Except Forte Oil keeps hemorrhaging money in the coming months in the same way it has been in the past 2, DJ Cuppy will always be the daughter of a billionaire – so let’s get over it already. Her father’s wealth and connections has given Cuppy a considerable head start in life and in her work but best believe she is breasting a lot of finish tapes by herself.
The young DJ recently graduated with a Master’s of Arts in Music Business from the New York University (NYU), adding to her Bachelor’s in Business Management from King’s College, London.
Source – Instagram
While in New York, she has put herself about quite well. Cuppy was the resident DJ at the 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards, she reunited with the MTV family in NY and became the resident DJ of one of the more popular shows on the network “Uncommon Sense”. Cuppy joined the show mid-season but stayed on in season 2 and has become an ever-present member of the cast.
Uncommon Sense is hosted by revered American OAP and culture critic Charlamagne Tha God, so it’s no surprise that Cuppy made a guest appearance on his popular podcast “The Brilliant Idiots” last year. During the chat, Cuppy gave a good account of herself and her country, even though her hosts were sometimes more intent in making trifling conversations – like finding out whether she’s a virgin or not.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/198902695″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
However, Uncommon Sense is not her only gig – forgive me for this race joke but Cuppy has the work ethic of a *insert nationality that rhymes with lexicon* in NY. Interning at Jay Z’s Roc Nation might have been her springboard, but Cuppy has DJ’d at a number of other big TV shows and dope events, including E! Reality Series – House of DvF and Cosmopolitan magazine’s #FunFearlessLife. She’s been featured in Vogue and Forbes, she’s covered Genevieve and Zen. She’s released mixtapes, held high-profile events, set up a record label and won the Best Female DJ for 2015 at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards (NEA). She was also the tourism ambassador for the previous president’s “Fascinating Nigeria” campaign and all this, while performing in so many countries that she could compare her passport with that of our current President and the only difference would be their data pages.
Unfortunately, I’ve not been lucky enough to attend one of such events and rave to a live DJ Cuppy set but I’m not alone. The ever-smiling disc jockey might have launched an 8 Country African tour in Lagos in August last year but a lot of her appearances in Nigeria are still at super-exclusive events. That exclusivity has made Cuppy’s real talent level only known to a few, I agree, but I feel that we’ll get to know what she’s really made of in the coming months, now that she’s been liberated from the classroom.
Put Some Respek on DJ Cuppy’s Name
Nevertheless, she’s achieved a lot already and where she is right now has a lot to do with her own drive and vision for her brand. If it was all about having a wealthy father, L.A.X would have skipped the “upcoming singer” phase he’s currently going through and shot straight to stardom with his boss Wizkid. If it was all about being connected, Ibe Kachikwu’s son Kach would have his “Olo” record top of the PlayData charts every week. If you’re all fluff and no stuff, you will get found out in the music business in time and what we are finding out in time is that there’s something really special about DJ Cuppy.
At 23, Cuppy must be the youngest person left on earth with Florence for a first name, but the DJ is making so much of a name for herself that we need to stop viewing her achievements as if they are all as a result of her last, Otedola.
*Update – DJ Cuppy is relocating to London. The DJ granted the Daily Mail UK an interview that was published on 7th June, 2016 which sparked an outrage in her home country. In it, the DJ and her sister Temi spoke about having to move around Lagos in bulletproof cars and her lavish lifestyle that includes performing with £1,000 headphones, lounging in yachts and attending super-exclusive parties. She also talked about her new show on Channel 4 detailing her story and children of affluence just like her. The show is titled “Lagos to London: Britain’s New Super Rich” and it aired on Tuesday, 7th June, 2016 to strong disapproval at home.