“You know, this has been the first year that I’ve really talked to my family about what I do,” says producer, presenter, and DJ, A.G. Given that the genre-defining east Londoner’s one of the city’s most in-demand acts, that seems slightly surprising—Especially when you consider that her first taste of taking over the airwaves came nearly a decade ago. “I was doing it from a young age, going to radio, paying subs at Urban FM. And my mum never totally got that.” Still, mum’s loss is our gain: there aren’t many DJs playing out today who can touch A.G when it comes to serious skill and sublime selection.

While grime, the sound she cut her teeth on back in the day, remains a huge source of inspiration catch A.G at parties like Magic Clit or her own G-Style, and you’ll hear exactly why she’s renowned for her multifaceted and open-ended approach to DJing. That determination, drive, and desire to play everything from spooked-out, skeletal club music to barely classifiable two-stepping records that seem to have been beamed in from a world as yet unknown straight into the USB of a selector who can get away with playing and mixing pretty much anything, comes from a place of exclusion. “I take the technical side of DJing seriously. Because I have to.” Playing with the likes of Spooky meant that simple crossfading wasn’t an option. “When you’re a girl with a high-pitched voice—people are looking to discredit you,” she says. “I can’t ever just be OK. I don’t want to be a boring DJ. I have to be sick. I want to be sick.”

Having started MCing at 8 and DJing at 16, A.G was always going to make music work, and she feels like 2017 was the year “I really came into my own.” A debut solo release—the sub-zero club slapper ”Froyo”—a first trip to and set in Africa, regular radio shows on the holy trinity of Rinse, Radar, and NTS, might be hard to top for some, but A.G wants the year to come to be even bigger. 2018 sees talk of an American tour, a new EP, more dates with the equally-eclectic Manara under their Beauty Blender guise, and somehow further additions to her already-hectic radio schedule. We have no idea where A.G finds the time or energy to do all this but we, and every clubber and music-lover in the UK, should be thankful that she does.