The DJ Duo

DURING THE DAY THE TWINS CAN BE FOUND in their offices—Angilique as a marketing associ- ate at the Apollo Theater Foundation, Andrenne as a sales planner at iHeartMedia. But at night they take to the stage as Angel + Dren, a stylish New York City-based DJ duo.

Not long after graduating from the College with matching degrees in Romance studies (both learned Spanish and Portuguese), the two were turned on to disc-jockeying by a friend who had the equipment. It took only a moment of experi- menting for Angel to become obsessed. “I went home and I told Dren that we needed to learn how to DJ,” she says. “She didn’t ask me any questions, she just said, ‘Yeah, you’re right, let’s learn.’ I guess she trusted that I knew what I was onto.”

After a few months of practicing together daily, they booked their first gig. “Dren cold-called this place,” Angel says, “and they didn’t ask us for any music, they didn’t ask us for anything.” The pair went on to play a set that lasted six hours. Dren describes their sound—a mix of hip-hop, R&B and reggae infused with splashes of samba from their travels abroad—as “relaxing, fun, up- beat and uplifting.” During events the sisters work as a team. “I’m able to check out crowd responses and kind of feel out the energy of the room and go back and give Dren notes while she’s playing,” says Angel, “and she’ll do the same for me.” Now, more than a year since their DJing debut, Angel and Dren work regularly at venues across New York City as well as in Atlanta. This past winter they were invited to DJ a fashion magazine’s launch party during New York Fashion Week. “It was so exciting,” Dren gushes. “I had so much fun.”

Their full-time jobs may be their priorities now, but both are enthused about the opportuni- ties presented by their music and recent forays into music production (listen to them at sound- cloud.com/angelanddren). “We take it a day at a time,” Dren says. “We’re just trying to advance our skill set at this point and see where that takes us.”

Dren Coleman (right) describes their sound as “relaxing, fun, upbeat and uplifting.”

“We’re both very hands-on when it comes to getting mixes in.” —Dren Coleman