Music Has No Barriers: My Journey as DJ Smollet

Music has always been the language I speak most fluently. Before I had words to explain who I am, I had rhythm. Before I had a stage name, I had a feeling — that unmistakable pull of a beat that makes you stop whatever you are doing and just move. That is where DJ Smollet comes from. That is where I come from.

“Rhumba is not just music. It is a conversation between generations, between cultures, between people who might never meet but who recognise each other through sound. When I play, I am translating.”

Why rhumba

People always ask me why rhumba. It is a fair question in an era where the charts are dominated by something newer, louder, faster. But rhumba carries something the newer genres are still reaching for — depth. East African rhumba has roots in the Congo, cross-pollinated with Kenya’s own musical tradition, shaped by decades of artists who understood that music could hold an entire community together.

When I play a rhumba set, I see older people remember themselves. I see younger people discover something they did not know they were missing. That bridge — that is what I live for.

Disability and the DJ world

I will be honest with you. The entertainment industry does not always make space for people like me. Events are not always accessible. Promoters do not always understand. Sometimes the conversation about what I need physically — to get to a venue, to set up, to perform — is exhausting before I even play a note. But the music is always worth it.

What Include360 represents to me is a space where that exhaustion is acknowledged, where we do not have to pretend it does not exist, but where it also does not define us. I am a DJ first. A content creator. An artist. My disability is part of my story but it is not the whole story, and I am grateful to have a platform that understands the difference.

Building something lasting

I am on YouTube because I believe in showing up consistently. Every set I post, every video I share, is a statement that I am here, that I am working, that I am growing. My audience has grown because they trust that when they click on my channel they will get something real — not a performance of disability, not inspiration content, just music done right.

That is what I want to keep building — a portfolio that speaks for itself. And if along the way it opens a door for another person with a disability to say “if DJ Smollet can do it, maybe I can too” — then that is more than enough.