Q&A: How to Make the Most Out of the Music with DJ Rosamii

DJ Rosamii. Photo by Zack Orsborn.

DJ Rosamii, DJ and community builder, is like really creative. Read the Q&A from our interview available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

ZACK ORSBORN: I am joined by Rose. Rose is a fabulous DJ. She goes by DJ Rosamii. I found you through Instagram, and I listened to one of your mixes, and I was like, this is really cool. The way you blend pretty much all my favorite songs together. And I love house music and I had to have you on. So thanks for joining me.

DJ ROSAMII: Thank you so much for having me.

ZO: It's been a pleasure listening to your stuff. What led you to DJing? What was going on in your life when you decided to be a DJ?

DR: Well, I moved to Memphis in 2020, and I think it was around 2021 that I started being around the music scene in Memphis. And a lot of artists, a lot of rappers, singers and stuff. And I just started DJing for shows for my boyfriend at the time, and it was just too much fun. It was too much fun. And I got a DJ board one summer, and I just dove headfirst into it. I really love music. I would just sit and listen to music all day, all genres.

So DJing really brought me love for electronic and house, which I always knew I really liked, but I don't know. It kind of helped me fall in love with music again and finding new genres, because it was kind of dying. Everything is so oversaturated that it's hard to find good new music and new artists and stay consistent with them. But I think DJing helped me a lot with that.

ZO: So what is it about dance music that attracted you?

DR: Dancing. I would go out and I never realized or even thought that Memphis would have such a good dance scene. I never just went out and heard music and just literally wanted to dance to all night. And I was like, I see why this is addicting. I see why people live for this. I see rave culture and I see it all.

So I would literally just be at home listening to DJ sets, old house DJ sets of classic house music. And I would just be in my room dancing, not even paying attention to what's playing, and it's just a vibe. It's a good time. I want people to feel that when I'm DJing, just a vibe. Not think too much about it.

ZO: When you were growing up, were you one of those kids that kind of danced in front of the mirror by themselves? Or were you social? What was young Rose like?

DR: I definitely was in my own little world when I was younger. I really had to hide a lot of my music taste from my parents because it was a bit raunchy for them. We listened to a lot of top 40 pop, old school, top 40 PG music, and so I would go home and sneak the hip hop in there. Sneak some other stuff in there. And I was pretty quiet about it. I was pretty quiet about a lot of things I liked. I was not very social. I was very anti. There was a few people that I liked to talk to and that was really it.

ZO: I was the same way when I was younger. I kind of isolated a little bit. And I think that helped my imagination and my creativity. Were you a creative kid? Did you dabble in creativity?

DR: For sure. I was definitely more a writer. I like to write a lot, and yeah, I just listen to music all the time. I think in college I kind of started trying to produce, but that stuff is tedious. Shout out to the producers.

ZO: Yeah. Not your thing.

DR: I'm like, wow. My parents were really straight and narrow, so if I did have anything, it was kind of under wraps. Or I would love to do this, but probably not. They were very much, we just want you to be a doctor or lawyer. Just go to school.

ZO: And now you're a DJ. Do you do DJing full time?

DR: No, I do work a regular job, but I spend basically all my other time DJing, doing stuff for DJing is what I would love to do full time. But being an artist is just so up and down that, to sustain life, sometimes you gotta work.

ZO: Yeah. And you're talking about kind of having to hide things from your parents. Do they know you are a DJ now?

DR: They do know that I'm a DJ. I sent them videos and they thought that they were pretty cool.

ZO: You came out of the DJ closet?

DR: Yeah, I came out. They know, they're probably okay about it. My mom is probably more open to it. My dad is Haitian, straight and narrow. So he's just like, that's cool. It's whatever. I'm like, okay, thanks.

ZO: That's cool to get a "that's cool" from your dad.

DR: Yeah, it is, but I'm just not in the space anymore where I feel like I need to hide anything from them. I'm growing. And it is what it is now.

ZO: One thing I noticed about you, too, is you have really cool style.

DR: Thank you.

ZO: Where does that come from? How did you develop your sense of style?

DR: Honestly, I don't even know. I really just like to show off my body. I just enjoy that, being plus size. Growing up, it was kind of a lot, I guess. I really always loved myself and I was really into myself.

And I was always like, I am a beautiful specimen that you all should see. So I just highlight that in the clothes I wear. Usually I think I look pretty casual. And everybody's like oh my God. I'm like oh thank you. And there's a lot of just pieces that I love that I wear a lot. I'm an outfit repeater over and over.

ZO: I have ten good shirts.

DR: And they're my favorite. I'm never letting them go.

ZO: One thing I admire about DJs is there's a lot going on. You have to worry about the crowd, all the mixes. How did you learn how to manage all of that?

DR: Honestly, it's something that you're constantly learning. Especially doing different types of shows and different genres. It's kind of just a new experience every time. Planning out is great. A lot of people plan out every single song. I can't really do that.

