Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola, or DJ Cuppy as many know her, is a Nigerian disc jockey, nucleic producer and singer. She is the second daughter of Nigerian oil tycoon, investor and billionaire, Femi Otedola. This biography of DJ Cuppy will reveal many important facts about her.
The fun-loving and jovial celebrity is multitalented and by the end of this article, you would know some of her biggest accomplishments and works. She is a stylish woman as well and appears to have some unexplainable attraction to the colour pink. It appears in her hair, her headset and most of her clothes as well.
As part of the biography on DJ Cuppy or Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola, we provide answers to the most asked questions about her. See the next section for this.
Top 10 important facts about DJ Cuppy
- DJ Cuppy was born as Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola on 11th November 1992 in Lagos State, Nigeria.
- Her father is a popular Nigerian oil tycoon and billionaire, Femi Otedola.
- Cuppy grew up in Lagos but she and her family relocated permanently to London, UK, when she was about 13 years old.
- She is a graduate of business and economics from Kings College, London, and she has a master’s degree in music business from New York University, United States.
- Florence Otedola or DJ Cuppy released her first major project, House of Cuppy, in July 2014. It was a compilation of remixes of popular Nigerian singers.
- She started her own music company, Red Velvet Music Group, in 2014.
- Cuppy has been the official DJ in many notable events such as the 2014 Financial Times Luxury Summit in Mexico City, President Muhammad Buhari’s inauguration in 2015, 2015 Oil Barons Charity in Dubai, and many more.
- She released her first official album, “Original Copy”, on 24th August 2020.
- In 2020, Forbes magazine included Cuppy in its 30 under 30 class and she became the official host of Africa Now Radio, a brand new show on Apple Music Beats 1. Also, she was the official Pepsi DJ.
- DJ Cuppy is a fan of English football club, Manchester United.
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DJ Cuppy Biography: Early life and education
The Nigerian entertainer DJ Cuppy was born on 11th November 1992 as Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola. She was born into the wealthy family of Femi Otedola. Her grandfather, Michael Otedola, had served as the governor of Lagos State as well.
DJ Cuppy is the second child of Femi Otedola but according to sources, she does not share the same mother as her elder sister, Tolani Otedola. Florence Otedola, or DJ Cuppy as many call her, has one younger sister, Temi and a younger brother named Fewa.
DJ Cuppy was born in Lagos and she partly grew up in Ilupeju, a town in Lagos State, the commercial centre of Nigeria. When she turned six, her family relocated to the capital of Lagos State, Ikeja. She attended a UK-standard private school named Grange School in Lagos State.
In 2005, at the age of 13, her family moved to London to live permanently. She had completed her schooling in London and then she sat for GSCEs and A’ levels exams. She got admission into Kings College, London, to study business and economics eventually graduating in 2014.
Additionally, she studied music business at the New York University, United States, and graduated with a master’s degree in 2015. This was for her to understand how to monetise music, an interest she picked up while still studying. In 2015, DJ Cuppy also worked as an intern at Jay-Z’s Roc Nation headquarters (also in New York). There she likely further honed her skills working with professional longtime music makers.
See also: Femi Otedola Biography: Early life, education, business, career and net worth
DJ Cuppy Biography: Music career
As already mentioned, DJ Cuppy began making music while she was still in school. It was a hobby that she enjoyed doing but as soon as she realised that it could become a full-time career, she chased it with passion. Her internship under Roc Nation was also likely instrumental in building her career even further.
She started making music officially in 2014. That year, DJ Cuppy was the resident DJ at the MTV Africa Music Awards in Durban. Big acts like Beyonce, Rihanna, WizKid, Davido, Miley Cyrus and others were on the nomination list of the award show. Thereafter, she was chosen to entertain the guests at the Tatler and Christie’s Art Ball in London. Later she also played at the Financial Times Luxury Summit in Mexico City, an event attended by senior luxury sector executives, corporate decision-makers and financiers from around the world.
Florence Otedola released her first major project, House of Cuppy, in July 2014. It was a compilation mix that she had worked on in London and launched it in Lagos first. BellaNaija described it as “a house mix of Nigerian songs by artistes including Tiwa Savage, Kcee, Naeto C featuring D’banj, Dr Sid, Alexandra Burke, Chidinma, Wizkid, illBliss and Suspect”. She launched it in New York on 2 September 2014.
