Her name is Rashida, and she is funky. There was a supernatural phenomenon that tore through Australia earlier in the year like a dazzling purple cyclone, taking over everything from our biggest stadiums to our most intimate jazz clubs. Prince’s Welcome 2 Australia Tour was a month-long party, and what’s a party without a bangin’ DJ? DJ Rashida not only proficiently rocked the house with hours-long sets, but also acted as a conduit by being the sole source of information on the fabled afterparty events through her Twitter account. Now Australian audiences get to witness Rashida showcase the skills which landed her the dream gig once more in 2012 with an appearance on this year’s stellar Melbourne Festival lineup. Before touching down, Rashida leads us through a storied career that has resulted in her becoming one of the world’s most sought after DJ talents.
“Technically it was 1998, I was in my first year of art school in Atlanta,” Rashida looks back on her beginnings. “I was going out to clubs – dancehall clubs, pop clubs, raves – and I guess through the rave, house, drum and bass, jungle scenes I really got into seeing the DJs mix, it was a miraculous thing. So I got turntables, then I was pretty much a bedroom DJ. Eventually my friends started forcing me to play their parties. Just playing for artists, skaters – the first ever party I DJed was for the really dope magazine called Frank151. After that it was a hobby, then I started seeing that other people liked it, and I liked it, and I started playing more frequently. Then when I moved back to LA I saw that it could be a career. That’s when I got serious about it, the business side of it. Even a little bit before all that I met Prince for the first time and started working with him, and that took things to another level. Up until that point I had just been doing underground clubs. Fast-forward to today and it’s been a really amazing career and I still can’t believe it. I love music, my mother was a Spanish radio DJ and my father collected records. For me, it just makes sense. But I would have never thought it could have taken me to all the places that it has,” she humbly states.
One of Rashida’s greatest strengths is her ability to rock an eclectic range of environments – whether it be a bash for NBA stars or a eleventh birthday party for Stevie Wonder’s son. Maintaining both that adaptability and esteemed reputation is a balancing act that Rashida is more than capable of pulling off.
“It’s interesting because on one hand I consider myself very versatile, but I also consider myself a selector, tastemaker. I think it’s really important to break new music. I’m in this community with all these amazing people making amazing music, and a lot of it isn’t on the radio and may never be on the radio. But it’s still so frickin’ dope. Breaking music and also selecting really good music. On the flipside, I was on this show on MTV here called America’s Best Dance Crew. It’s an MTV show, so clearly you’re playing what comes on MTV – the top 40 stuff. That’s not how I came into the DJ game, playing that particular music, but that’s what the gig was and I got into it and had fun. So I’m versatile in that way. But as far as being versatile musically, as in being able to play for a Prince crowd – or last night I played a GQ party for Chris Paul with all the LA Clippers, which was a very male-centric party. So for that I did like a hardcore hip hop set with a little sprinkling of newer shit. I guess what makes me versatile is that I know a lot of music. But getting more into the business and career side of it made me more versatile in other ways too.”
As for landing the dream gig with one of pop music’s all-time great entertainers, it was a case of fortuitous timing. “I had a residency at the House Of Blues, and [Prince] was finishing up the Musicology tour. Like you saw in Australia, he always does the afterparty after the show and after-jams. So beyond the after-jam, he had the private party for just him and the band members. So the room I played in was next door to where the band was playing. I still don’t know exactly how it happened, but not too long after I got a call requesting me to play a party. So I played the party and hit it off, and that was it,” she recalls. “It was on after that.”
For us Prince fans, the May tour seemed like a nonstop party. But as Rashida reveals, there was a whole lot more partying going on than what we saw on the surface. “Just know that when we weren’t having public parties for the fans, there were still parties happening,” she laughs with glee. “He likes putting on parties just for the fun of it and to get the band together to just kick it. It literally was a nonstop party, more so than what it probably seemed.”
BY LACHLAN KANONIUK
