DJ Karaba
Music and (literal) movement have defined Karaba’s entire life. Karaba was born in Grenoble, France and, at the age of seven, moved to Montreal. As a child, Karaba…
Music and (literal) movement have defined Karaba’s entire life. Karaba was born in Grenoble, France and, at the age of seven, moved to Montreal. As a child, Karaba was enrolled in dance, which would become the next key step in her artistic journey, and her first love. Self-described as an immigrant all her life, Karaba relocated to key musical markets to pursue dance, like New York when she was 20 years old, and then Los Angeles in 2014.
While she was in Los Angeles, Karaba danced for some of pop music’s heaviest hitters such as Drake, Camilla Cabello, and Selena Gomez, as well as appearing in numerous music videos and award shows. When a major tour was cancelled in 2016, Karaba felt helpless about the next step of her career. She then found her way to DJing and music production, a thought that had been bubbling up in the back of her mind for some time. Enrolling in the DJ Scratch Academy in L.A., Karaba says she found a renewed artistic purpose.
“Being able to control the music with my fingers was the closest I ever felt to music. The feeling was just out of this world.”
DJ Karaba is currently working on her own project, an EP that will combine her love of creation and movement for music lovers, and her desire to master production. She’s working with Young Galaxy’s Stephen Ramsey, whom she cites as a key mentor and collaborator during this process. Nearly two years into doing this full-time, Karaba says this project is one of the most personally fulfilling things she has ever done.
DJ Karaba’s music is electric and spicy. There is no moment of pause or slow down. Her intensity, her wish to see people dance and feel the music the way she feels it, is aspirational, all-consuming. There is unmitigated joy to such devotion to sound, and in being enveloped by one’s passion.
“I’m very intense and it’s reflected in everything I do, especially music,” Karaba says enthusiastically. “My goal being on this earth is to inspire people, especially young black girls, that you can literally do whatever you put your mind into. I’ve come from barely anything, but I have an artistic soul that guided me to where I am today.”