I caught up with Ghanaian DJ, Sheldon Joel Twum-Barima known as “I am the Turn Up” who describes himself as the Jack of All Trades. Sheldon is 28 years old with 2 older brothers and a younger sister. He studied Economics and Geography which he really disliked. Even though he is passionate about Djing, he is super sporty and his favourite sports are soccer and cricket.
He is a DJ based in Accra, Ghana. He got into Djing when he took a friend out to celebrate a birthday party at a club. At the club, he felt the DJ was boring and seemed uninterested in what he was doing. He walked over to him and requested a song for the birthday girl. The DJ played the song after about 20 minutes of playing his set, when he played the song he had requested, everyone got up and started dancing. Everyone was enjoying the song and the DJ decided to play it not once or twice but 7 more times. Later that week he decided to download Virtual DJ to his laptop and that when his Djing career kicked off.
He loves music, he loves making music and the feeling is unmatched. What keeps Sheldon going is getting a crowd to move from 0 to 100 feels new to him every single time. He explains the feeling as the kind of excitement when a child gets a brand new toy. His advice to any upcoming Dj is to learn to be original, find your vibe and you will find your crowd and do not be afraid to experiment with music. If you want to score gigs as a Dj, he strongly advises working on your branding. You need to stand out, there are so many DJs equally capable of playing the same gigs but it is branding that will set you apart.
Money, Status, Power?
“In this game, you need money to be able to do the things you need to do to raise your status as a Dj. You need that status as leverage for Power.”
Did You Know?
- Sheldon is full Ghanaian, born and raised
- You can kidnap him with hot spicy chicken wings
- He puts pepper in any food, besides anything with milk
- He cannot sing to save his life
- He is a realist
Connect with Sheldon on Social Media:
Twitter – @TheTurnUpGh
IG- @TheTurnUpGh
