DJ Black Coffee on Breaking Barriers and Building Global Credibility

0:04Hi, this is Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion. Happy New Year and welcome to the BOF podcast. It's Friday, January 2nd. A DJ from South Africa who survived a life-altering accident on the night of Nelson Mandela's release, Black Coffee has gone on to headline the world's biggest stages. At BOF Voices 2025, he reflected on building global credibility and on reshaping how the African continent is seen. If you Google a picture of Africa, it's not going to be the most positive picture you see. To be a DJ in South Africa, it's one of the toughest things because almost every DJ is as amazing.

0:47To be a DJ on the global level is way more tougher because I come from a continent that is, or was, maybe still is, not seen as how it truly is. This week on the BOF podcast, I'm pleased to share this conversation with Black Coffee, where we talk about rejecting pigeonholes, earning trust on a global level, and opening doors for the next generation. Here's Black Coffee on the BOF podcast.

1:21Thank you for coming. Thank you so much. You must be the busiest guy I know. I'm the most nervous guy right now. You shouldn't be nervous. I'm so fascinated by your story, and I'm really excited to have the opportunity to kind of go into it a little bit with you. Before we dive into the backstory, we were talking with Alvaro Barrington earlier about what it takes to be a great artist. I'm curious, what does it take to be a great DJ on a global scale, in a global culture like the one we live in now? What is it? What is that? Wow. I have great respect for Alvaro. Really enjoyed the talk earlier.

2:11There's two things for me. To be a DJ in South Africa, it's one of the toughest things because almost every DJ is amazing. To be a DJ on the global level is way more tougher because I come from a continent that is, or was, maybe still is, not seen as how it truly is. If you Google a picture of Africa, like on your phone right now, you know, it's not going to be the most positive picture you see. So to leave the continent and be able to be great outside, there's a lot of work that one had to do like internally and externally the more I was growing as a brand fashion played a very big role for me how I'm seen and how I walk into the room in every show that I play I was very conscious of how I present myself and the bigger the brand the more intentional I was in terms of like visually how do I look how do I speak how do I present myself.

3:20Totally different from the DJ from South Africa that I was before. So it took a lot of work. You said now that, you know, the way if we googled Africa or African culture on our phones and the way Africa really is, and I say this as the son of immigrants from Africa. Yes. So I share that perspective with you because when the image that we have of Africa or the image like Westerners or people outside of Africa. What's the gap? Like what's the way that you see it versus the way that it's seen? There's a lot of difference. I mean, the biggest lie about the continent is if you look at the picture of the globe, Africa is made to be smaller.

4:09And that's the truth, that's a fact. That's number one. how we are made to be seen. Just the continent of Africa, if you look at the globe, it's made smaller, but it's bigger than what it actually is. I'm not even talking about its talent, its taste, its fashion, its music, its culture. I'm just talking about how the entire continent is made to look, you know, which is a bigger picture. And everything else that comes with it, you know, we have to work 10 times harder. we don't have opportunity. We have the talent we have. And this is across the board, not just in music, in everything that we do.

4:51We import more than we export. I have great interest in the fashion world. There's something that we're working on. And it's common knowledge that Africa is, it's a$31 billion industry today, projected to be 50 billion by 2030. But still, we import more than we export. Yeah. And I'm one of the few exports of the continent. And the idea is to, something that I'm working on every year, if you look at my residencies across the world in Ibiza, I bring more African DJs on the island. residency in Italy, where I do Phoebe, residency in Greece. All the residences that I work in, I try to bring more African DJs, not just because I'm from Africa, because I know how much we lack opportunity and I know how much we are ready for the global platform.

6:00And what often happens is the world will then create subgenres or categories for African people. At the Grammys, instead of Tyler from South Africa, who has the biggest song in the world, instead of giving her number one pop award, they will create a new genre or category. where it's best African. It's like we were hearing earlier with the chefs, right? When you're a chef coming from the global south or a different culture, they want to put a label on you. Yes, so I've experienced this as an artist. I once received a big award in LA, the BETs. And at the time I was staying in LA and we were invited to this award ceremony.

6:54And me staying there at the time, it was such a big thing for me. I was very excited. South African going to the BETs who knows you know I'm gonna see Beyonce I'm gonna see all the big stars you know on the weekend and then during the week we were told the African categories were only going to be on Friday not televised not televised um alone so we attended the ceremony on Friday and it was just us you know and we were all given our awards on Friday and we were not invited on the main show on Saturday. But if you watch the show from Africa, they managed to edit the show so that you see us receiving the awards on TV on the same day.

7:40But we could not attend the show with everyone else. You weren't actually invited into the room. You know what I'm saying? So that's how we've been slowly slotted into the system. And the Grammy Award that you're speaking about was one of my biggest ways to fight that category where I created the album with an intention of being nominated or being categorized with my peers. So I worked with my peers, you know, I have David Gator on the album who was also nominated, I have Deep Law who was also nominated on the same category, I featured the world's greatest musicians on the album because I was very intentional about landing at the right place and not being categorized on any African genre.

