Dee Koala is a promising young South African female rapper and songwriter from Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa. She gained prominence following her unique style of delivery and release of WhuzetI, which means What’s Up? The young rapper stormed the male-dominated hip-hop scene without fear or favor, and she’s gaining momentum.
Her lyrics and songs are an offshoot of her experiences within her local environment. She prefers to deliver what is catchy, entertaining as well as educating the people on vital social issues.
At her young age, she is attracting the attention of commercial and music brands not just in South Africa, but globally. It will definitely not take long before she becomes a global rap phenomenon. Unique talent and delivery in music would take her places.
Who Is Dee Koala?
Dee Koala was born Odwa Situma on 11th March 1998 in the town of Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa. She is currently 26 years old.
While growing up as a child in Khayelitsha, she was interested in the arts. This became even more obvious when started school. She was the sharp and creative one when writing short verses.
Either she is reading a book and penning down some poetry verses on a piece of paper. Her classmates became fond of her. They would always come to her to help write verses for them whenever there is an assignment.
Later on, she realized she could actually rap those verses out. And that is how the dream of becoming a rapper was born.
She brings a certain type of authenticity in her style of rap and the rawness in her verses depicts an entirely new but exciting feel to hip-hop.
Dee Koala began her rapping career in 2016. She gained recognition after recording one of her first songs, which paved the way for her into the music and entertainment industry.
Dee Koala’s Net Worth
The female rapper has an estimated net worth pegged between $50, 000 and $250,000. Dee makes her money mostly from entertainment. She does everything ranging from music to campaigns to photo shoots to voiceovers. She earns money from multiple angles.
She admitted that just like the youth and other people she has challenges being prudent with money. However, she was learning how to save more and spend less.
10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Dee Koala
1. Dee Koala Attended A Muslim Primary School
Dee Koala attended a Muslim school that had mostly colored students. She used to take part in everything arts especially poetry and that was how she started writing rap verses.
The young girl then would construct verses as part of classwork presentations and would even do the same for her classmates. She had an elder brother who was into rap and attempted to take it up but failed because he did not take it too seriously.
She began her career rapping for her friends who were already into hip-hop. Dee eventually jumped on a couple of features before she released her first single in 2016, titled ‘Koala’.
2. Ricky Rick Introduced Dee’s Musical Talent To South Africans
Ricky Rick was instrumental to her emergence in the scene. And offered her the opportunity and the platform to blossom. This happened at the renowned hip-hop festival; Major League Gardens’ where he introduced her as an upcoming rapper from Cape Town.
She impressed Ricky Rick with the way she infuses her native language and English into her rap. After his performance at the event, he called her up to perform.
The young rapper didn’t show any sign of fright or intimidation. She performed in front of 2000 people and took to her Facebook page to share the news afterward. Ricky Rick also posted a video of her freestyling a week later, on his Twitter.
3. Style of Rap Influenced by Her Neighborhood
Dee’s style of rap is natural and original. This is because she grew up in the hood and so got inspiration from its way of life.
The female rapper is from Khayelitsha. The way she talks is basically the same way everyone there talks. The way she also dresses is an attribute to it.
Her first project titled ‘Dee Koala 4 the Khaltsha’ was a coinage taken from the name of her birthplace Khayelitsha. She was creative enough to fix up something unique to it.
Khayelitsha in English translates to the word ‘Culture’ and indeed the project lives up to its name. As it seeks to address the culture ranging from the people to that of hip-hop.
The rapper’s first single titled ‘Koala’ was inspired by the iSpaza. This was a Cape Town genre where rappers would spit bars in the Xhosa language.
4. Her Uniqueness Gets Her Recognized
Dee’s style has allowed her to work with famous brands such as Adidas, Doritos, and Bettr Bank.
She partnered with Bettr Bank to create a song and music video that promotes the bank’s vision of being a digital banking app for the next generation of money-makers.
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5. Dee Koala Has Her Own Record Label
Though still young, the promising rapper has plans under her sleeves for the promotion of her music. This she intends to achieve with the creation of her record label ‘Dee Koala (Pty)’ Ltd.
Dee disclosed this in a tweet on her social media platform, that her single ‘Spazz’ and many other songs would be produced under her own newly formed record label named.
6. First Cape Town Hip-hop Artist To Ink A Deal With EMPIRE
The rapper prodigy became the first artist from Cape Town to sign a deal with an American-based distribution label EMPIRE. The deal would see the label take on the duty of distributing her songs.
The deal’s key features include; channeling her music into lucrative ventures such as funding, marketing, advertising, and sync licensing. And also creating an innovative content management system.
7. How the Khayelitsha-Born-Rapper Came Up With Her Name ‘Dee Koala’
Adopting Dee Koala as her stage name, Dee explains it was a deliberate attempt at fusing her reality with her dreams. ‘Dee’ is simply a nickname for her actual name ‘Odwa’, in Cape Town and ‘Koala’ refers to the animal which she considers to be her spirit animal.
The rapper claims she holds on to her dreams and has the goal to be at the top of the music industry. Just like the Koala holding on to a tree and hoping to be at the top of the tree. So she feels there is a connection between her and the animal.
Since koalas are almost going extinct, she wants to make sure that we do not forget them. And she would probably be the last one alive, hence the adoption of the name.
8. Awards/Honours
Dee Koala is gradually getting rewarded for the efforts and creativity infused in her work. 4 years after launching her hip-hop career, she won the 2020 Best Female South African Hip-Hop Award.
9. Her Music Hinges On Creativity And Culture
Dee’s music bears no restrictions. This is because of her flexibility and openness. According to her, she can run collaborations with artists from different cultural backgrounds, even if she doesn’t speak their language.
Since music is a universal language, hence themes like cultural diversity, inclusiveness, and representation are captured.
10. Music Sets Her Free From Depression
Every musician has a reason for going into music. Some go into it for the monetary benefits, while some are passionate about it. But Dee went into music because it saves her from depression, and from making poor decisions.
