In assessing the importance and power of Keyzuz’s DJ sets, it helps to consider the artist’s background and context. In this neck of the woods, electronic club sounds such as future bass, trap, or dubstep trigger habitual reactions, learned associations, and well-practiced dance moves. However, in Accra, Ghana, where Keyzuz lives and plays, these sounds are a total rarity—they’re subculture, niche, something completely different. In a club scene dominated primarily by afrobeat, hiplife, and dancehall, as the music magazine Noisey aptly described it in a detailed feature, Keyzuz sows the seeds of electronic club music, thereby formulating alternatives to the commercialized, tradition- and male-dominated music scene of her home country. With an idiosyncratic sound and a style that also rejects normalized identity constructions, Keyzuz is a pivotal figure in an expansion of possibilities for Ghana’s club culture. This expansion is likewise the aim of the Beat Phreaks collective, through which she, as Creative Director, provides a stage to like-minded artists via interviews, radio shows, videos, and parties. In the process of positioning herself vehemently and courageously, Keyzuz’s laurels continue to accumulate. We look forward to her professional party-starter skills at 11 p.m. in the ACUD Club.

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