Cuppy / From the Boardroom to the Studio

London-based DJ, producer, Apple host, and now artist Cuppy from Lagos, Nigeria has arrived. Debuting her first-ever album, Original Copy, the multi-talented and well-traveled boss chick is here to add her special flair to Afrobeats.

Born Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola in Epe, a small town right outside of Lagos, Cuppy moved to the UK as a teenager and fell deeply in love with music. Proud of where she comes from, she holds Nigeria close to her spirit but continued to soak up her new surroundings. As a young adult, she then journeyed to New York to attend NYU where she found herself studying Music Business and interning at Roc Nation. A sponge, Cuppy took in more culture, more knowledge, and found greater creativity. 

A girl of the world, she’s managed to stick to her roots while expanding further beyond even her wildest dreams. At just 27, she’s built an empire with tons of work on her resume and a charitable foundation that helps raise money for displaced youth in her native country. 

Bright and colorful, just like her heritage, Cuppy embodies self-respect while not giving a damn who’s watching. Moving at her own calculated pace, she’s taking all of the steps to become a global household name with a sound that is universal, yet so her own - just like everything else she does. 

Original Copy released August 21, is her first full-length musical contribution to the world. Known for her skills as DJ, she’s here to let you all know it’s time to spin her records. 

How did you get started with your career in music as an artist? 

Well, music has always been a love of mine growing up in Nigeria. I always grew up in a very vibrant environment and Lagos is like one of the best cities in the world. So from a very young age, I literally grew up with music around me. I decided I want to perform, to be an artist, to be an entertainer when I went and moved to the UK and I got to learn about how powerful music was. I was a teenager going out to the city and learning about, you know that live entertainment experience and I moved from Lagos when I was about 13-years-old so it was very lonely for me, I was in new environments and music was really my Savior.

What kind of music were you listening to once you got to that point? 

I was always listening to music from back home. So, a lot of classic Afropop songs, but when I particularly came to the UK funky house was huge! It was like a nice tribal fusion of house and I guess funky beats and I just loved the scene. It was so positive then.

With your inspiration coming from so many places, how do you describe your sound?

I think my sound is a fusion. I like to call my sound “Neo-Afrobeats” because it's Afrobeats but, you know, kind of inspired by all my different sub-genre experiences. I've lived in New York, so I love hip hop. I've lived in London, I love house. So everywhere I go, I try and get inspiration from all these other sounds, [it’s] really cool.

How did you manage to mix all three of those sounds because it’s truly three different worlds combining to make your unique art?

It is! I consider myself three different worlds but I equally identify with these three different cases. So it's literally putting a bit of me. So in one record, you will hear well, let me give you an example I have my first single “Jollof on the Jet” which features Rema and Rayvanny. Rema is an amazing artist, he's on fire right now and he's also heavily inspired by trap. So that's an example of a very Nigerian record but it’s very Afropop. Then another record I have, “Cold Heart Killer”  and it’s by this amazing UK artist called Darkoo, and it has a lot of UK Afro swing, pop kind of vibes in it. Another record, I would say my interlude is literally a trap song. So, it's a bit of everything sprinkled and rooted by Africa. 

Listen to Original Copy on Spotify. Cuppy · Album · 2020 · 12 songs.

What are you most excited about the album release?

I mean it's my first ever album like, it's kind of crazy. Nervous and excited at the same time, so many mixed emotions but I can’t wait for people to see how much I've grown. You know, where I'm from people know me and it seems to have preferred me as a DJ and I'm really here to show them that I'm more than that.

What are some of your expectations of the album upon its release? How do you think it’ll be received as a new genre and addition to the Afrobeats realm?

I think it depends, so people will look at each record as you know this is Afro-house, or this is Afrosoul, you know, I have an Afrosoul record on there with Nonso Amadi, or this is Afro-trap, this is Afropop. But when you look at the overall, you have to look at the project as a project and as a journey. That's what allows one to really understand what I'm trying to do and what I'm trying to communicate. Also looking at the artists I've involved, it's very selective. You know I don't have the biggest Nigerian artists but I have very well respected artists there, and I wanted to make sure was authentic.

So if someone walked up to you and asked who you were, how would you define your authentic self?

Oh, that's a really hard question. I think that the real me is self-aware, risk-taking, and I think there's a few vulnerabilities about me. You see I always say like Florence, which is my real name, Florence is very different from Cuppy. Cuppy, I think I have kind of presented to the world as this bubblegum character and I love my album cover, I really think that represents what Cuppy is. It’s a strong woman behind this mask and that's what I'm really trying to tell through my music. My album is explicit and a lot of people don't even think Cuppy knows what a swear word is. So I'm really trying to be me.

What do you want people to get from Cuppy?

I just want people, I really don't know and I think that's a great question. When I was making this album I thought about it, I just want people to know that I'm a human being, I'm a young woman on this global quest and I'm confused, I'm happy, I'm sad, I'm a bad bitch and sometimes I'm spoiled, sometimes I'm super responsible. I just want people to know that I am a human being. I think that in this industry we just brand and we fabricate and we position so well that I just got a bit frustrated and I felt like the narrative was being set for me. I remember when I was in America, they were telling me, ‘Cuppy you need to be this way if you want to break into the American market,’ or someone actually told me, ‘Yeah less Afrobeats,’ can you believe it? This was actually when I was at NYU four or five years ago. Nobody, it was only when I was DJing and like everyday people like nobody wanted [it] and now you see Burna Boy, and you see Beyoncé, and you see Diddy. So it's kind of crazy and I'm embarrassed that I wasn't true to myself then, and now this is me being and I'm so happy I never made a record then because my debut album is 100% authentic, non-unapologetic.