King Marie Claims Her Crown

DJ King Marie came up singing and slinging her CDs on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue. She also came up working hard to afford her own Jordans, alongside a musical family that includes her mother, a professional singer, and two older brothers, who are both successful DJs. Drawing on that lineage, King Marie has made her own mark DJing, blowing up parties in Chicago, New York, LA, and Manilla, while organizing events to represent her Filipino American Heritage. She’s also modeled, and put out her own singles and EPs, including “LMU” in 2023 and 222 in 2022. With a new music project on the horizon, King Marie linked with Complex to discuss her work, influences, and underground music and culture in Chicago and New York. 

This interview was edited for concision and clarity.

Looking at the music you play when you DJ, like house, reggaeton, and Brazilian funk, so much of it has subcultural roots. How do the subcultural roots or those genres influence you?
I think for me it’s subcultural, but it’s also just the essence of how I was raised. It’s all of the above and how I know music to sound.

I was raised in a musical family. Both of my brothers are DJs. My mom is a singer and entertainer who was in a cover band, and she did everything from Motown to disco to pop. She even traveled to Seoul, Japan, you know what I mean? She was on tour. And so from different languages to just different sounds in general to being raised by brothers who were there at the peak hip hop era with their craft, all genres of music were at my disposal.

And I’m from Chicago originally, so house music, jazz, funk, literally all of the genres I think have just been such a part of me, which has then transpired into me being able to share that through DJing and through creating music. Yeah, I think it’s all just subcultural. It’s just part of my upbringing. It’s part of who I am as a person, the gift of sound and the gift of music. There’s just so much of it. Why not try and tackle all of it?