DJ Cuppy also founded her own music company in 2014 that she called Red Velvet Music Group, a music management and content production business and is based in London.
Resuming her duties as a disk jockey at events, Cuppy got a gig to play at the March 2015 Oil Barons Charity in Dubai. It is the biggest event in the oil-rich State and pulls 2,000+ distinguished guests and senior industry figures. She became the first African act to perform at the event.
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Cuppy was the official ceremony DJ at President Muhammad Buhari’s inauguration in 2015 held at Eagle Square Abuja, FCT, Nigeria.
On the back of the positive reviews of the first edition, Cuppy released House of Cuppy II in June 2015. Pulse described it as an African inspired mixtape that features songs from artists such as Olamide, Seyi Shay, AKA, P-Square, Yemi Alade and the voice of actress Funke Akindele.
Cuppy kicked off her first tour as a DJ in August 2015. The tour was themed “Cuppy Takes Africa”. She targeted eight major cities in Africa. She visited Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and South Africa. The highlights of the tour included performances and collaborations with other artists. She also held charity events that were supported by GTB Bank and the Dangote Foundation.
The Cuppy Takes Africa tour was compiled and aired on Fox Life Africa as an 8-episode documentary series in October 2016.
She returned to the turntable at events later in 2016 when she was chosen to be the resident DJ for MTV2’s Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne Tha God. It was a talk show that aired weekly on MTV2 hosted by on-air personality Charlamagne Tha God. It featured a panel of guests who discussed current events in politics and the media.
Cuppy was credited as a producer on two songs, “Vibe” and “The way I am”, which appeared on the “Afrobeats” EP by Young Paris and which was released on 24th March 2017. Young Paris is a Congolese singer and songwriter, who was signed to Roc Nation in 2016.
On 13th October 2017, Cuppy released her first official single titled, “Green Light“. The song features guest vocals from Nigerian singer and producer Tekno. Tooxclusive described the song as “groovy, with soft lyrical content that has become an essential element of Nigerian pop music today. The product is good for any Nigerian party playlist.”
On 30th March 2018, Cuppy dropped “Vybe“, her second official single. The song features guest vocals from Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie. It also got positive reviews from local music blogs for its potential as a club regular.
On 24th August 2018, she released “Currency“, her third official single featuring vocals from Nigerian singer L.A.X.
She released “Werk“, her fourth single featuring Skuki, on 5 October 2018.
On April 19, 2019, Cuppy released her fifth single titled “Abena” with Kwesi Arthur.
Her sixth single, “Gelato” featuring Zlatan dropped on 16th August 2019. It’s audio contained the “Zanku” tune that was the reigning thing at the time. Its video was clearly inspired by the colourful assemblage of Nicki Minaj and Tekashi 6ix9ine’s “Fefe”. Gelato was a people’s favourite and enjoyed massive airplay.
On 16th July 2020, She released “Jollof On The Jet” as her seventh single. The song featured Nigeria’s rave of the moment Rema and Tanzanian artiste Rayvanny.
Original Copy 2020
DJ Cuppy was relentless in 2020 and she capped off the year with the release of her debut album, “Original Copy“, which dropped on the 24th of August 2020. With many not knowing what to expect, “Original Copy” impressed music lovers.
The album features 11 songs and while DJ Cuppy delivers some vocals of her own, most of them came from a wide range of industry acts. Haitian singer, Wyclef Jean was on one track. Several stars like Sir Shina Peters, Fireboy DML, Teni, Nonso Amadi, Ycee, Ms Banks, Julian Marley, Efya and so on also contributed to the album’s success.
“Original Copy” had elements of Cuppy’s Epe roots and tried to be as African as possible. Yet, it’s quality is not all sentimental, it produces good sound, joyful lyrics and good vibes.
Recognition, awards and fame
In 2014, the Nigerian minister of culture and tourism branded DJ Cuppy as a Nigerian tourism ambassador.
In 2015, she won the Nigerian entertainment award for Best female DJ.
Guardian Life magazine featured Cuppy in January 2015. The magazine’s cover celebrated a new generation of African women, and Cuppy was recognised as one. She was also featured in the 2015 April/May issue of Forbes Woman Africa.
In June 2016, Cuppy and her younger sister Temi were featured in a British documentary titled “Lagos To London: Britain’s New Super Rich”. It shed light on their expensive lifestyle, taste and their struggle to live outside their father’s shadow.
