Behind the Decks – One-on-One with DJ Kayper

This article was last updated on May 19, 2022

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Photograph by Pavla Kopecna
Only in her mid-twenties, DJ Kayper has already accomplished what most would aspire to achieve in their entire lifetime. From winning numerous DJ competitions to playing the world’s hottest night clubs to now hosting her own radio show on BBC Asian Network, UK’s DJ Kayper has become world renowned as she has scratched her way to the top.
 
Being brought up in the London borough of Croydon, Kaajal Bakrania aka DJ Kayper, always had a passion for music and became fascinated with DJ’s and turntables at a very young age. She was influenced by her two cousins who were successful DJ’s in the 90’s that played renowned clubs like London’s Ministry of Sound as well as other popular clubs in northern England. Whenever she visited her cousins she would watch them practice on their decks (turntables) and became intrigued – she now wanted to learn how they did it. Unfortunately, her cousins were too busy and never gave her a chance to learn. One year her brother bought turntables in an attempt to learn how to DJ but as Kayper puts it ‘he wasn’t very good’. When her brother went away for university and left the equipment behind, she seized the chance to learn on her own.
 
“So I saw this as my opportunity to practice behind his back. I used to come home from school and go into his bedroom and practice with his records and stuff,” says Kayper.
 
“And then he caught me one time when he came home and he said ‘What are you doing in my room?’ And I said ‘Well I’m just practicing, I’m trying to learn how to DJ’. He said ‘Well that’s actually really good, did you teach yourself? ’And I said ‘Yeah’. After that he realized that I really wanted to do it and he supported me and took me to all my gigs. So that’s how it happened.”
 
Kayper began DJ’ing at the age of 12 with the guidance of her brother and two cousins and by age 15 she began to play in top bars and clubs in South London, including her first ‘serious’ gig at Ministry of Sound. She soon became known for her innate ability to control the crowd and for the unique blend of music played in her sets. Kayper would mix up just about anything and make it sound good – whether it was Rock mixed with Hip-Hop or 80’s mixed with Bhangra/Bollywood – she was beginning to catch the attention of club promoters from all over London as well as other major cities in the UK.
 
Fated for Success
 
At the age of 19, Kayper became the first female to win the prestigious Vestax Juice DJ competition. It was a national competition involving all the universities across the UK and each university had their own heats and their own final before competing against other universities. Winning the competition not only made Kayper realize her own potential but also opened many doors for her in a male dominated industry and paved the way for her future success. But it almost didn’t happen.
 
“The way I got into it, I wasn’t actually supposed to enter, it was my first week or first month of university when I had just started,” says Kayper.
 
“I had given a guy my mix tape to master because the levels were up and down and I thought I wanted to make a mix tape. He’s like third year, I was in the first year and he was doing music technology. So he mastered it for me and then he came up to me and said ‘Was that you scratching on there, is that you DJ’ing?’ And I said ‘Yeah.’ He’s like ‘Cuz that’s actually really good. You know there’s this competition going on and I think you should enter it. The only thing is it might be too late.’ He was entered in the competition and he ended up dropping out of the competition just so that I could enter. He said ‘I think you’re going to do much better than me, just go for it.’”
 
So Kayper decided to take the offer and entered the competition in his place. At first Kayper didn’t take it seriously and was doing it for fun, but soon her perspective changed.
 
“I ended up winning all the heats. And when I kept winning everything, I thought ‘Hmm, this could be interesting.’ Then it started to get more and more serious. Eventually I had to go to the semi-final in London and compete against all these other DJ’s but I won that. Then came the finals and I thought ‘Ok, this is kind of serious.’ But I ended up winning that as well, and it was up against hundreds of universities. It’s kind of crazy but I won the whole thing and it was an experience! It was cool because after that competition I started touring and doing a lot more gigs.”
 
After the competition, Vestax, renowned for producing DJ mixers and professional turntables, gave Kayper a two year sponsorship deal and she also received a lot of press attention, especially from two of the other sponsors – the Daily Mail and iDJ magazine. DJ Kayper had soon developed a following and started up a residency called “Ebonics” at The Fez Club in Cambridge which is a legendary club in its own right. From there she began to attract attention from international promoters and she started touring and playing clubs all over Europe as well as Mauritius, Dubai, South Africa, Malaysia, India, Canada and US, including New York City’s famed SOB’s, The Knitting Factory and Joe’s Pub.
 
A Constant Struggle

DJ Kayper has achieved a lot of success but she certainly has had her share of obstacles. Being a young female DJ, she has had to endure many incidents of sexism in an industry dominated by males. She has worked hard to develop her skills and prove that she is not a novelty act as well as hold her own against any DJ in the world.
 
