Many may have fallen in love with her for being a vibe and a half on TikTok.
As for her day ones, they are ready to bust a rap line or two from one of her songs, always.
Her distinct voice sets her apart and her flow even more.
From life lessons, personal experiences and social issues, Dee Koala, real name Odwa Situma, brings it all on any stage that she graces.
The young Hip Hop sensation stops at nothing to bring her A-game and performing with a live band for the first time at Rocking The Daisies festival this year goes to prove just that.
Speaking to Drum about being where she is in her music career, she says, “It’s always been an exciting journey. The whole blow-up happened within the first three years of making music which was around 2016 so it’s been an up and down journey. Sometimes you get disappointed but I’m just proud of myself for keeping it moving and still having the same energy and confidence in my talent.”
It is no surprise that her fanbase has grown exponentially in the past couple of years as she shares that she has remained consistent in pushing her sound from the first day she recorded her first sound.
Taking us back to where it all started, the 25-year-old says she always loved writing, composing and delivering poetry.
“I never thought I’d actually record such, I thought I was going to be a poet but at some point, a friend of mine said ‘just pop in studio’. I went into studio, I gave him a hook and when he dropped it, a lot of people were wondering who’s the girl in the song.”
After getting the affirmation that she’s good from people and realising that she had found her niche, she recorded her first single which was called Koala straight after high school.
“I hadn’t connected with myself yet at the time. After some time, I realised that I wasn’t telling my story the way I wanted and if I wanted to take this seriously, I would want people to enjoy my music with some storytelling that is authentic and relatable. So, I made a song called Whuzet.”
“It dropped with a music video and almost every hood in Cape Town liked the song,” she adds.
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The Khayelitsha-born rapper felt not only seen but heard in her hometown and the next big thing for her was shooting for the stars.
“I was already known but the big blow-up was when the late Riky Rick found me on YouTube on a small snippet with me and my friends just jamming to beats and he flew me over to Johannesburg for the Major League gardens and that was my first performance in front of two thousand people, the first time I flew and first-time meeting Riky Rick.”
Having gotten her first big break, Dee Koala started to roll with the big guns. After that, she hopped on to the Tatakho remix with Yanga Chief remix and that’s how the next chapter of her career began to unfold.
In 2020, she won a gong for the Best Female of the Year at the SA Hip Hop awards.
Starting off in the music industry, she never really had a vision board as she prides herself in being spontaneous while trusting in God’s grace.
“God knows what I want before I even want it and He knows what He has planned for me. So, I trust in Him and I let Him take over. But I have never planned winning an award or anything, I just do music because I love it.
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As she grew to be a household name, many wondered why “Dee Koala” is her stage name.
To this, she says, “I had a friend of mine that nicknamed me Dee, I never had a nickname so it kinda stuck with me and Koala is just an animal I really like. When it’s on a tree, it’s able to sleep and not be afraid to fall off so for me, that resembled confidence within thyself. It kinda made me feel like I’m in my own lane.”
“If I want to take a break because I feel like music is overwhelming and people are overwhelming, I can always do that,” the rapper adds.
In everything though, she remains humble even as she is about to drop another big song called Khaltsha with Youngsta CPT on 8 September 2023 after dropping a banger with Maglera Doe Boy called Gwan last month.
What follows is her annual two-day 4 The Khaltsha festival in partnership with Jagermeister on 17 September at the Hearty Collective in Cape Town.
