Written by Nathan Lately
There is no DJ quite like RoseGawd.
In any given month, the California native curates four distinct parties in Los Angeles: Auntie Jamz, an ode to pre-2000s R&B/Soul classics and deep cuts; Romance Please, a dedication to the R&B genre; Cult Classics, an entire night spotlighting a certified R&B classic record; and Cult Classics Cinema, an extension of the aforementioned for classic Black films.
Add that to her countless corporate gigs and guest DJ sets across the nation and it’d be an underestimation to say she’s simply “booked.”
“A lot of times, it’s not really about the rate, but my availability,” she tells YAMS over Zoom. “Sometimes I have bookings three months in advance, so when people reach out to me for birthdays and private events, those dates just aren’t available.”
It’s a dream position to be in as a full-time DJ, and RoseGawd, born Diamora Hunt, has enjoyed every second of her ascent. She got her start on Harlem’s queer party scene in 2017, but truly exploded in the summer of 2021 following the July release of Beyoncé’s ‘RENAISSANCE’ album. After listening to the album on loop, she decided to throw her own ‘Club Renaissance’ party the following month.
“ I find a place to do [the party], and the staff tells me when I arrive, ‘Hey, we don’t have AC,’” she recalls. That was ultimately a non-factor. “So many people came that I was able to play that album twice,” she says triumphantly.
From that point on, RoseGawd cemented herself as a fixture in the LA party scene, oftentimes catering to the R&B, pop, and rap proclivities of more niche audiences like Black queer men, Black queer women/femmes, and Disney-loving adults.
In conversation with YAMS, the 38-year-old discusses her musical origins, rising R&B artists that more DJs should mix into their sets and the future of R&B curation amidst constant industry shifts.
YAMS: In your upbringing, who were some of your musical influences? Where did this love of music originate?
RoseGawd: My dad can play multiple instruments, and his side of the family just really loves music, and I spent a lot of time with them when I was younger. And so when I went to their house, they were very ‘put in an album, top to bottom, we’re cleaning up on Saturday’…and had taste! So one Saturday it might be Angie Stone, and then the next one TLC.
I had a very interesting childhood, ‘cause the first half of my childhood I did spend with my family. And then when I was 10, I went to a foster home. And I love my foster mom. I only went to one foster home. When I first moved in with her, she was very strict. “You only listen to gospel music; you can’t watch BET, VH1, or MTV,” she would tell me. Which were things that I grew up watching. So there’s a gap where I used to sneak and go buy music (laughs). I had a cassette player when I first got into foster care, and I would go to K-Mart when they still sold cassettes. If I knew the artist and was familiar with them, I would purchase it.