“There’s not many of us, not many female DJ’s,” says Kayper. “If there is then there’s the kind of DJ’s that you just look at and don’t really have much skill. So there’s a handful of DJ’s, female DJ’s that actually have skill and are really passionate at what they do and are not doing it for the novelty factor. Because of that, when promoters look at me they’re going to think automatically she’s just a girl, a novelty thing. But when they start to do their research or if they actually hear me DJ then they’re surprised. They’re like ‘Wow, she can actually DJ, that’s really good.’”
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When Kayper started DJ’ing she experienced a lot of negativity or what she calls ‘jealous or childish kind of behaviour’ ranging from a snarky comment to having her records stolen. For Kayper one particular incident came to mind.

 
“I had just gone to see my cousin DJ’ing in a club and he had to step away for a bit and said ‘Can you just make sure the record doesn’t run out, just look out’. So I put the headphones on, I was DJ’ing, I’m there to kind of help him out and then this guy came up to me and said ‘Where’s the DJ?’ And when I gave him a look and said ‘Hello?’ he’s like ‘How could you be a DJ you’re a girl?’ It was stupid things like that. There are little comments that stick in your head, especially when you’re young.”
 
With Kayper’s notoriety and experience the tables have turned but every now and then an incident occurs to remind her that the stereotype still exists.
 
“But these days it’s a little bit easier but I still have that problem. There’s still not many female DJ’s, I still have the problem of people thinking I’m not good enough, I’m not going to be good because I’m a female, there’s no point of getting this girl, because blah, blah, blah, whatever reason. So I just carry on doing what I’m doing and put mix tapes out and hopefully one day it won’t be such a big deal.”

The DJ Kayper Show
 
Photograph by Jake Green
In 2006, Kayper was approached by BBC Asian Network to see if she would be interested in hosting her own radio show. The radio station was re-launching and wanted to attract a younger audience and as well as younger personalities to host their programs. Kayper had rarely spoken into a microphone during her DJ sets let alone have the experience to host a radio show. But she was flattered and up for the challenge. The DJ Kayper Show has become one the stations most popular shows with a wide global audience and she has gone on to interview some of the biggest names in the music industry such as Common, Questlove, Lupe Fiasco, Nelly Furtado, Xzibit, Kelly Rowland, Wyclef, Will.I.Am and of course her idol DJ Jazzy Jeff.
 
“I’ve interviewed a lot of big stars,” says Kayper, “big DJ’s but never have I been star-struck apart from when I met Jazzy Jeff and when he was on my show. It was weird because I had like an hour with him and he was in the studio. And I thought ‘How many people get the chance sit down with their idol and ask them anything or everything that they’ve always wanted to ask them.’ So I was definitely a bit star-struck. But then after that I’ve met him, chilled with him, worked with him so many times now it’s not a big deal.”
 
Meeting her idol was an opportunity of a lifetime but gaining his admiration and to have him pay her the ultimate compliment on a national audience was priceless.
 
“I used to run a club night in Cambridge for 5 or 6 years and the whole point of me starting this club night was to make a quality night. And I wanted to use it as an opportunity to bring over the DJ’s that I have grown up listening to and who I’ve been influenced by. And obviously Jazzy Jeff was one of them. So I booked him 2 or 3 times and he came over and he DJ’ed for me and obviously he saw me DJ because I always DJ on my own night. I interviewed him a week after he DJ’ed for me and he said ‘I’ve been watching your videos and stuff on YouTube and I seriously think you’re probably the best female DJ that I’ve ever seen in my life.’ And I was like ‘Wow, that’s cool’. Especially him saying that on national radio as well.”
 
Caper vs. Kayper

The origins of DJ Kayper’s stage name dates back to her days in high school. Apparently, she was a rebel without a cause – that is until DJ’ing took over her life as well as kept her out of trouble.
 
“I was naughty in high school, I was a bit mischievous. I was just bored I think,” laughs Kayper. “I used to get into a lot of trouble and got suspended quite a few times, I was going thru my rebel phase and so I kind of got this nickname from my friends, they used to say ‘You’re a little caper, you’re this and you’re that.’ And they just kind of named me Kayper. So when it came to me deciding on what my DJ name should be, Kayper just kind of stuck so I might as well keep it so that’s where the name came from.”
 
Kayper has an explanation for the unique spelling of her stage name as well.
 
“Well one of my other nicknames, cuz no one could ever pronounce Kaajal, everyone at school just called me Kay. Everyone kind of started spelling my name K-A-Y, that’s what I was known as.”
 
Another mystery solved, but whatever happened to the guy who let Kayper enter the Vestax competition?
 
“It’s so weird, he just disappeared after and then randomly got in touch with me on MySpace a year or two ago. He said ‘I’ve been looking out what you’ve been doing since I first met you. It’s a good think I dropped out.’ And yeah I did thank him but I haven’t seen him since which is weird. Maybe I’ll see him some other time,” laughs Kayper. “One day I’ll buy him a drink or something.”
 
Contact Aman Dhanoa at aman@oyetimes.com
 
For more information on DJ Kayper please visit:
 
 
 
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