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.