8:36And so to do that, did you need that adjacency with those Western DJs in order for them not to put you in that box? Is that what you're saying? No, it was just me being intentional about song selection, the tempo, the features, you know, because music is such a universal thing. There's no language in a piano. You know, a piano doesn't speak Zulu. You know, it plays notes. It doesn't matter who's playing it. So I was very intentional about what I'm trying to do with that album. and when I got the nomination you know I felt very rewarded even before the award at that point I didn't even care about that award the fact that I was not categorized as an African DJ on an African category you know I felt like my voice was heard on a global scale where it belonged and that's what drags us, makes us slow as African.

9:37We are not given an opportunity on the same level as the world players. You know, any African artist who comes up, they will create a category. I mean, there's been so many artists from here, from the UK, like Sam Smith came. They didn't create a British category. Category. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So that slows us down a lot, you know, whether it's in art, music or fashion. Your personal story is a remarkable one. And growing up in South Africa in the apartheid era. Yeah. And at the time when that era came to a close. Yeah. And then experiencing life post-apartheid. Today, yeah. What was it like for you to experience that massive, almost over, like a shift?

10:35Yeah. Talk to us about that time in South Africa. It's very complex, even today, just to live together. You know, when Nelson Mandela came out of jail and he became the president, the word that was used to promote South Africa was, it was called a rainbow nation. You know, this was his vision, you know, a vision of like equality. Everyone's the same. We're all different people, black, brown, you know, whatever color, which I think was the most beautiful thing you can see. This man stayed in jail for 27 years and he came out and he was preaching equality and peace. But in reality, the country is still suffering.

11:23We silently are suffering because we still don't see each other the same way. There's still fear from both sides. And there's so much positivity, but negativity overwhelms the positivity because we haven't dealt with the truth. You know, I speak about it openly. I remember reading about how in Australia there was a formal apology to the Aborigines, like a formal apology to say we are apologising for what happened to your ancestors. And I feel like in South Africa that's what's needed. What happens instead is people say no, that was the past, get over it. which I think everyone is working towards that but I feel like what could bring real change is being outspoken about what happened in the past because then we're dealing with the issues in the right way.

12:29You know, today we have kids that are young that don't know the history, that are very positive, that are the rainbow nation but the truth is still hidden and you almost see change when they turn 18 and they start knowing the truth because no one speaks about it openly. And then they start looking at each other different. And it's constantly going to keep happening. Yeah, until that. Until we speak about it openly. And it's not taboo to speak about it because it is the past. So I live in a very, very positive country, but it still has wounds.

13:12we'll be right back with more on the bof podcast

13:19the night that nelson mandela was released from prison was also a defining moment for you in your personal life yeah can you take us back to that moment and what happened because it changed your life forever that day? I was 13, about 10, 14. 13. Yeah. And we lived with our grandmother who was extremely strict. And it was all over the news that Nelson Mandela is coming out of prison the following day. And there was basically tribulations all around the country. It was all over radio, TV. And what happened in the township where I was staying, people were going to camp overnight. So we lived not far from a local stadium.

14:14So people started singing, kind of like going through all the streets, gathering up in numbers so that they can go camp in the stadium, which was near my house. and this group of people came past my house and we all came out to see and a parade was going yes like right in front and we didn't live on a big main road but it came right in front of our house and me and my cousins would quickly like went in because i love music so they were singing i went in and my cousins went back and i didn't go back it was around eight nine at night i didn't go back and I just kept going with the crowd to a point where I was now scared to go back home because it was late.

15:02It was going midnight, one o 'clock. We were still going. And when we were a few metres away from the stadium, like on the main road, we just had like a nod. I personally had a big, big noise, like something was like a big bang. and I was light out, you know, and I think a few seconds or maybe a minute, you know, I gained consciousness. People were screaming and yeah, I mean, later what happened? The taxi came and bashed onto the singing crowd and they say intentionally switch off the light so we couldn't see. And in high speed, he just came in the front and rammed through the crowd. and I was with my friends and we were not in the front you know with my two friends and you know the lights out and then cars came ambulances to pick us up take us to the hospital and I remember it got to the hospital I saw my friends they were also injured so we we got injured and I suffered an injury called brachial plexus which is the damage of the nerves so I got a dislocated shoulder and I don't think it was from the impact of the car.

16:22I think it was from the impact of the people pushing back. So we were in hospital early hours of the morning. They couldn't figure out what to do with me and they sent me home. And I remember getting back home in pain, sitting on the couch, watching the television and Nelson Mandela was coming out of jail that same few hours later, which was a big thing for the world and for the country. And in the stadium where we were going, it was my full capacity. I could hear it from my house and the singing and the tribulations. So his release out of jail marked a beginning of a different journey for me.

17:02As a kid who was 14 years old, who loved music, who had dreams of becoming something in music. At that age, I wasn't clear about what I wanted to do, but I was already in a music class in school. I was very much dedicated to music. So that was basically the first day of the beginning of Black Coffee. What changed for you after that in terms of, you know, you've lost use of your left arm now as you're paralyzed. Yeah. What happened in your mind after that happened? I went through a lot. I mean, I was a kid, you know. Most of the time I would ask myself why, you know. Why me? Why would God do this to me?

