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DJ Princess Cut: Talking Life, Love and Holiday Fun

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By Britney Hardweare

One question women find them constantly asking themselves is: Can I have it all? But despite what what we all imagine, even fame and fortune can’t distance women from experiencing workplace sexism and work-life balance struggle. Just ask three of the top female DJs in the industry: DJ RapDJ Princess Cut, and DJ Mami Chula. DJ Rap gives meaning to the word triple threat. She is not only a world-renowned DJ, but she is also an emerging actress and the founder of a DJ music school, Music Tech Collective. Along with being Neiman Marcus Atlanta’s official DJ and working on the launch of her own festival-themed clothing line in Spring 2016, DJ Princess Cut shares the same passion for teaching at her all-vinyl DJ school, Scratch Out Loud. After her work at Hot 107.9 and 95.5 The Beat in Atlanta, DJ Mami Chula has moved on in her success as a DJ at Fit Radio. These women have worked tirelessly to climb the ladder of success, all in the name of following their dreams. Each of them sat down to talk with Hers about lessons from their journeys, their favorite holiday traditions, and what they’d like to hear around the Christmas tree this holiday season!

DJ Princess Cut

 

 

 

BH: First question: how did you get your start in the DJ circuit?

PC: Well, I’ve been a music head like all of my life, so I think that me growing up and being into music—like I played the piano, I was in band when I was younger, I was also like in dance.

BH: What instrument did you play in band?

PC: Clarinet.

BH: Okay. Okay.

PC: Yeah and I started playing the piano when I was three years old, which I basically played the entire time I was growing up. And I started dancing when I was 5 as well. But as I got older, I saw that I was into all kinds of music and I kind of followed in my brother’s footsteps ‘cause he was listening to all the old school hip-hop like Tribe Called Quest and Wu-Tang. You know, music was like his life, so I kind of followed in his footsteps and one day, actually, I was—it was pretty random, but I wanted to try DJ-ing and see what the turntables felt like. And I tried it at a bar and I liked how it felt and the booth was filled with a bunch of vinyl records and Technic 1200 turntables. And I went back to that spot like every week, once a week, and just practiced.

BH: Okay! So you’ve come from, you know, trying area of music to kind of like narrowing down and I mean—you’re huge! You’re Neiman Marcus Atlanta’s official DJ! When I saw that, I was like WHAT?! Like that is huge! So apart from that—I don’t know—what is the biggest highlight of your career?

PC: *laughs* Well, I definitely consider Neiman Marcus to be, you know, an amazing brand to be associated with. And I have been doing their events now for like nine years, which is still kind of surprising to me. *laughs* But I love being able to work with the Neiman Marcus brand and the most other major DJ gig that I’ve done would be the Oprah’s Life You Want Tour.

BH: Mmm! Yeah, I wanted to go to that, but I didn’t get a ticket.

PC: *laughs* You know I do radio; I’m a mixer on Hot 107.9 and I’m also a personality mixer on Sirius XM with Hoodrich Radio. So, you know, I’m definitely proud of all of those things.

BH: So did you ever think like as that little girl, you know, starting off in music and dancing—the first time you touched the turntables did you ever think it was going to go this far?

PC: Not at all. *laughs* I didn’t know where it was going to take me, not to mention: I was a little intimidated by being a newer DJ when I first started. So I knew that there were DJs that have been DJ-ing for years­—I mean that know all the tricks, all the scratches—and, you know, just are really good at at it. At first, I wondered like, how am I—how in the world am I going to catch up to these, you know, great, particularly male, DJs? *laughs* But I guess I didn’t think too hard about it. I just continued to just practiced and try to get to the root of where it started.  I was really happy that I was able to start on the Technic 1200s and the vinyl because, you know as of today, it’s a lot of software that you could DJ off of that you don’t even need the vinyls anymore. But DJ-ing with turntables and vinyl is the true essence of being a DJ. So I was just happy that at least, at a minimum, I was able to, you know, get my hands on vinyl and the true origin of it. Bu I just kept, you know, practicing and just paying attention to the DJs that I looked up to…

 

READ DJ Princess Cut’s interview in its entirety in HERS latest issue!

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