Meet The Disruptors: Nayef Issa Of Nü Androids On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Speak it into existence. My business associate and brother from another mother Torrence Swain is a big believer in astrology/manifest destiny ( I’m still not there yet). Anyways, he’s always preaching to me, pushing me to just believe in the powers that be. That if you believe in and speak your truth into the universe, the universe will hear you and bring it to fruition. That’s not to say that a lot of hard work, sweat and tears don’t go into making what you want happen, but you will never receive what you don’t ask for.
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nayef Issa.
Nayef Issa is the creative force behind Nü Androids, the euphoric, inclusive artistic movement that has been connecting people since 2015. What began as a way to bring new sounds to the untapped D.C. music scene has since evolved into something more, allowing Nayef to use his myriad skills to conceptualize, produce and market events in ways that few others do.
In 2014, Nayef began programming events at the iconic D.C. venue, Flash. Billed Nü Androids, these parties were held on Wednesdays (an “off-night”) which meant true musicheads were there for the sounds, not just the scene. And that meant the acts — many of which didn’t normally stop in the market — loved performing for a Nü Androids audience. Nayef and his team were soon bringing some of the freshest new sounds to D.C. — future bass, disco, deep house, French disco, tropical house. His natural ability to identify talent (Nayef was his friends’ Spotify and SoundCloud long before those platforms existed) led him to book the likes of Mura Masa, Purple Disco Machine, Nora En Pure, Matoma, Ekali, Yaeji .
However, Nayef’s vision was sometimes too ambitious for fixed nightlife venues and so he created A.i. — blending music, lighting, art and meta-sensory experiences for one-night-only playgrounds at places like Cafe Asia, warehouses and other blank canvases.Nayef conceptualizes, sketches, designs and produces A.i. shows, working alongside the musical talent as a Creative Director would. To date, Nayef has brought to life over 150 A.i. shows with artists like Fkj, the late Virgil Abloh (in his first and only performance in DC), Black Coffee and the late Sophie. (For the launch of Gorgon City’s album Olympia, for example, Nayef designed a night rooted in Greek mythology, complete with billowing clouds.)
A.i. laid the groundwork for Dimensions, multi-day experiences which began in 2018 in D.C. with a two-day celebration featuring Karma Fields. Nayef launched Dimensions to combine two different worlds — art installations and warehouse dance parties — into one. Dimensions landed at Art Basel in 2019 with over 50 artists, musicians and creatives coming together in a 50,000 square foot abandoned Macy*s — including a forgotten food hall that was transformed into a futuristic nightclub. In addition to projection mapping and meta-sensory experiences, Dimensions at Art Basel included interactive spaces such as a Bedouin tent with tastings of El Silencio Mezcal.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Honestly I grew up wanting to be a soccer player, just like any athletic kid with a dream to be a star in the professional league of their respective sport. I immigrated to the US from Beirut, Lebanon when I was 7, and have been living in the Virginia / Washington DC area ever since. I have 2 sisters, and grew up as the only male figure in the household. It was 3 women and me. As I’ve grown older, I’ve realized what an incredible blessing that was. In my early 20s I started to host events in DC, however, I was always into more forward-thinking music (not to mention I was also the resident playlist-curator for all my friends). So after a few years of running commercial parties, I began to transition into producing live music events and booking touring artists who I thought were pushing industry and genre boundaries. This move would ultimately lead me to launch Nu Androids.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Nü Androids made its first real appearance in DC when I began programming events on Wednesday nights at the nightclub, Flash. Wednesday’s were considered an “off night”, so ; these parties were filled with true musicheads attending for the sounds vs. the scene. We were packing the house every Wednesday. Through these shows, we were able to inject DC with fresh sounds of acts that normally wouldn’t stop in the market.
