Music

Artist Collective Everything Nice Knows How to Rock D.C.
February 1, 2023 @ 10:00am
Just before Kaleb Metaferia’s mother passed away in 2016, she imparted the DJ better known as K-Meta with advice he already knew, yet still needed to hear. After Metaferia spent years spinning in dance hall night clubs, playing instrumentals for battling rappers and bouncing from venue to venue to fill slots, she suggested he start his own party.
“I used to complain a lot about playing all this music I don’t like at clubs, and I wanted to do stuff where I was the boss,” Metaferia says. “I felt like I was more of an artist than that. I was doing well, but I didn’t want to go so far down that road. So, a couple months after [my mother] passed, I got an opportunity to have my own night party at Velvet Lounge. And I was thinking of names and [went with] Everything Nice.”
The title is borrowed from a Popcaan song, a dancehall anthem that encapsulates the positive vibes he hopes to imbue to attendees.
“The vibe of that song is very triumphant, like ‘I’m feelin’ nice!’” he says. “Everything gotta be nice.”
During its inception, Everything Nice was a monthly party hosted by Metaferia, intended as an escape or reprieve for busy D.C. folks. But following a hiatus in 2017 to search for a more fitting venue and restructure the party, Metaferia recruited fellow area DJ Aloysius Tamasang, better known by his stage name: Bo.
“It was a similar thing to K-Meta,” Tamasang says. “I was playing a lot of songs and music I didn’t care for. I pride my DJing style on doing tricks here or there, and that never works in a club [laughs]. Everything Nice is a space I could get my ideas out.”
In 2019, following Bo’s recruitment, the revived Everything Nice transformed from a monthly night party to a day party during summer months, with themed festivities, vibrant flyers and the two DJs taking turns behind Seratos. Everything Nice was experiencing and doing everything right, gaining momentum right up until in-person celebrations halted entirely due to Covid-19.
During the pandemic months, Everything Nice stayed active much like other venues via streaming, social media and by maintaining their monthly curated playlists. However, since re-engaging with live events, the two began a spin-off party, appropriately dubbed the Boom Boom Room, a twice-monthly event hosted at Cafe Saint-Ex in Northwest D.C.
“Very basement energy,” Tamasang says. “We want people to sweat before they leave.”
“You know how comedians go to smaller clubs to try out new stuff?” Metaferia adds. “That’s kind of what we do with that show.”
As for Everything Nice’s 2023, the Boom Boom Room’s one-year anniversary takes place in February; the two have pop-ups planned throughout the spring and day parties will return in May.
Even though the two DJs still set their own schedules aside from Everything Nice, both agree their parties help tether them and continue to inspire creativity.
“We have the best party in the city,” Metaferia says. “I think this could be something we travel with and open up to more things like charity work. We want it to be like a whole monster that we can take in different lanes.”
Follow Everything Nice on Instagram @everythingnicedc. You can also follow DJ K-Meta @djkmeta and DJ Bo @boknowsdjing. Check out their website at everythingnicedc.com.
More from the DJ Table
Something No One Knows About You
DJ Bo: “I won a dance talent show in high school and I’m a huge movie nerd. I think ‘Barbarian’ was the best movie I saw this year.”
DJ K-Meta: “I was the lead in my middle school play, ‘The Music Man.’ Another thing: I’m a huge ‘Seinfeld’ fan. I want to DJ a ‘Seinfeld’-themed party so badly. I have no idea what that would look like, though.”
Why DJing in D.C. is Unique
DJ Bo: “D.C. is probably one of the tougher cities to play, but they give you a lot of different ranges. Staying in D.C. keeps your sword sharp as far as being a DJ. It’s a good catalyst on how to read a crowd, more so than any other city I’ve been to. Its location allows them to be really up-to-date with music from all over the country.”
DJ K-Meta: “We love the D.C. area and scene. If you can rock a D.C. party, you can rock a party anywhere. It’s good practice. Whenever we go to New York or LA, it’s kind of easier. And the fact that we can play go-go. You can’t play go-go anywhere else. It’s our home and I don’t see us moving.”