She doesn’t just compile music playlists and set the decks on fire. She also brings an African flair to a party to match the genre of music she plays. Precious Nkadimeng has been breathing, living and exuding the arts from a young age, when she would sew flowers and beads on to her jeans.
Her stage name – Spokenpriestess says everything about her. We approached her after her set at the Big Brother Titans finale watch party.
While this name was “inspired by days in the TUT (Tshwane University of Technology) Street Poets society back in 2009” because she was a poet who preached through rhymes, her African Powerpuff Girl nickname is more mystical.
Unlike Spokenpriestess, the name “found me along the way as my brand as a pan-African lover & traveler grew stronger. It's a reflection of my passion for the continent, my colourful African style looks & probably my curiosity for exploring Africa through my frequent travels. To me, it's like being my own version of a superhero.”
One thing for sure, she lives up to these names. She practices the Africanism she preaches in not only her Afrobeats sets but also with the African tribal paintings on her face as a feature of her make-up.
“It's a form of identity & tapping into the many ways that Africans express themselves creatively & culturally.”
The paintings were inspired by the work of Nigerian artist Laolu NYC which looked like adaptations of Xhosa people’s symbolic face paintings or dots.
“I embody various facets and influences of multiple African tribes from the Maasai in Kenya to the Pedi in South Africa, and so forth. To me it's all part of me & the face paintings are my way of connecting to our roots, but also to stand out from the crowd,” she tells Drum.
While many know her as a DJ now and perhaps a poet in her university days, Spokenpriestess’ journey also includes being a radio presenter, music writer and all-rounded creative enthusiast.
It all started with radio in 2009 though.
At the age of 17 in her first year, she became a presenter at Tshwane FM then worked her way to UJ FM and the next thing she knew, she was in commercial radio – 5FM. Broadening her radio horizon, she tapped into content production at Kaya FM and made her last stop at TransAfrica radio in 2018.
From this almost-decade-long investment, the radio junkie won an award for the Best Radio Hip Hop Show from the South African Hip Hop Awards in 2014 which affirmed to her that hard work really does pay off.
Reflecting on her radio days, the now 31-year-old says the medium opened up the industry for her, gave her the ability to express herself and showed her the ins and outs of the entertainment industry that remain beneficial to her growth to date.
“I know what it takes to be in the front as much as I know what it takes to be behind-the-scenes & not everybody has that kind of exposure or experience. I've basically lived a full 360° of media and entertainment.”
While being on the radio airwaves made all the sense in the world, becoming a DJ did not.
“I've always loved music from a young age, but never did I imagine I'd end up being a DJ. Being on radio made a lot of sense, yes, but never DJing. The career started appealing to me when my ear for music started becoming sophisticated in matching beats & linking songs together from my time on radio. That's when I started toying around with the idea of being a DJ,” she recounts how she ventured into DJing.
Initially, exploring her DJing craft was merely a challenge but within no time, she developed a keen interest for it. From taking lessons at Pioneer DJ Institute to practice and get more comfortable with the equipment to securing gigs by word of mouth, the DJ extraordinaire found herself playing at a DSTV and JOOX activation where “I quite frankly killed it and set the tone for my career going forward”.
With every gig after this one, she grew more popular as she shared the decks with bigger names such as DJ pH. It wasn’t until she won the inaugural Friends of Amstel DJ competition in 2019 though that she became closer than ever to becoming a household name as she featured in the competition’s virtual event alongside Wizkid, Dbn Gogo, Focalistic and DJ Lamiez Holworthy during lockdown.
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Just like that, her DJing career had taken off and she used it to create Gbedu Nights – a strictly Afrobeats event which she and two other women DJs – Boujeena and Kat Upendi uses to curate their specialized playlists.
Elaborating to Drum further, she says, “When you go out in South Africa, it's very rare that you'll hear Afrobeats music played in establishments unless if you're in high-end night clubs like those in Sandton, Rosebank & some parts of Cape Town. Gbedu Nights closes that gap & satisfies the hunger that Afrobeats lovers have to experience that music, uninterrupted, on a night out.”
