Back in 2011 at a bar called Wang’s, in Chicago’s Boystown, Anthony “aCe” Pabey cofounded the Men’s Room, a party that was as much a platform for brazen sexuality (patrons would have to take off their shirts and/or pants if they got past the door) as a wide-ranging music policy. You’ll still find aCe, known these days as aCeb00mbaP, overseeing everything from the lineups to the lighting at the party, and he’s still behind the decks once a quarter at the Men’s Room’s current venue, Chicago’s Steamworks bathhouse. But that’s hardly his only gig these days. Now residing in New York, where he holds down residencies from the East Village to Bushwick, Pabey is a force in the world of hip-hop – in 2016, he and his Banjee Report DJ partner Mister Wallace cofounded the FUTUREHOOD label, where they infuse hip-hop bombast with an indelibly queer club sensibility.
