The nominations are out for this year’s African Muzik Magazine Awards (AFRIMMA), which is set to take place in Dallas, Texas, on the 14th November 2021. In its 8th edition, AFRIMMA stays “committed to writing the African music story on the world map”, with a mission to cross boundaries with music. Women from all over the Continent have been nominated for their contributions to bringing African music onto the world stage. However, the category “Best African DJ USA” only made space for one woman: Ghanaian DJ Akuaa, aka DaSprinstress. Can it be that there are no more African female DJs shaping contemporary music worlds in America and beyond? Amaka Studio went on a deep dive and found these seven African female DJs on the rise. Here are their fire sets, bringing you Afrobeats, Amapiano, Arab Disco and everything in between Africa and its diaspora.
Afrobeats Is Officially Mainstream - These Are the Women Claiming Their Seats At AFRIMMA’s Top Table
Words from AFRIMMA’s "Best African DJ USA" nominee, DJ Akuaa
As the only African woman nominated in the category of “Best African DJ USA”, the award-winning disc jockey and artist, Akuaa, originally hails from the city of Tema, Ghana. Now based in the DC-Metro Area, she launched her music career in 2010. Since then, she’s had the privilege of playing across the U.S. and internationally and has become a mentor for young emerging female DJs. “If a female comes up to me and wants mentoring, it’s a great feeling. I want to pass on knowledge that I had to learn alone and help them avoid certain things”, she says.
Trained as an engineer, Akuaa “loves music, but can’t sing. So it had to be DJing.” When she got into DJing through her brother, there were no female DJs around. He taught her the basics and let her play for 30 minutes at his gig for Ghana Independence Day, and the rest is history. Somebody saw her, booked her, and by now DJ Akuaa was voted Best Female DJ at the DMV African Entertainment Awards, named Best International DJ at Ghana DJ Awards, and Best USA/GH DJ of the year in 2017 and 2019.
Akuaa’s focus is on Afrobeats, saying, “Afrobeats is a global language [...] Americans have adapted to the sound and now they love, understand and appreciate it.” This set is a compilation of the best Afrobeats from South, East, Central and West Africa.
DJ Yas Meen Selectress
As an Egyptian multi-genre DJ living in New York City, Yas Meen Selectress spins “North African music, from Egyptian 80’s Pop to Raï and Gnawa”. Her sets merge traditional native melodies with modern electronic sounds and occasional touches of Arab Disco, House, Dub, Afrobeat, and South American Cumbia. Yas started DJing so that she could platform North African music, “it really means everything to me to be able to do that. I am inspired by different genres of music like the Jamaican Sound System culture, which helped me understand the importance of bass in music and what it means, and what it could do for one’s body on the dance floor.”
Every second Friday of the month, Yas plays the “Cocktail” at the Palestinian radio station Radio alHara. “A cocktail tape means a mixtape”, she explains. “Back in the day, my brother and I used to spend days coming up with a list of Arabic songs we would want compiled in one mixtape, go to a cassette shop, give them that list, and go back in a week to pick up that cocktail.”
Yas also started a collective called Funk the Casbah with fellow SWANA DJs; they throw parties at different venues in New York to play and share their music and culture with everyone. ”In New York, we have many Arab parties catering for folks from Arabic-speaking countries, but most of these parties play commercial pop Arabic music, which is exclusive to Arab ears”, Yas explains. “As an Arab, I love these parties and how nostalgic they make me feel. But I also try to branch out to cater to folks from different communities to normalize and introduce non-commercial North African music.”
This set is a guest mix for Luma’s Balaami Show “Habibti Nation”.
DJ Poizon Ivy
Kenyan born and Dallas raised Ivy Awino, aka Poizon Ivy The DJ, established her name “in an industry where males still dominate, emerg[ing as] an unapologetically zealous, multi-culturally influenced curator of music, fashion, sports, entertainment and all things female empowerment.” She got her first break hosting her self-titled weekly online radio show, “Poizon Ivy After Dark”, on WMUR, Marquette University’s student-run radio station. From there, Ivy rose in ranks from dominating the college party scene to opening concerts for musicians like Nas, Wiz Khalifa, Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B, J. Cole and Juicy J.
She currently works as the official DJ for Skylar Diggins’ Shoot 4 The Sky Basketball Camp Tour and is the team DJ for both the Dallas Wings (WNBA) and Dallas Mavericks (NBA). Starting off as a Dallas Mavericks ball girl, she became the first female DJ to play at an NBA All-Star game. Talking about her diverse sets at NBA games, Ivy says: “We have a very international team, so I have to make sure we take care of our European guys. “The great thing about people from Europe is that their musical palette is so diverse. Also, this is Texas. We live in a community that has a great Latin presence. I’m from Africa, so I play a lot of Afrobeats here. We try and just take ‘em around the world. It’s a worldwide party every night.”