After I solidified Nü Androids as a player in the DC music / nightlife scene, I started merging interactive art installations and live music at our pop-up events. I remember thinking to myself, “How can I attract and entertain people who don’t know the headlining artist, but are still thinking of attending with their friends.” This is why I blended the music and arts worlds together. My first real execution of this was a project called Dimensions. We found a 20,000 sq ft building in DC and converted it into 10 interactive installations, including a bedouin mezcal tasting tent, surrounding a full blown underground rave in the middle of the room. It was just really amazing to see. We brought this to life in 2018, and over 2 days we saw over 2200+ attendees. From that moment, every pop-up music event we’ve done includes some form of installation. Be it virtual reality, projections, or LED-based interactive buildouts, there is always something there to engage your curiosity other than the headlining act.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I went to the wrong airport to pick up an artist before a show! Here I am texting the artist telling him I’m here at door number 8 and this dude is like, “Um the gates only go up to door 4….” So I pulled up the itinerary and realized I was actually at the wrong airport. Lesson learned to check the airport arrival on the advance sheet MULTIPLE times after that fiasco.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
It’s been my mother all the way. She instilled a strong moral pillar in me that has transcended beyond my personal and professional life. One of the most important things she taught me was that if there is something you can do to help someone out, you do it, even if you know it’s never going to be reciprocated. If I can do something to help someone out, whether it’s making an introduction to someone or making the time for the next generation of industry aspiring disruptors to guide them / help them create their own lane, etc., I always will.
Bottom line is Mama Issa dedicated her whole life to her children and the values she taught us are reflected in everything we do.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
A Positive disruption is what is going on in the music industry, especially in the production and DJing side where you are seeing a lot more females really breaking out and making some noise. For example LP Giobbi, the crazy talented DJ/entrepeneur (and friend of Nü Androids), actually created an organiztion called FEMME HOUSE which offers more equitable opportunity for women and gender-expansive individuals in the technical and behind the scenes areas of music. This program also helps talent trying to cut through the noise navigate the music industry in its entirety.
We always think of tech being such a positive contribution to any industry, however one place where I feel there has been a more negative impact is the loss of local journalism. These newspapers help build social cohesion, encourage political participation, and improve the efficiency and decision-making of local and state government. With a number of them having disappeared over the last few years, this has now created a really noticeable separation within communities.
Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
Speak it into existence. My business associate and brother from another mother Torrence Swain is a big believer in astrology/manifest destiny ( I’m still not there yet). Anyways, he’s always preaching to me, pushing me to just believe in the powers that be. That if you believe in and speak your truth into the universe, the universe will hear you and bring it to fruition. That’s not to say that a lot of hard work, sweat and tears don’t go into making what you want happen, but you will never receive what you don’t ask for.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
I am currently working on a venue concept that is 8 years in the making. We can’t share too much information just yet, but essentially it will be a hybrid restaurant/bar blending Mexican-Lebanese cuisine adjacent to a modular pop-up event space for me to create and conceptualize all types of events. Ultimately, I hope for other brands/businesses to be able to utilize this space to do the same through their own creative lens.
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
It’s not one particular podcast or book. I listen to a variety of wide ranging ideas, theories, etc. which help me formulate my own ideas on life. I think it’s silly to only listen to people who share all of your beliefs and opinions. How can you possibly grow as an individual, or better yet, challenge your critical thinking by not expanding your horizons? How do you know if your viewpoints hold water if you are not debating them against opposing ideologies? You simply can’t.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“If you want things done a certain way, you have to do it yourself” This is always super important in the creative world. That’s not to say that other people will do a lesser job than you could, but other people don’t have the same vision as you. Only you can really execute and bring to life what you have conceptualized in your mind.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Honestly, just being more understanding of each other’s journeys through life. Sometimes those journeys are aligned, and sometimes they are not, it’s going to cause friction one way or another. If we show empathy and compassion towards each other it would really go a long way in bringing us closer together. I know it sounds super hippie haha, but I really do believe in that. Everyone is always so quick to judge without stopping to think and fully understand the circumstances of one’s actions or lack thereof.
How can our readers follow you online?
My IG is @Nayeftissa, and you can stay connected to all of the dope things we are doing at Nü Androids on IG as well (@nuandroids. ) Better yet, come to DC to check out one of our upcoming shows and see what the hype is all about!
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Meet The Disruptors: Nayef Issa Of Nü Androids On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