This is the second project that she heads to better not only the music industry but the creative industry as a whole. 16BarsRELOADED is the first and oldest which she established in her capacity as a presenter and music writer. With this, artists are supported, guided and mentored as it creates platforms of networking, learning and growing their careers.
Seemingly, extending a generous hand is a constant feature in her career.
Following her single release called ‘Rotation Shemix’ which featured women from all over Africa, Spokenpreiestess proposed a t-shirt range partnership to Foschini inspired by the single.
“The single was a remix of South African-Zambian artist, Yung Verbal's, song called Rotation. He approached me to do a remix and I called on Lioness (Namibia), Phlow (Nigeria), Tamarsha (South Africa), Moozlie (South Africa) and Crystal Asige (Kenya) to be on the song. It was a huge movement putting it together, but the aim was to show the power of women working together, which is what Foschini resonated with as [it is] all about women & their empowerment.”
“The whole partnership was centered around empowered women empowering other women. We ended up raising R80 000 for the Frida Hartley Shelter for Destitute Women & Children through our t-shirt campaign,” she says proudly.
By virtue of having made a difference in people’s lives, this became one of top highlights of her career. Another highlight of her career has been flying to Dubai to be part of the African Union’s Honour Day concert at Expo 2020.
“I ended up playing for Nigerian superstar, Mayorkun, on the night. I'll never listen to his music the same. That moment really showed me that absolutely nothing is impossible, and it reminded me that I can take this thing as far as I want to, no limits or boundaries,” she recalls the day.
With the highlights though, comes challenges of being a ‘female DJ’ – a description she cringes at.
“I don't believe in describing professionals by their biological sex assignment. For example, no one ever says "male doctor" or "male engineer", so I don't see why we should be identifying women as "female DJs". To refer to us you can say, ‘women in music’ or ‘women who DJ’.”
“My personal pet peeves are men thinking I need extra help with basic things, so they end up doing things for me without asking if I need help, simply because I'm a girl. Another thing I hate is back handed compliments like, ‘you play so well for a female DJ’ or, ‘you play better than all the male DJs I've heard play that sound’. What kind of compliment is that?”
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Even though she faces this adversity when at work, the support from her family and friends keeps her going. Her grandmother, in particular, is her biggest fan. Whenever she sees a DJ on a tv screen, she likens them to Spokenpriestess.
“Haaah! Ga a go phale ngwanaka. (S/he is not better than you)” are her exact words each time.
“It doesn't matter whether she's looking at legends who've been in the game for decades or she's seeing a really popular DJ, if someone is touching decks & I'm not them, she protests. It's really the most endearing and hilarious thing, but it teaches me about a kind of faith that surpasses all rules of reality & tells me that I too am worth being in spaces that are bigger than where I am now,” says the Afrobeats DJ.
Even though she knows that her hard work is what brought her to where she is, she is still in awe of how inspirational her journey has been. However, the Limpopo-born DJ believes she still has a long way to go. When she is not behind the decks, she is a digital conceptual copywriter, a content and social media manager and a music consultant.
Sharing her future plans, she says, “I want to be part of the generation of creatives that not only do beautiful work to consume & enjoy, but also do impactful work that will make the difference in the real-life sense for others."
“Personally, I still want to study music myself. Go deeper into the art, understand it from all angles. Become a producer, a songwriter & even a lecturer at one point. I have no limits and my future is not rigid either. I will go where the music takes me, for as long as it feels right.”
While the entertainment industry battles with the culture of dishonesty and unprofessionalism, she has taken it upon herself to change that.
“Promoters & event organisers communicate poorly, promises are not upheld to, and people don't honour payments, which can be problematic. No one should ever have to chase anyone for money that's rightfully theirs, especially after rendering a service. So, I'd definitely change the way we interact with each other as a creative community to be more respectful of each other's work and to communicate more clearer, honestly & professionally,” she says.
Tiwa Savage, Mayorkun, Wizkid, Yemi Alade, Adekunle Gold, Sauti Sol and King Promise are at the top of the list of people she wants to work with to create a positive narrative about Africa.
