it [chuckles] – it was just what it was – I was also in LA and you live in such a bubble that I didn’t even realize what it was. 

You know what? When we were in it, it wasn’t [authentic]. I remember hating on it… I feel like people are a lot more authentic now. I don’t remember people dancing that hard… I remember people standing around trying to look cool…it was cheap try-hard.  I don’t know, it was just like the LA energy maybe.

It was very… I don’t know if it was as fun. From the outside looking in, it is so much more diverse now… I don’t remember anyone of color. It is so much more inviting and lovely now. When you think about it, who was a person of color [from that scene]?

Being a pillar of the South Asian diaspora community, what advice would you give to young female BIPOC aspiring artists/DJs who are trying to break into the electronic scene?

Chippy: I guess I didn’t grow up in a very strict household so I maybe have a different experience than other people – I mean, they would’ve been strict if they could’ve but me and my brother were both bad so… I moved out when I was sixteen. I left the house really young and I was just doing my thing. I never thought about if my parents would be mad if I did this, I know like a lot of South Asian people [experience that] – there’s pressure – I’m sure there was, but I never really cared.

Chippy is currently on her Spain tour, headlining this year’s Brunch Electronik Festival and later returning to the city this month for her annual celebratory birthday rave presented by PEP Rally. Be sure to check out her latest mix for The Lot Radio.

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