On 5th June 2018, Cuppy was announced as a Global Citizen Education Ambassador and on 28th November she was announced as an Ambassador For Save The Children UK.
She has won the Best Female DJ award at the Beatz Awards in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. In 2020, she was also nominated for a Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Award.
In 2020, Forbes Magazine included Cuppy in its 30 under 30 class.
On May 28, 2020, she became the official host of ‘Africa Now Radio’, a brand new show on Apple Music Beats 1.
Her fans call themselves “Cupcakes” and she has a huge following on social media.
DJ Cuppy Biography: Philanthropy
In July 2018, Cuppy launched the Cuppy Foundation, a nonprofit organisation aimed at tackling issues surrounding child protection and education for girls and persons with disabilities (minorities).
In November 2019, the foundation organised the Gold Gala, a fundraising event. It was able to raise over NGN5 billion for the Save the Children initiative as her father Femi Otedola and Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote donated handsomely to the cause.
DJ Cuppy Biography: Personal life
Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola is not married and we have no verified information on who is currently her boyfriend. But we know that DJ Cuppy has been in different relationships in the past.
At one time, DJ Cuppy was dating Nigerian footballer Victor Anichebe but they broke up in 2017.
Nigerian singer Sean Tizzle had posted a picture of Cuppy, that suggested that they were in a relationship. Tizzle had written a note under the photo that read: “God Bless My Cupcake Ifeoluwa aka Cuppy… Like Jay Z and Beyonce… It’s Just Me n My Future Abiamo #MyAbiamoKindaGirl #Kisses.”
In 2018, DJ Cuppy ended a relationship with the CEO of Stargaze Entertainment, Asa Asika. They had allegedly known each other for a long time before the break up happened.
There are also rumours that she and Nigerian-born British boxer, Anthony Joshua, were in a relationship. However, it appears that this was only a rumour as the two of them have not come out publicly to acknowledge it.
ICYMI: Check out the reactions to DJ Cuppy and Anthony Joshua’s ‘traditional wedding’ picture
Cuppy is fun-loving and very social. She is active on social media and is a passionate football fan. She used to support English club Arsenal but switched allegiance to Manchester United after the former’s repeated underachievements.
She spends a lot of time with her family and they go on vacations together. While she has voiced frustrations over the way people stereotype her because of her upbringing, she is generally loving in public.
DJ Cuppy Biography: Net worth and deals
Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola or DJ Cuppy is currently one of the most influential female celebrities in Nigeria. She is allegedly worth about $2.5 million, according to some local blogs. However, we cannot verify this figure, which seems made up. When we checked on Forbes, Cuppy was included in the 30 under 30 class but her net worth was not made known.
We know that DJ Cuppy is wealthy because her father is one of the richest men in Africa. Also, she has been doing many disc jockeying gigs at big events as we revealed in the section about her career. Additionally, she makes money from her several songs and works as a producer.
These are not all, she is one of Pepsi’s DJ ambassadors and on 20th March 2018, Cuppy was announced as an Official DJ Ambassador for Pepsi. Also, in 2020, she was one of those who launched the official new jersey of English Premier League club Manchester United, marking what seemed to be a ‘big money’ deal with Adidas.
In September 2020, Femi Otedola bought three brand new 2020 model Ferraris for his three daughters, including DJ Cuppy. The cars were said to be worth NGN86 million each as of when he purchased them.
DJ Cuppy Biography: #EndSARS protests
The #EndSARS protests are weeks-long protests by Nigerians youths clamouring for the scrapping of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force. The youths are also demanding an end to police brutality, an immediate institution of reforms, compensations for families of victims of extrajudicial killings, punishments for guilty police officers, amongst other demands.
The protests, which started on 8 October 2020, are still going at the time of writing this article. Many Nigerian celebrities and leaders joined the youths in making their demands known to the government.
Initially, Cuppy was silent on the issue and became the focus of some Nigerian youths’ anger over her silence on the matter. However, Florence Otedola, better known as DJ Cuppy later joined the protests when she tweeted her support in an apologetic tone on the 9 of October 2020. She explained that she was advised against pitching a tent with the protesters. While noting that activities of SARS officers do not directly affect, Cuppy acknowledged that the fact that many of her fans were affected was enough for her.