I kind of just give myself a good little vibe for the night. And once you sense the energy, you kind of know where to go. It's a feeling. You just kind of have to pay attention, to the time that it is the vibe that people are on. I pay way too much attention, and I overthink everything, so that's good for this. I literally will listen in on people's conversations if you're talking around me. I hear you. If it's too loud, I'll be hearing.

ZO: So watch your mouth around DJ Rosamii

DR: Literally. One time, I was doing a show with Sumo and I was about to go DJ, and somebody was yelling in the crowd, yelling, I just want to dance. I just wanna hear some dance music. I was like, okay bet.

I was like, okay, I got it, I got it. It's pretty simple. It's just really about having a good catalog and knowing your music. And then outside of the crowd and stuff and worrying about what other people want to hear, you have to be really confident in just what you have. Not every song you have, everyone's going to know. And wouldn't necessarily enjoy at home by themselves, but if you set a good vibe, you'll do anything. People dance to anything.

ZO: Do you ever have moments where a file is missing or something's not going right? Because I would be so scared that technology would fail. Has that ever happened to you?

DR: It happens all the time. Literally all the time. There are videos of me on YouTube where I can tell that it happened. I don't know if everyone else can tell, but I'll just be like, wow, okay. One time, I was just using a DJ board I never used before. I literally turned the whole song off. And apparently it wasn't noticeable, but I was like, oh, that was crazy. And you could kind of see me laugh at myself a little bit and then just put it back on like, yeah, here we go. It happens literally all the time. You just have to have good poker face, which I didn't have at first. I had bad poker face.

ZO: How do you develop good poker face?

DR: Fucking up a lot. And just being like: Oh, well, did they notice it? Usually they don't notice with DJing unless it's really bad. Unless it's really, really bad. Usually people don't notice a lot.

ZO: I've never noticed. Unless it's just pure silence. But at that point, it's the stereo system has failed or something.

DR: I would say every mix I've posted has some type of imperfection, and it held me back at first from posting them. But I'll play them for people and they'll be like, this sounds great. And I was like, oh. I'll be over here being like how it sounds terrible. I'm like, oh my God. You just have to have good confidence in yourself and know that everybody's not as judgmental as we think. All the time. Not all the time.

ZO: And this confidence you're talking about having and then being plus size and being confident about that—where does that confidence come from?

DR: I think that it came for me out of probably a lot of angst, teenage angst and childhood frustration just of being this way and looking this way at a young age and seeing how people treat you. It's just not right. It doesn't make sense to me. It never made sense to me.

So I think pretty early on, I just decided that I had to instill something in myself that I can't really ask for from everybody else. I think that really goes for everybody, however you look, because everybody has insecurities and stuff, and I think that it just comes from knowing yourself and knowing what you can bring to the table, knowing your value. It takes a long time. And I have all my moments and I have my own insecurities, and not everything is always perfect all the time. But I think that being sure of yourself does a lot.

ZO: Yeah, absolutely. And you were talking about when we first started, you moved here in 2020 and you got involved with the Memphis music community. How has that impacted you? What have you learned from musicians, DJs, producers in Memphis?

DR: Oh my God. I think that a lot of times people talk down on just gaining inspiration from others, mimicking. But I think that it's so important to be able to watch other people and gain inspiration from other people.

Every time I went out, every time I hung out with somebody or went back to the studio, or any time I had somebody over to DJ with me, I just learned something crazy. It puts you so much deeper into your creativity. It gives you new ideas. And I feel like that's very important.

And the space that's created out here, where there are so many opportunities for us to be around each other and just speak. I think that that's so important. We didn't have anything like that back home, which is crazy. Nobody likes each other back home. But I think that that is so important and it's really beautiful, that we can have that. And over all these years, we still have that. Things have changed a lot, but we still have so many spaces where people can just communicate about things they love, music, and be geeky. It's cute. It's fun.

ZO: You were talking about ideas. So you start with an idea. What is your process then? How do you start a mix and what's the middle and how do you finish it?

DR: I very much go with the flow. I kind of wing everything, and hope no one notices, which I don't think they have so far. I think that that's really what I love about music is just the way it makes me feel. And that is something that is kind of uncontrollable, what I do with the song is really not. It's really not about what I do with the song. It's about what the song makes me want to do with it, and I choose what I do.

Basically when I'm DJing, I'm focusing on what's playing right then, and then I'll see something that probably will sound good or looks like it sounds good, and I'll just loop it. And whenever I feel like it'll sound the best coming in, I just slide it in there and usually it usually works out. Nine times out of ten. But I think that I don't really have a specific process. I just really go by feeling, I just want everybody to feel how I feel.

ZO: Yeah. And what kind of tools you use? What software do you use?

DR: I use a little bit of everything. I use mainly Virtual DJ. Sometimes I use Serato for my back to back. I have a standalone DJ board, which I love.

ZO: How long did it take you to learn that? Because I look at those things, I'm like, holy shit, a lot has to go into that.

DR: Yeah, for sure. So once you know what everything does, it's pretty simple. I had a regular DJ board that had two channels and some effects and stuff. And I played on it for about a year. And then my friend Dosie had the board that I got recently, and I would play on that for a little bit, and I was just like, I want this one. And I got it. And after having that one it's pretty simple to play on any board.

