When D-FW-raised LaTosha Duffey first got into music, she was a single mother working for a car-rental company. She would work from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., pick up her son, put him to bed by 9 p.m., then practice DJing all night at her house.
One day, she made up her mind. "I make more money DJing three nights during the weekend than I get paid working for you all week," she told her boss in 2012.
Now, 27-year-old DJ Duffey spins at celebrity parties, has toured with rapper Curren$y and is a controversial former cast member of Basketball Wives LA. She just recently moved into a new Dallas home with her fiancé, NBA agent Iman Shokuohizadeh, and her son. In her most comfortable sweats, she directs the movers like a boss.
"Place that table there and center it. Make sure it's centered," she says before breaking into a laugh. "You see my life?"
She moves between answering questions about her career as a DJ to her view from the top as a woman. "When I was coming up, there were no female DJs in Dallas," she says. "I was looking to the men; I was coming for their spots."
Now an employee at D-FW radio station KKDA-FM (104.5), where she creates weekend mixes, Duffey is a role model for a new generation of women of color.
"When I was coming up as a DJ, a lot of males were hard on me," she says. "It's because they felt intimidated, like it might be a new thing to have talented female DJs. It made me wanna connect more with the females and empower them. And make it a big issue that I am a female in this industry."
She embraces a sex-positive attitude, an intense work ethic and a powerful outlook on self. Model and actress Amber Rose took notice of those traits in 2015 when Duffey performed at Club Medusa nightclub in Dallas.
Rose told Duffey about her SlutWalk events and their history as a vehicle for female empowerment. SlutWalk is a rally that started in Canada and has spread around the world. It serves to protest against the idea that a woman's appearance can be blamed for rape or sexual assault.
"Amber then stops the music and gives this inspiring speech about how we as women need to empower each other," Duffey says. "And then I hit the audience with a Trina song after that and everyone went crazy."
Soon, Duffey became the official DJ for SlutWalk.
The world has finally caught up to the big dreams of the former Mansfield Summit High School and University of Texas at Arlington scholarship basketball athlete.
"With basketball, I never felt like I would be a great WNBA player," Duffey says. "With DJing, it felt like something I could be great at."
She found "a whole 'nother world" when she escaped Arlington for the clubs in downtown Dallas on weekends in 2009. There she met DJ ASAP, a promoter who mentored Duffey, providing critiques of her mixes and letting her open up for him at premier clubs at the time, such as Purgatory. She also dated superstar rapper Drake after they met at a basketball game. During this time of meeting high-profile rap artists and immersing herself in the Dallas club scene every weekend, Duffey vowed to become a big-name DJ herself.
The first mix tape Duffey produced was called French Kiss 2, a greatest-hits compilation of rapper French Montana, a friend of Duffey's. "We were in the studio and he played the song 'Pop That,' and I said it was a hit," she says. "I felt like it would be his breakout song, and it ended up being that. This was happening while Diddy and Lil' Kim are in the studio across the hall."
Duffey broke stereotypes of being just another pretty girl. She gained the respect of French Montana and other producers by giving advice on song production and beat construction. It was with ambitiousness, mixed with a fierce intelligence, that propelled her to climb the ranks as a DJ at clubs across the country.
DJ Duffey is back in Dallas after living in Los Angeles for Basketball Wives. Dallas is "where I consider home," she says -- and she's ready to reacquaint herself with the scene that started her story while empowering women. She has been working with producer Noel "Detail" Fisher, who has worked with Beyoncé, Wiz Khalifa and Lil Wayne. Fisher sees Duffey as a producer, releasing her own album in the same mold as DJ Khaled.
Duffey has her eye on the future.
"I feel like I'm an entertainer. You see me DJing, but I'm also on the mike, and I'm on TV," she says. "I don't know where this journey is taking me, but I won't be boxed in as a DJ."
By LEE ESCOBEDO/Special Contributor
Want to hear Duffey live?
Duffey is DJing the Rick Ross and Trina concert on April 13 at 9 p.m. at Gas Monkey Live, 10110 Technology Blvd. E., Dallas. $55-$150. ticketfly.com.
