Before the start of a recent Atlanta Hawks game at State Farm Arena, DJ Chika Takai was spinning mostly hip-hop tunes but threw in a bit of Eddie Murphy’s lone 1985 pop hit “Party All the Time.”
The ears of Hawks season ticket holder Maurice Sims perked up. He was near the DJ booth and bounded over to Takai to tell her how happy he was that she threw in a beloved oldie from his childhood. She grinned and gave him an arm wrestle high five.
“I love how she treats everybody in the building,” said Sims, a comedy promoter. “I love her style and how she caters to everybody.”
After six seasons as a Hawks dancer, Takai transitioned to DJ work in 2022 and is now in her fourth season as the Hawks’ first female and first Asian in-game DJ.
Her hard work has been rewarded with a trip to the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California to DJ the Rising Stars game Friday before the primary NBA All-Star Game two days later.
Atlanta will be well represented this weekend. Besides the Hawks’ Jalen Johnson making the All-Star team, Ludacris will perform before the NBA Dunk Contest and Shamea Morton, Hawks in-game host and “Real Housewives of Atlanta” cast member, will host the NBA HBCU Classic.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Takai previously performed at the NBA All Star game as a dancer in Atlanta in 2021, but she said this is even more special.
“I’m so excited,” said Takai, 36. “This is something I’ve been dreaming of for a long time.”
Nicknamed “The Dancing DJ,” Takai said going to NBA All-Star weekend is validation for skeptics who have seen her as an interloper in a world dominated by men: “I always say, ‘Give me five minutes: I’ll show you what I can do.’”
V-103 morning host Big Tigger, who preceded Takai as in-game DJ and is now the Hawks’ in-game announcer, is aware of the prejudice she faces.
“She’s not just a cute girl playing music,” said Tigger, whose real name is Darian Morgan. “She’s a complete DJ. DJ to DJ, I can say that she is talented.”
Credit: RODNEY
Credit: RODNEY
Joe Abercrombie, senior vice president of live experiences for the Hawks since 2017, said he sets a high bar for DJ work at the game and Takai easily clears it.
“Music is the core of the experience at an NBA game,” Abercrombie said, “especially in Atlanta. The DJ is playing the whole time. NBA is one of the few sports where music happens during game play.”
DJing a Hawks game is different from DJing a nightclub, she notes. The audience is far more diverse, so she salts in Latin, rock and pop sounds with the heavily hip-hop soundtrack the players tend to prefer. You’ll hear Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Lopez and AC/DC interspersed with Migos, Gucci Mane and Kendrick Lamar.
Takai, who splits duties this season with DJ Mohawk, changes the music mix every game. But she will try to sneak in a snippet of a song from her favorite rap star, Atlanta-based T.I. or Steve Aoki, the superstar Japanese American electronic dance artist and fellow DJ she greatly admires.
During the game, Takai is smiling, constantly moving, fist-bumping fans as they stop by her booth. She moves from turntable to sound board to two different laptops with the dexterity of an air traffic controller.
She flips through a 16-page paper script, tracking what happens during each timeout, be it a T-shirt giveaway, a dance routine or the $10,000 half-court Harrah’s Cherokee Casinos Jackpot Shot.
During the game, she takes cues from Big Tigger, knowing to play certain sound effects when he yells “Let’s Go Hawks” or “Defense!” There’s a Super Mario Bros. sound effect when a Hawks player makes a foul shot. If there’s a jump ball, she plays a clip of Kris Kross’ “Jump.” She sends out a signature hawk screech after a Hawks player lands a 3.
“Tigger and I have a flow,” she said.
There are particular rules she has to follow, per the NBA. She can’t play music, for instance, when an opposing player is shooting a free throw. And there are limits on what she can play when the visiting team has the ball.
Abercrombie, her boss, walks by to say hello, and they go through a goofy sequence of handshake moves they’ve clearly done many times before. She laughs with DJ Mohawk, subbing in that day for Beats by J Black, who typically provides beats while the Hawks is on defense.
“This is like my second family,” she said.
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Being a DJ wasn’t Takai’s childhood dream growing up in the suburbs of Tokyo with a teacher mom and journalist dad. She began ballet at age 7 and expanded into other dance styles as a teenager. She would practice at all hours, and her parents embraced her passion.
“I didn’t go to college,” she said. “I needed to dance.”
For several years in Japan she did background dancing for musical artists and taught dance. She also began mixing music for her choreographed dances, learning basic DJ work.
Then at age 24, she spent almost a year in bed with a severe skin infection that caused swelling and sharp pain. It also gave her plenty of time to think her dance career might be more fruitful if she moved to the United States.
She was already familiar with Atlanta rap artists like Outkast, Ludacris and T.I. So once she recuperated, she flew to Atlanta with modest savings, a student visa and minimal knowledge of English. She didn’t know a soul. “It was scary but I was determined,” she said.
Credit: ATLA
Credit: ATLA
She took classes at the Georgia Tech English Institute and transferred to Georgia State University, where she majored in Asian studies and global business. She quickly inured herself to the local hip-hop culture, feeling an alignment between Japanese and Southern hospitality.
Though her knowledge of the NBA was limited to Michael Jordan, she became intrigued when she heard the Hawks had openings on the dance team.
Despite her limited English, Takai made the team. “I didn’t want to be treated special,” she said. “They were very patient. They would repeat things to me.”
Fans quickly embraced her energetic flare and confident vibe.
Off the court, Takai met her eventual husband, who declined to be identified, but who also became her manager. “He doesn’t like to be mentioned in public,” she said. “He’s a secret guy.”
Credit: ATLANTA H
Credit: ATLANTA H
Haley-Kate Daykin, a Hawks dance team assistant who now oversees the dancers and the DJs, recalled being surprised when Takai casually told her in 2018 that she wanted to DJ.
“We didn’t know this about her,” she said. “We were caught off guard. We didn’t now how serious she was at first.”
She was serious. They let her DJ Hawks community events at first, then some G-League College Park Skyhawk games. In 2022, she moved from dance team captain to DJ.
“She really brings a whole show,” Daykin said. “She will even do performances on court where she starts as a DJ, then joins the dancers.”
Indeed, Takai prefers the DJ job over dancing: “It’s more responsibility. I feel like I have more things to do, in a good way. I’m more involved.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Takai also performs around town. She DJed a 21 Savage fashion line launch. Bravo has had her spin at “Real Housewives of Atlanta” events. Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff hired her for an event a couple of years ago and his people liked her so much, they brought her back for his reelection rally earlier this month.
But she especially loves the NBA and recently started her own company to be an ambassador for the sport, with plans to bring players to Japan and nearby countries.
“The NBA is not just basketball,” she said. “It’s a whole culture. It’s fashion. It’s music. It’s everything. I am happy to be part of this experience. I’m not just a DJ. I’m a performer. And being a female Asian immigrant, I’m a triple threat!”
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