I think that being a DJ, having access to high quality equipment does make a big difference, especially in the beginning. So I was saying, anyway, if you have a friend or anything, just having access to that because a lot of times you have to play on other people's boards on shows and it can be confusing.

ZO: I bet.

DR: I look at other people's boards—I would go to shows and literally I'll go straight to the DJ board and just stare at it. Because I'm like one day, one day, one day they're going to be like, figure this out and I'm gonna have to do it.

ZO: So having DJ friends, how do you all inspire each other and bounce off each other? What is it like when you all hang out?

DR: Music is involved pretty much every time we hang out, whether we're listening to each other or playing together. It is a lot of fun. I think that any DJ that I'm around, anyone who I DJ with, they inspire me just with their music taste and the way that they mix and the way that they blend.

So it's being around each other a lot. We definitely influence each other a lot, and we just are able to and support each other a lot, which means a lot too, because I think that all DJs are always in their own head. I talked to so many DJ who I'm literally inspired by and I'm like, you're a big deal out here. And they'll be talking to me, well, I don't know how it's going to sound and I don't know if it sounds good. I'm like, what? That's crazy.

So us all being able to just support each other and we just fill each other up with love and positivity. I just tell my friends all the time, you're my favorite DJs ever. You guys are so amazing. And you're superstars. And that's just how it goes. They really are. I think they're so talented and I think that DJs are probably, as a group, the most supportive group of each other. It's really sweet.

ZO: I love that.

DR: Yeah, you wouldn't think so, but they really are, the way that DJs support each other. Literally if there's any fuckups ever in the set, the people that would be sitting there with the poker face and just dancing like they don't even know what's going on, are the DJs. It's so funny.

ZO: Yeah, because they've been there.

DR: It's so funny and it's just so cute. I love the little community that we have in Memphis. I think it's very special. I think there's a lot of little groups like us, little friend groups. I think it's very special. It's very cute.

ZO: How do you see it growing? What would you hope for that community?

DR: Oh my God, I've been to so many cool DJ shows this year alone, and it just started. And I just see so much happening if things can keep going. It really sucks that so many venues are closing, but I think that individuals and groups of people are really trying to hold it together and make something still happen that we can enjoy.

ZO: How do you find out about new music, or do you seek out new music? Or do you rely on classics that you like?

DR: So seeking out new music, I think that I have gone back to the past recently, but TikTok has helped me a lot. I connect with a lot of DJs on TikTok. I do find a lot of music on TikTok. The remixes on there. Oh, they're so good. Oh my God, they're so good. And there's a lot of good DJs and a lot of good producers on TikTok. A lot of times they'll post clips with the YouTube link, and that's where I find a lot of my YouTube videos where I watch a full 30 minute set. So I think that TikTok is great. It's just usually the type of music that I enjoy now. I think it's old school, but old school is to be rediscovered at this point. It's a very new discovery for me and for a lot of people. So I think that social media is extremely important. I don't see the hate.I just don't see it.

ZO: Yeah. I mean, you can scroll past it. I used to struggle with being envious and rolling my eyes at people. But that was because I wasn't doing what they were doing. And I wanted to do what they were doing. It took a long time, but I'm slightly over it.

DR: Yeah, I think we're all slightly getting over it. Kind of. People are getting to the point where we realize, literally where you're at is where you're meant to be, and that just it is what it is. If you're ever meant to be there, you'll be there. But I think, even people who have the kind of life that we say we want, there's probably plenty of things that we would not want to deal with that they have to deal with. So that's how I am okay with it. I'm like well I don't know if I want to really be a go getter. Maybe I just like to chill.

ZO: That needs to be a shirt. Maybe I just like to chill.

DR: Maybe I don't want to be a millionaire. I don't know.

ZO: That sounds exhausting. And they seem all really unhappy.

DR: Stressed. I don't want to stress, either.

ZO: I want to take it easy. Make things pretty and talk to cool people.

DR: Yeah, usually. Usually we don't make that much money, but life is very fulfilling.

ZO: My favorite thing to ask artists to close up is what would be your dream project if you had all the time and all the resources in the world? Where do you see DJ Rosamii going?

DR: I just want to do a touring black electronic festival. I think that black house matters, black techno matters. And I think that lately, we are showing ourselves more in this space, but I think that it was forgotten for a little minute that it kind of created the space.

Not to downplay anyone else, but I think that just seeing so many black DJs in the forefront and taking it back and sounding so good, it's so inspiring, and I think that everyone should see it. And I think that with a lot of black DJs who play electronic music, they feel like it's never our community who is there to enjoy. But there are a lot of black people who eat it up. People of all races who eat it up, people of color in general. Non people of color.

We can all have a good time together. But usually when you play electronic music, there's just one type of people who shows up and you have to be like, okay, well, thank you. We're going to dance. We're going to have fun. It's always fun either way.

But that would be my dream to build that community with people of color, queer people. Because I feel like that is who really has kept house and electronic music alive while other people weren't really paying attention.

Where to find DJ Rosamii

Instagram: @rosami.i