I started my DJ career at 16 and I was so bad but desperate to get opportunities. Someone wanted to introduce me and asked me what I wanted to be called and my friend was like “everyone calls her cupcake”. From there it evolved to Cupcake, Cupito etc. It wasn’t until I moved to New York for a bit to work with Jay-Z and Roc Nation that I learnt properly about branding. I realised the Cupcake name was restrictive so I shortened Cupcake to Cuppy.

What musical influences did you have growing up? And how did they help influence your DJ career and brand?

If I think about my brand, it’s definitely a synergy of everywhere I’ve been. I was born in Lagos, Nigeria and one of the earliest memories I have is singing African legend Fela Kuti in the car with my dad. If you know Lagos, it’s notorious for its traffic so you can imagine how much time I spent listening to his music. Even in school, I was drumming before I could read and write. That’s the African way, using music as a way of communication.

When I moved to London as a teenager, I remember falling in love with places like Cargo and Egg and the first time I heard ‘Free from Desire’ and I was like wow. I’m also a massive Beatles fan. I put out an album called Original Copy a few years ago and that was definitely influenced by the musical legends I love who are unapologetically themselves. That’s what my brand is all about. I live by the quote “you were born in this world an original, so don’t die a copy”.

With all these different entrepreneurial hats, how do you manage burnout?