Today we’d like to introduce you to DJLeydis.
Hi DJLeydis, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Well DJLeydis started when she left her hometown of Camaguey to Havana, at the young age of 17. Making a bold move in a culture where many people remain with their parents for the majority of their lives, Leydis took this major step of independence to follow her dream of studying music. She never expected where making such a move would eventually lead her.
got into activism en el arte de Hip Hop in Cuba. I started doing programmes for the community. We were bringing music to the people that was not traditional, it wasn’t salsa it wasn’t rumba it was hip hop music” Hip Hop was the first music that helped me to be proud of her African heritage, and that it provided an outlet to talk about issues of race relations that still existed in Cuba.
I became the first female Hip Hop DJ in Cuba and the first DJ with DJ Yari that release a mixtape in Cuba called Platos Rotas in 2004. The album was released independently, and with minimal resources. The following year, I co-founding the all women hip-hop collective Omega Kilay to increase the visibility of women in Cuban hip-hop.
In the 2000s, new opportunities abroad soon and gave me the chance to finally work with some artists that was inspiring me so much. I left Cuba in 2006 on a dangerous boat journey to Miami, Florida following a dreams that had become small in Cuba.
Then I can to this City Oakland a the beautiful Bay Area a place where I fund my really cultural inspiration where I was appreciated every single opportunity I had for her resilience and honed ability to weave a dance set from across genres of the Afro-Latino diaspora, matching beats, stitches rhythms with my DJ sets. I became a very popular DJ where I was able to work for so many of the artist had been my inspiration all my life. Till the point that I got invited to play as Cuba DJ the unique Cuban DJ who play at The white House in 2016 for the last hispanic heritage month.
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That was when I knew I was in the right place—that I had to do the right thing and represent my Cuban roots through my art.
I started a Cuban party called “La Rumba Q’ Tumba,” where we brought a little piece of Cuba to the Bay Area. That opened many doors for me and allowed me to travel through music—exploring every rhythm and style. Since then, DJ Leydis has never stopped finding inspiration and inspiring others.
Thats how got where I am today …
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
At first it was hard, I was living my dreams, but I was hurt inside. It was ten years that my body, my physical was outside of Cuba. But in my mind, my sprit, my energy, my culture, and in everything that I did, Cuba was always present. I wasn’t able to return to Cuba because Cuban government didn’t allow me to go back in 10 years.
When I left Cuba, I left my heart I left my only daughter who had only 4 years old and I saw her again when she was 11 year old. All those years of pain made me sure that I wanted my daughter to feel proud of her mother and what I had become to become her role model.
But in 2013 we met and to this day we live together, my daughter is a graduate of Broadcast Journalim from the University of San Francisco and I am a happily Proud mother.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Well, it wasn’t exactly easy, but it hasn’t been hard either. I just keep doing it because I feel like every day is an achievement, and I love what I do.
My specialty is providing musical entertainment, bringing accompanied by dancing for the people—and that’s what makes me “DJleydis,” the name I’m popularly known by. I bring not only music, I bring a musical flavor.
I feel very proud to have come this far as a Black woman and single immigrant mother who came to a country where I couldn’t even speak the language, following a dream that I turned into reality.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
What makes me happiest is sharing my life with my only daughter and being able to share a story trought our story. I always felt a heavy heart over the years we lost together, but when I see the young woman she has become—and everything we have lived through and shared—I realize that sacrifices lead to achievements, and that makes me deeply happy.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djleydis/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DJLeydis/
- LinkedIn: https://linktr.ee/djleydisofcuba
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@djleydis
