While he’s now cut a career for himself as a turntablist and music extraordinaire, Tittsworth started out bouncing from country to country as an Air Force brat, eventually landing stateside in Washington, D.C. “It’s the only city that I can actually call home,” he confesses. The young DJ initially began his professional career in music through the D.C. rave scene. Within that subculture, he DJ'ed and threw legendary parties at abandoned warehouses and scattered venues for over ten years. From there, he carried on DJ'ing professionally, bleeding genres of music and trying out new ways to form sounds.

Ultimately, inquiring ears caught up with him, and out of the blue three years ago, Plant Music approached Tittsworth to do an album. When Stretch Armsstrong, partner in Plant Music and legendary DJ within his own right, picked up the phone and contacted Tittsworth, it came as a complete surprise. “I almost didn’t even believe it was Stretch! I wasn’t putting two and two together. I really didn’t think that what I was doing in D.C. was actually good enough to be sought after,” he says.

At the time, Tittsworth was in the middle of creating a slew of bootleg remixes which had captured the label’s attention. The original concept for his album was to translate those bootlegs into an album. Plans changed, however, and he ended up creating a more formal and original album with vocalists-- the outcome of which was his first full-length, Twelve Steps. “Having been in D.C. at a very critical time, musically speaking, I was able to experience a many historic happenings that were currently going on: the indie-rock and hardcore movement (references of Black Flag and Fugazi), which had a profound affect on how I look and think about music in a creative concept; the rave scene of course; club music; the break-movement,” Tittsworth recalls. “I found myself oddly tying all these movements together while making the album. It’s getting to the point where there isn’t a ‘genre’ per se anymore.”

Through the years of Tittsworth creating music and throwing parties, he has quite a regular routine of city hotspots. After any show or DJ night, his favorite restaurant to grab a bite to eat is Florida Avenue Grill. It’s a famous late-night soul food spot. Tittsworth unveils, “You can go there at 2 am and have waffles and chicken. Total comfort food. It’s close to the 9:30 Club, which is quite convenient.” And for a more formal night where he would take a date or just relax from a stressful day, Tittsworth drops by Makoto. “It’s a very formal Japanese restaurant, by reservation only. Makoto seats maybe 15 to 20 tops. It does a regional tasting menu with a 10-course menu where in-season food selections are served.”

However, gentrification throughout the years has changed the atmosphere, not to mention Tittsworth’s own favorite hangouts. Many areas once known for cool clubs that he frequented are now parking lots. He recalls, “The one that comes to mind is right near the Capital where I used to go to raves almost every week at this placed called Nation. It used to be known as The Capital Ballroom Walking out of a rave at 6am, having been in such a loud environment and then seeing the Capital and then watching people going to work, it was a trip! That whole area was wiped out due to waterfront condominium development.”

However, D.C. does have its advantages, especially when “the suits” venture out of town for the weekend. “The thing about D.C. is that we’re a political town,” Tittsworth says. “Our hotels are more for the Congressmen tip. The good news is that you can stay in these ridiculously incredible hotels that are relatively cheap, because everyone leaves the city on the weekends. You can stay there for a couple of hundred dollars. We don’t have many boutique hotels. We used to put DJs up at The Westin and The Fairmont all the time when I threw parties.”

In the midst of the tizzy that is the upcoming Presidential election, it's a wonder how the citizens of the Capitol escape daily political bombardment. While in most cities it’s more than often taboo to openly discuss opinions on religion or politics, in D.C., it’s the opposite. Especially to the point when it’s an election year. According to Tittsworth, “Trash talk has gotten so bad that legislation passed a law for government employees, where they can no longer talk about politics within the office setting! Water cooler discussions about the president are no longer legal!”

~Jessica McMenamin