19 Mar 2025

The disc jockey (DJ) space has in the past been dominated by males, but more women have broken the glass ceiling and made their mark in this arena.

Female DJs often struggle with recognition and inclusion over their male counterparts. However, with the constant rise of female DJs, some significant changes have taken place where the women even invest on their crafts and study the art of DJ-ing.

“There is  substantial growth on this space for women, and maybe 30% of women DJs nowadays enjoy to be behind the decks, but there is still more males doing it,” acknowledged YDJ Academy director Leatile ‘Ydj’ Rapoo.

Rapoo, an experienced DJ and music producer, whose career has spanned over 20 years, said they had received a lot of female students who were currently doing well in the industry. Compared to the past years, Rapoo said the female turnover at his academy is high.

"We give lessons to everyone, and we give everyone a chance and support them equally regardless of gender,” he added.

He said in efforts to further empower women DJs, YDJ Academy developed a programme as well as competitions to support females and elevate them to their male peers’ level. Giving lessons to females and males cannot be the same, and Rapoo said with females they often experienced a rush to learn. He said females somehow came in to the industry with a perception to gain fame, for fashion and trends.

“And they end up taking less time to learn and get the whole craft properly as males would do, going far beyond to hone their skills and craft,” he explained.

One of the prominent and successful female DJs in recent years is DJ Cedeea BW, known as the "Queen of Afro Tech”. Cedeea, who has gained attention over the years for her eclectic and energetic sets, with more old school sets, says as female DJs they are getting recognition.

“Although we have to work harder at getting more recognition, I think it is fair to say where we are now, recognition of female DJs is there,” she said acknowledging the fact that their male counterparts have been doing it way longer than them, “so obviously they have more recognition, hence we just have to continue putting in the work”.

Cedeea said she would like to see a more balanced line-up of female and male DJs as she believed that could advance the whole industry. Nonetheless, she said the industry would consume whoever they feel brings them more returns.

“At the end of the day it is business,” she noted.

Cedeea counts her successes and recognition among others featuring at some notable corporate entities, playing at some of the prominent events in the country such as Born ‘n’ Raised, Home Coming Concert, Camp Chair Affair, So Deep Experience, Bandleng Wa O Bitsa. She has also featured regionally at the MTN Bushfire Festival 2023 in Eswatini.

She is also the Yarona FM Music Award winner for Best DJ 2021. But with achievement and recognition comes challenges, as Cedeea shared that as female DJs they are often susceptible to more harassment than their male counterparts. She also said being a woman alone is also a challenge.

“We are mothers, wives, providers, and caretakers before we have to set foot on stage. It takes a lot of juggling to be able to find your foot and balance as a woman,” Cedeea said. ENDS