17:49It just didn't make sense for me as someone who I thought I had everything figured out. I found my love for music very early in my life, which I knew music was my thing. And it's crazy because at that age, I was kind of like a big deal as a DJ, underage. And so we and my cousin and his friend had a mobile DJing sound system. And I think around 12, 13, I started following them around and I was very curious and I started learning how to DJ. And so they will come to my house, speak to my grandmother to ask if they can take me to the gigs. And they will do like 21st birthday, like graduation parties and which fascinated her.

18:42You know, like, why are you picking him up? You know, they saw something in you. Yeah, I was I was I was, you know, I was quite talented in music very early. And then this thing happened. So I was very, very confused as to where to go, you know, in music class. And it was a little bit different for me because we had a piano in class. And all of a sudden I was excluded in certain exercising in class. but I had a very understanding teacher you know who knew how to manage the situation but yeah I went I went through many different phases of my life as a kid asking myself so many questions and eventually I just and I used to do physiotherapy after school like three times a week after school I would go see a physiotherapist and I'll do some stretches and eventually I came home I told my grandmother, because as a kid, I expected to see results, you know, and I used to have dreams about it.

19:45I wake up, I'm like, oh, I woke up and I was fine. And nothing was happening. And I told my grandmother, I was like, can I please stop at physio? Because I'm not seeing any change. And it was making me anxious. And I don't know, it was, my depression was becoming worse as a child, you know. And she understood and I stopped physio. And I think stopping physio helped me to kind of like ignore everything that was negative about me. And I literally blocked, you know, the accident. I blocked that experience for many, many years. And I remember the first time I spoke about it was probably 2007 when I released my second album.

20:32because I went with the music and I released my first album without talking about it because I didn't want people to see me as that artist. I didn't want pity. I wanted to come in the industry and be accepted as a musician who has passion and love for music. And after the release of my second album, I was doing a radio interview and I spoke about it for the first time. and I spoke about it because I felt like I was ready to have conversations about it and I've been speaking about it till today. So after the accident, you find a way of kind of pursuing this budding interest in music and you start DJing in South Africa first.

21:22What was the moment that enabled you to go global, to be the South African export? There used to be a, I don't know what to call it, a concept that was done by Red Bull. It used to be called Red Bull Music Academy, where they would invite different producers and teachers from around the world. Basically, you need to go online and apply. And if you're lucky, you'll be chosen and they will fly you wherever they're doing the academy every year. and I applied for it in 2003, I think, and it was in Cape Town in my country. And I was chosen, and so I attended the Red Book Music Academy, and we were about 40 different students.

22:11And being there for me changed my perspective because I was there with other DJs and producers from around the world, and I was playing them the music that I've been making and most of the songs were in my language and, you know, some they were not understanding. I had to translate a lot of stuff. And that was the first thing I wanted to fix about production, to know how to make a global sound without limiting myself because of the language. And I was very intentional about when I can use my language and when I cannot depending on the releases. So long story short, one of the lecturers there was Hugh Masegela, a South African legendary artist, may so rest in peace.

23:04I was sitting on this side of the room and he was talking and we were taking notes and singing for the first time in the room and I listened to a lot of the stuff that he was saying and after the academy then I started working on my album and I reached out to him and he agreed to be on my on my album and my first single was with him and he agreed to do a music video and so I can say being in that academy helped me look at the world different and I was more intentional about how to approach a global scene and how to play for a global scene. So you're now the man on the stage speaking to lots of people like here and you know watching online what's the advice that you offer young creatives you know that might be in Africa there might be in Indonesia or they might be in some other country that's overlooked by kind of mainstream western culture like what advice do you have to offer to those young creatives who want to find their global voice?

24:17Just listen to your voice. You know, as an artist, we all have a voice, you know, and it tells us what color palette to choose when we're painting. You know, it tells us what genre of music do we choose as our medium, whether it's chairs or house music. And what happens is over time, people come in and start dictating to you what voice you should use. And it doesn't matter, you know, whether it's music or anything that you want to be. Just listen to that inner voice because that voice is the voice that will make you the greatest. listening to people sometimes can water down your ambitions and can change your direction.

25:08And I say this a lot because coming from the continent where I come from, we've looked outside a lot. You know, we grew up watching American television thinking that's the greatest country in the world. And that's where we all belong as black people. they are the coolest like you know and over time traveling there and seeing the reception as someone who comes from the continent and seeing the respect they give me I realized that actually we still have more stories to tell as people of the continent we haven't even touched the surface when it comes to storytelling our sound our different cultures for instance in South Africa we have 11 official languages.

25:57Just in my country alone, we have so many different cultures and each culture comes with a different approach to language, to melody, different approach to singing itself. And we haven't even started touching, you know, the surface when it comes to showcasing our talent. So we have a lot of story to tell and we cannot allow anyone else, or you can allow anyone else to tell you, sing your melody like this or approach your art like this. So the message for me is like, listen to your voice and let your talent and your voice guide you. Thank you so much for being here. The BOF podcast is edited and produced by Olivia Davies and Eric Bria.