Saith Phumelele Goqo, popularly known as DJ Ndiyo, is fast becoming an artist to lookout for.
She's tackling the music industry head on as she strives to create a name for herself. The young musician studied sound technician and has been DJing.
The DJ is also a qualified beauty therapist.
Her studies have helped her to understand the music industry, especially when it comes to the business side of things.
“Going to school teaches you more than just DJing, it teaches you more about songs and the music business. Which I think artists should really know about, because they get themselves into trouble (not knowing) much about the business of music,” she said.
The DJ has dropped a banger of a track "Ndiyo", featuring music producer Tony Duardo and vocalist Sino Msolo.
The song is a message of hope and inspiration to the world. The lyrics encourage people to keep going despite the challenges.
Loosely translated the lyrics say: “Keep pushing my friend, your day will come, you will also wear Dior.”
“The support I get from people, as a new artist and having such big names and talent on my single was a big thing for me. I was like, this means I'm doing good work. From Tony Duardo DMing me from hearing my mix tape on Metro FM, I was like the girl is doing good,” shared Ndiyo.
Not only is the track the same name as her moniker but it is the same name as Glen Lewis's smash hit and samples the well-known chorus.
The song has achieved success on the music chart and has received plenty of radio play across radio stations.
The DJ explained to IOL Entertainment her stage name was inspired by her being half Indian and "Ndiyo" is a nickname to refer to Indians in Durban.
“So I was like why not bring back the classic, already it’s my name. I resampled it and did it. It’s a sample of ‘Ndiyo’ and I added a little bit of piano to it.”
Ndiyo reached out to Glen Lewis to sample the song and he was more than happy to allow her to work her magic.
"We have a good relationship. So I was like, ‘can I please do a song with your song’, and he was like, ‘okay cool’. Everything was okay, there's nothing bad, everything was good, everyone was happy,” said Ndiyo.
As a female artist, she believes that it’s important to carry yourself with big energy as the critics always tend to come down on females harder than the males.
“With us females, it's hard for us to go in because there are all these doubts but what's nice is that we are bringing the energy. We (are) dancing, we (are) making the vibe and DJing not seem boring, you (are) just playing music,” she said.
While critics may be hard on female DJs superstars, Uncle Waffles has proven that one can be a success in this profession.
Since Uncle Waffles took centre stage on the DJing scene, she has gone on to prove naysayers wrong as she continues to dominate the decks in South Africa and abroad.
“We (female DJs) are popping, our superstar is a female right now, Uncle Waffles.”
Ndiyo is hoping to wrap up production on her EP by the end of August and will be experimenting with different sounds as she shows Mzansi more of her talent.
“It’s a bit of 2-in-1, I have mellow and running music. It’s really interesting and new sounds from me, what people don’t know (is) that I can do more,” she shared.