DJ Terry The Hippie
Terry Eve Oyoo, aka DJ Terry Thehippiie, born and raised in Kenya, is based in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area. She created Fête en Aprème, a DC-based Deejay collective and curators of a unique experience in music and arts events. She also founded Hippiie Musiq, a community whose goal is to share and promote the ever-evolving culture of African & Afro-inspired music, artistry, expression, and culture, both from the continent and in the diaspora. She lists her old school musical influences as Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Motown, and Grandmaster Flash. Speaking on the new school, she cites African producers like British-Ghanaian Juls, Nigerian Sarz, and Musyoka from Kenya, as pivotal inspirations.
Apart from DJing, Terry works as an electrical engineer and in the construction industry doing interior design, lighting, power and safety systems. She got into DJing as a kid when her parents used to throw house parties, and she changed the records to keep the music flowing. On being a female DJ, Terry says "one of the challenges is the constant lack of recognition, or even benefit of the doubt when I arrive at a gig that I could be the DJ. I have to go through this verification process to prove that I am who I am. They only believe me once I'm on the decks."
This set is a mix of jazzy and upbeat Amapiano.
DJ Purplpitch
Amanda, aka Purplpitch, is an Egyptian-American DJ, visual artist and “Analysand” based in Houston, Texas. You hear her name all over Cairo. Exploring her world, you will find a passion for vinyl and Afrobeats, “I am inspired by artists who take risks, don’t take themselves too seriously, but still manage to insert their politics into their work.” She continues, saying, “I am particularly fond of 80’s hip-hop because it is exploring and unpolished. It symbolises an era where genres are playing the game Twister, crossing over one another in all different directions, giving way to the ’90s where sampling further zigzags genres and builds audio playgrounds.”
About this set: “'Deeply rooted, I have yet to move’, a line by Chika, an unapologetic songwriter, is where Purplpitch begins her set. The symbolic image of a grounded tree is the inspiration for this sobering selection of artists who speak out against injustice and inequality. This is a set, rooted from the ground up, nourishing us with resilience. It’s a reminder that the path to equity and justice is lively and lasting- and requires a drum.”
DJ SooFire
Sophia Woode, pronounced SooFire, the Ghanaian way, is a DJ, music publisher, and designer of the famous AFRICA shirt. She resides in Los Angeles, California, chasing her dreams and building SooFire Empire, “a brand, a lifestyle a bridge between Africans of the diaspora.” On being both Ghanaian and American, Sophia explains, “there’s a special breed of Africans, and that is us American millennials that have seen both sides of the world. There isn’t a balance. You just share your culture, be proud, and live your best life.” Sophia has worked in music production since 2012 and made many connections across the Atlantic, collaborating with the likes of Moonchild Sanelly and Victoria Kimani. She started DJing early on and played her first sets as the neighbourhood DJ, “putting my boombox in the window of my bedroom and choreographing dance moves with all the neighbourhood kids.”
In her DJ sets, SooFire likes to take her audience on a journey of the different sounds all around Africa. She started with Afrohouse, Gqom and Amapiano. Moonchild Sanelly highly influenced her with Makhe, “she was the artist that put her on to that Amapiano sound, and now it’s hott [sic].” She also loves highlife, and Juls gives her the best combo. On making it in the industry as a woman, she says: “Being the first Ghanaian female DJ in Los Angeles with a different perspective has not been so welcoming in a male-dominated music industry. To all the Queens out there, don’t be intimated, make up your mind and pound at it as hard as you can.”
DJ Rozay
Roseanne Ayewa, aka DJ Rozay, was born and raised in the DMV area. Her deep connection to her Ghanaian roots allowed beats and rhythms to always be in her blood. She fell in love with deejaying through her passion for music and exposure to various genres. Her goal as a DJ is ”to reach various corners of the world and touch the hearts of many people through music and creativity”. Roseanna was mentored by DJ Akuaa, the first female DJ she came across who happened to be Ghanaian. When asked about her influences, she fondly speaks of Akuaa, saying that “In a way, we are very similar: female, Ghanaian, tomboyish, jokers. She always puts me on. Never left me out, and one thing that stands out is that she pushes through! She’s unique and finds a way to add her own twist. You’ll hear her play and KNOW it’s her playing.”
In her own sets, Rozay plays with all kinds of genres; her heart is with Afrobeats, highlife and hiplife, sounds she feels like she relates to the most.“It’s definitely a vibe, and I’m glad people are catching on to the wave.”
SGaWD: “I say what I want to say, how I want to say it when I want to say it”