Fùnké's musical life started in Memphis with a recorder at age five, viola in a performing-arts school, and a cousin's radio show she taped over her granny's church sermons. In 2005 she apprenticed as a DJ in Memphis, and in 2010 she and Angela Hadl founded Jungle Boogie — a party that, in her words, changed the landscape of the Black dance scene in a city where “there was no space for black people to truly dance.” Atlanta residencies and the Weekender circuit followed, alongside peers like Ron Trent, Omar-S and Karizma.
In 2019, after a trip to Cuba, she moved to New Orleans and never looked back. Here she has taken on her biggest curatorial undertaking: IDAPO, co-founded with Tiffani Sheriff, which brings international Black and brown DJs to the city. She plays and organizes events at the Rabbit Hole, the Barnett, Techno Club and Chickie Wah Wah, where she shared a 2023 bill with Dave Manic.
“This city will either mold or fold you,” she told CanvasRebel. “I am empowered by all the molding and folding it has done to me.” Whether behind the decks or behind the flyer design, Fùnké works the way she always has — eating what she kills, living on her own terms, and keeping the dance floor sacred.
