The news started with a whisper, then built to a roar.

“Wait, wait — did you hear? Solange is here.”

It was around 1 AM on a Friday night in December, and a group of partygoers in the backyard of Bushwick’s Secret Project Robot huddled around a blurry picture on an iPhone. They paused to consider the image, zooming in and out, their necks craning.

Someone gasped: “That’s her! Oh my god, Solange! Supporting our slaysians!”

The singer was there for Bubble_T, a dance party celebrating queer Asian visibility. And the mere suggestion of her presence pushed the already rollicking night — picture a festive Bushwick nightclub that evokes the intimacy of a queer Bay Area house party, but make it fashion — into another realm.

An hour earlier, the venue’s 2,000-square-foot sprawl had reached capacity, forcing a line down the frigid block. On stage, the rapper Slay Rizz performed in a velour Santa-style mini.

Hao Nguyen

“My name is Kay Rizz, aka Slay Rizz, aka the Philipina princess” — here she rolled her tongue dramatically — “aka the Slaysian Mother, originally trademarked,” she exclaimed with a wink. Her set included a Tagalog version of Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” and the refrain “If it ain’t foreign it borin’,” which she delivered in a raucous call and response.

Since its inception in May, Bubble_T has delivered a series of semi-monthly roving dance parties that fuse live performance, design, and drag. A typical crowd skews towards Asian men, but includes a cross section of lesbians, trans femmes, gender nonconforming artists, and drag queens in full regalia, all from an array of ethnic backgrounds. As Bubble_T’s Instagram bio states: “🍚 WHERE 🍚 ASIANZ 🍚 RULE ☯️ BUT ☯️ EVERYBODY’S ☯️ WELCOME”