In her words, she says: “Going against the advice of those around me, but it doesn’t feel right. Silence can say so much. My fellow Nigerians, forgive me for taking so long to comment…
“I would (be) lying if I said I’m DIRECTLY affected by SARS but a lot of my Cupcakes are and that’s enough for me to care. I stand behind the movement to #EndPoliceBrutality AND #EndSARS”
I would lying if I said I’m DIRECTLY affected by SARS but a lot of my Cupcakes are and that’s enough for me to care. I stand behind the movement to #EndPoliceBrutality AND #EndSARS ??
— Cuppy (@cuppymusic) October 9, 2020
Following the tweet, Cuppy became more visible on Twitter with her support of #EndSARS.
She also flew back to Lagos from Dubai so she could join the protest and during her period of self-isolation, due to the coronavirus pandemic guidelines, she tweets: “As much as I’m currently doing all that I CAN whilst here in quarantine, honestly it DOES NOT feel the same as being out on the streets making history with my fellow Nigerian youth. #SarsMustGo”
As much as I’m currently doing all that I CAN whilst here in quarantine, honestly it DOES NOT feel the same as being out on the streets making history with my fellow Nigerian youth. #SarsMustGo
— Cuppy (@cuppymusic) October 13, 2020
On Friday, 16 October 2020, Cuppy joined the protests in Lekki Tollgate, explaining she wanted to be part of history.
On Friday I went to protest not to please people but because I NEED tell my children that I was part of history. Lazy Nigerian Youth are changing this country for generations to come and as a 27 year-old, I couldn’t be prouder… An experience I will NEVER forget! ???? #EndSars pic.twitter.com/76a5bf4zV3
— Cuppy (@cuppymusic) October 18, 2020
DJ Cuppy Biography: Controversies
On her way to fame, Cuppy was frequently subject to snide remarks due to her privileged upbringing. However, when such comments come up, she usually replies with something cheerful or completely ignores the negative statements. These remarks start in the industry with many claiming that she got her DJ gigs at big events because of her father, Otedola’s, influence.
Explaining further, the “Gelato” singer says: “No matter how many doors are open for you, only your skills and delivery can keep you in those doors.
“I have connections, but if I didn’t work hard, I wouldn’t be able to bring those connections to fruition. After all, my dad can not DJ for me.”
Some people say my success is solely due to the doors my dad opened for me… I beg to differ ?? #CuppyOnAMission pic.twitter.com/oYA1sSKYjF
— #OriginalCopy ? (@cuppymusic) September 25, 2020
See also: Here is why Uche Maduagwu advises DJ Cuppy to quit music
Some also called her earlier songs trash but instead of defending it, the music maker simply goes on to work harder on her later releases to make them better.
In 2019, when Twitter users trolled her for not being like other celebrities who engage in giveaway activities, she had simply said that she did not do giveaways because it seems to her like she is paying people to be her fans. Instead, she focuses on her charity organisation.
Final thoughts…
DJ Cuppy is one of the most talented and popular disc jockeys in the Nigerian entertainment industry. She has struggled to show that her success is as a result of her talent and hard work and not just because her father is one of the wealthiest and most connected businessmen in Africa.
She has a convincing body of work to support her and also has her own personality of being jovial, fun and relatable. Cuppy still has a whole lot of ground to cover in the entertainment industry but she also has time on her side as well. We look forward to the leader of the ‘Cupcakes’ nation giving us more good sounds to enjoy.
Additional information on DJ Cuppy
List of singles
- Green Light ft Tekno (2017)
- Vybe ft Sarkodie (2018)
- Currency ft L.A.X (2018)
- Werk ft Skuki (2018)
- Abena ft Kwesi Arthur (2019)
- Gelato ft Zlatan (2019)
- Jollof On The Jet ft Rema & Rayvanny (2020)
Original Copy list of songs
- Epe ft Efya
- Jollof On The Jet ft Rema & Rayvanny
- Wale ft Wyclef Jean
- Feel Good ft Fireboy DML
- Cold Heart Killer ft Darkoo
- Original Copy (Interlude)
- Karma ft Stonebwoy
- Litty Lit ft Teni)
- 54 ft Julian Marley & Sir Sina Peters
- Guilty Pleasure ft Nonso Amadi
- P.O.Y ft Ycee & Ms Banks
- Labalaba ft Seyi Shay
Ahhhhhh!!!!
I think I am beginning to like Cuppy especially after reading the section on #EndSARS. Great piece.