DJ Diamond Kuts

If you live in the Tri-State area (PA/NJ/DE), you have PROBABLY heard of this DJ. If you are like me, you have also wondered JUST WHERE IN THE WORLD DID SHE 'POP UP FROM'? Well, this interview explains that.....If you knew already, kudos to you. I can honestly say I did know her until some of the people that I know in the music biz made me familiar with her. I don't listen to the radio (nor watch too many music channels) too much honestly so I don't know her from those venues.





Courtesy of Honey Magazine...

Walking into the quaint but crowded coffee chain, Starbucks, we’re greeted by fresh-faced Tina Dunham or better known to the industry as, DJ Diamond Kuts. Though having just came from a photo shoot, Diamond Kuts isn’t overly made up. Sporting a white leather jacket, hoop earrings, shades atop her shoulder-length jet black hair, and just enough make-up to enhance her cocoa glow, Diamond looks as if she’s the girl next door.

I can detect home is near from DJ Diamond Kuts’ thick accent. It’s in her voice. “Let’s get it,” sounds more like Let’s “git-it!” It’s the overlooked vowels, the dragging rhythm of her words, and pronounced exclamations, that reassures me that this DJ is from around the way. Philadelphia’s West Oak Lane section to be exact. This would be our second chance meeting with DJ Diamond Kuts. Our first, about a few years ago when we first met the petite-framed DJ at Philadelphia’s Power 99 FM. It’s there, the 20-something Diamond Kuts has made a name for herself and holds her own as the first and only female DJ in Philadelphia to secure a weekly radio slot. Having created a buzz through mixtapes and hosting BET’s “The Deal,” DJ Diamond Kuts is proving how she’s more than just a female DJ that “kuts” it up on wax. Instead, she’s allowing her hustle to speak for itself.

Honey Magazine: Where did you get your name from—“Diamond Kuts?”
DI Diamond Kuts: I wanted a name that kind of stood out. I knew when I used to DJ out in public, everybody used to gravitate toward me. It was kind of like I was shining cause everybody used to take notice of me and because I was a female, that’s where I came up with “Diamond.” I used to scratch a lot when I first started djing so that’s where the “Kuts” came from.

Well we understand your father had a lot with your djing. Was that the decidingvfactor in this ultimately becoming your career?
Yeah. Growing up, I played a lot of different instruments. I played the flute. I played around with the drums a little bit. I wanted to try something different and my dad was heavily into Hip Hop. I used to listen to DJs like Cosmic Kev and seen and heard about Jazzy Jeff. I was like, ‘You know what? I want to try to get into djing.’ My dad was excited. You know with the flute and everything he was like, “Ok.” But when I said I wanted to DJ, he was like, “I wanna take you to a store.” As a Christmas present, I got like a little DJ box set and I used to play around with it and he used to call me up and give me little pointers. When my dad passed away, that’s when I was like, ‘I’m gonna really go hard with this because I know this is something that he loved for me to do.’ In the morning, I would wake up and [before] school, he would have a whole crate of records sitting on the steps for me. I knew that it was something that he really wanted me to do so when he passed ( in 2004), it gave me that extra motivation to push to really take djing to the next level.

What age did you begin djing?
I was 16 when I got turntables. I got serious about it—probably [at] 17, that’s when I really learned the ropes and spinned parties.