During his expedition behind the turntables, he has grown to establish his own marketing company –Swaggedou – and has rubbed shoulders with some of hiphop’s finest headliners. Showbiz reporter (SR) had a close chat with DJ Du$e (DD) to shed more light on his experience as a club soundman.
DD: I have been playing for 12 years. And now I have expanded to different genres of music; R n’ B, house music and stuff like that. I have travelled a lot in the US and throughout southern Africa.
SR: Why did you leave Zimbabwe?
DD: I guess the trip started in 2005 when I became the Sprite DJ (of the Year) representing Zimbabwe. I further went to Malawi and became the1st runners up for Southern Africa. After that I got the opportunity to be on radio in Botswana where I stayed for six months.
I came back here and started doing event management in Harare before heading for South Africa.
SR: Are there any developments in local clubs as compared to SA?
DD: South Africa is advancing to world standards but in Zimbabwe things have been stagnant since I left. It is still the same style of play, it is just not moving forward.
SR: What has your SA move brought to the table?
DD: Resources basically. I got access to resources and I also managed to open up a company called SwaggedOut, which does events marketing for clubs and corporate companies. I also managed to bring Roki and Winky D to Cape Town and promoting other locals there.
SR:Here there are people with skills but they don’t have resources.
DD: I got the opportunity to link up with Tyga from Young Money. He was in Cape Town on a holiday. He wanted to shoot a couple of videos so we got into a club and I did two events with him on a Thursday and Saturday night. We (SwaggedOut) helped him do his video for his mixtape, which he was doing at that time. I also got the opportunity to do another event with Maino (of the All the Above fame). So the opportunities are there. You get to meet a lot of important people.
And if you can do what you say you can do people will have faith in you, doors will open.
SR: Why did you choose this career, and what are the plans for the future?
DD: I used to play a piano in high school. And I had guts, I could grab a microphone and do whatever. I participated in a lot of talent shows. My first link was in a club and I just fell in love with it. But I also strongly feel that I got good interpreting skills, I got a good voice for radio. I see my future in radio.
SR: What do local club owners need to do to graduate into the upper league?
DD: Well I guess the atmosphere creates a lot, the lights, the set up and smell. The atmosphere gets you into a certain mood. Everything counts. These are areas which are still lacking behind here in Zimbabwe. Everything has to be proper. If the waitresses are properly dressed the next person will also up the game. The other DJs must also up their sleeves. So it is about standards.
SR: Since DJs are very crucial stakeholders in music promotion, are you doing your national duty by promoting Zimbabwean music?
DD: You get a lot of foreigners coming to the club because they know that is where they are going to hear their music. We also have Zimbabweans coming, so I do get a chance to play local music.
Post published in: Music