Interview with Jiji Sweet, Los Angeles DJ

One of L.A.'s Hottest DJ's

If you’ve been listening to L.A.’s Hip-Hop and R&B radio station 100.3 The Beat, chances are at some time or another you’ve been bobbing your head to L.A.’s “Hustle Girl,” DJ Jiji Sweet. She has been mixing on the air there for the last four years, and I got the chance to catch up with her to find out what the biggest lesson she has learned within the last couple of years. Her answer, “That it’s 150% grinding. People forget real easy in this business.”

Jiji explained, “Take someone like Beyoncé – I’m only using her as an example because she’s on my mind – you see her everywhere.” She continued, “That’s because you only get your fifteen minutes of fame, and people are out there over and over again trying to get everything they can get.” Jiji was emphatic, suggesting that in order to stay in the minds of the people, one must stay in their face.

With a background in basketball, Jiji knows all about staying in your face. She attended and graduated from the University of Arizona in Tucson on a basketball scholarship, enabling her to travel all over the country and to Europe. In her senior year at Arizona, Jiji landed her first DJ-ing gig.

“It was a Kappa party. I couldn’t do too much before then because I was traveling for basketball a lot.” She said. The “Kappa” party she referred to is one of the Black Greek Fraternity chapters of Kappa Alpha Psi. According to Jiji, she was sought after for almost every Black Greek party and later landed a spot at Hot 98.3 in Tucson before moving on to Power 88 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

You may be wondering what Ms. Sweet is doing when she’s not showing off her skills on the ones and twos. “Soliciting.” Jiji said plainly. “What people don’t understand is that DJ-ing is more than being at the party.” Of course Jiji is not just “at” the party – but is working her tail off to create it.