According to Miguel Morales, he isn't much into twerking. And he felt that way long, long before Miley Cyrus made the notorious booty-shaking maneuver even more infamous (and earning worldwide scorn as a result) on the VMAs earlier this month. The 31-year-old, who's also known as DJ Kyko, says he leaves that to the ladies to handle. "I'm a dude," Morales quips. "And dudes shouldn't ever twerk."
He's happy to bring that about by dropping Latin songs with some serious tempo and bounce, like maybe "Wiggle Wiggle" by Fulanito, during his Friday night main room hip-hop and reggaeton set at Monarch Theatre or up at Q-Lounge when he's there on Tuesdays and Saturdays slinging more Latin sets filled with merengues. But only, he says, when the time is right. After DJing professionally for more than a decade, like any ace selector, Morales has learned to read a room properly and pick the perfect songs for the particular mood and crowd. "If it's a majority of ladies, they're gonna want more of a Latin feel," he says. "Dudes want more machismo so I go with reggaeton or hip-hop." Both sexes, however, really dig it when he cues up super-popular tracks like "Echa Pa'lla (Manos Pa'rriba)" by Pitbull, which has resulted in one giant sing-along at Monarch. "I can shut off the music and have 600 people at once singing an entire hook of a song by themselves, and I mean they'll go word for word," he says. "It's amazing." But not nearly as astounding as when he saw 15 girls twerking together in unison. "That was fun to watch," Morales says. It's just one of the many perks of being a DJ.