No, she is not Oil magnate Femi Otedola’s daughter, DJ Cuppy. Her name is Julie Adenuga. She is not Globacom CEO, Mike Adenuga’s daughter either. So who is this 26-year-old that Apple calls “one of London’s most vital tastemakers,” and how did she become the DJ to run Apple’s brand new 24-hour radio streaming service under the name Beats 1in London? Julie Adenuga is sister to hiphop artistes Skepta and JME (Joseph & Jamie Adenuga) who founded grime crew “Boy Better Know’. She also recorded backup vocals on her brother’s debut album, Famous in 2008. She started out in 2010 as a dj on Rinse fm in London even before the station became legit (i.e. before they were granted a license) and before long was promoted to the daily 4-7pm show that blended hip-hop, grime, house, pop, R&B, and basically anything fresh that caught Adenuga’s imagination, along with some very revealing interviews with rising stars to be found on British radio. She even had the Rinse Fm logo shaved on her head once.
What’s more interesting is the fact that she literally worked her way up and into Apple. According to @scratchadva on Twitter, Julie Adenuga used to work on the shop floor at Apple before fortune smiled on her, making her a presenter and DJ on the company’s online platform and the opportunity to work alongside former BBC Radio DJ Zane Lowe and Hot Fm’s Ebro.
Having been on radio professionally for about 5 years, Adenuga says “My vision is to do things that bring people together, people in general, all human beings.” Well, we see her achieving that mission sooner than even she envisaged with UK’s biggest rappers and musicians like Tinashe knocking at her door for her connections already, and Apple looking to her to curate the country’s freshest musical output.
@JulieAdenuga Julie hook man up please 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😏😂😂
— Chasing The Art . (@WileyUpdates) June 8, 2015
That’s another Nigerian doing big things we are proud of. I will personally follow up on her to bring you updates of her journey with Apple’s online radio, Beats 1.
Connect with her here: julieadenuga.com
