Building up to the Cape Town Underground Music Festival which will take place next week in five different venues in Cape Town, we will be profiling some of the artists that are billed to perform at the event. 

Deejay Malibu has released two albums – Along Came Deejay Malibu Vol 1 in 2009 and Along Came Deejay Malibu Vol 2 in 2014 and travelled as far as London tearing up dancefloors with his blend of deep house and dubstep. He also has his own events company called O Madoda and he’s focusing on a clothing line called O Madoda Experience and has plans for album number three. Oh, he’s also the ambassador for alcoholic beverage producer and marketer Distell. Phew! All this and he’s only in his mid-20s. 

In the beginning

Originally from Pretoria, Malibu got his break when another DJ failed to pitch at a club. Talk about chance! He started blasting his grandmother’s soundsystem. He didn’t have any other equipment, just the HI-FI and CDs. But he enjoyed the fact that he made people dance and have a good time. Later, when a DJ friend of his brother’s failed to pitch for his set, it just made sense to everyone that Malibu be the one to fill in. “My brother was like ‘Bra, you’ve been making noise from home for years,’ so I filled the spot. I didn’t even know what I was doing. I was just pressing things and people were dancing and having a good time. So I decided to follow up and take this DJing thing seriously,” Malibu says.

Getting the deal

He got signed to Soul Candi Records in 2005 after DJ Mbuso – its co-founder – had seen him at events. It was, however, a juggle between school and DJing. By his matric year in 2007, he made a deal with his gran that by June, he would put DJing on hold to focus on exams. “But then what happened in June was that another life-changing contract came along. So I had a choice, I let this contract go or risk it,” he says. He took the risk – to his granny’s dismay. “She wasn’t happy at first ‘cause I was coming home late. But then when she saw posters and that I was getting an income, she started to make peace with my decision.” 

Influences

“Oskido and all these guys from the township who understand the township lifestyle. They know the struggle. Those are the kind of people who can judge you ‘cause they know where you come from,” he says.

His granny is another influence in his life. In fact, she’s one of his biggest supporters. “She owns my first CD. She hates the second one though,” he laughs. “That CD has been in her car for years and she doesn’t wanna take it out,” he says beamingly.

What you can expect from him at CTUMF

Malibu always tries to ensure that everyone has a good time. “I like to cater to everyone. If you see a couple of black people, you’re gonna play black people’s music. If you see a couple of white people, you’re gonna play Daft Punk – One More Time. With that song, the white people start jumping and black people will be like ‘What the hell?’ And there will be a little crowd of black people that’ll start losing their minds then everyone start losing their minds. Seeing that brings a smile on my face,” he says smilingly.

Don’t miss Deejay Malibu on the House stage on the 11th of October at The Loop.

Twitter: @_Sheilan_