DJ Rap lost everything – then rebuilt her life in Reading
She defined drum and bass. She conquered America. She lost everything. But then she came here...
DJ Rap is one of the pioneers of jungle and drum and bass, with a career spanning the underground rave scene to global success and Hollywood. Now she is enjoying an incredible reinvention in Reading.
DJ Rap is the jungle pioneer and international artist who has made a home in Reading after leaving a turbulent life in the United States. Picture: DJ Rap
This is an edited extract from a story originally published by The Reading Reporter. The full version is available on Substack. The Queen of Jungle was once a lost 14-year-old girl who found home in a rave – and now she’s built a new one in Reading.
DJ Rap is a dance music pioneer who rewrote the rules for female DJs and enjoyed success that launched her to Hollywood.Then she lost everything.Here, she rebuilt it.“I think to myself: I’m just lucky,” she says. “There are lots of people that would love to have my career. But that doesn’t mean I don’t work my ass off!“I’m never disappointed, because everything is a blessing. When you’ve lost everything, which I did – in America, I hit rock bottom – to find myself busy as an artist again and in demand and with a full calendar, and this amazing life… when you’re older, you just go: thank you.”But let’s borrow a tool of her trade, and rewind.If you’ve never been to a drum and bass rave, that’s when a tune is sending the dancefloor wild and a DJ spins the record right back to the start.“The best way to say it is that I was a 14-year-old girl that was looking for a home and found it in a rave,” she says. “I saw how it brought people together. Whether you were black or white, it wasn’t about guys hitting on you, it wasn’t about girls beating you up. It was just this whole love and energy and mixed races that I’d never seen before. I felt like I’d found my religion in a rave.”That was back in 1986, and Charissa Saverio was besotted. Not like her friends at the time though. “Other girls were interested in boys – but I was interested in MIDI!” she laughs.Her talent took her all the way to America. Signed by Sony, Rap’s album Learning Curve impressed Columbia Records execs so much that they whisked her across the Atlantic in a multi-million dollar deal.From the outside, it appeared she had everything. But after her major label deal ended in 2011, she was hit by a “fucking tsunami”.Rap lost her life savings and her house after one of her agents embezzled the agency.She had a breakdown. She lost her persona and her identity. DJ Rap ceased to exist.Cut off from her jungle roots, thousands of miles away in the Californian wilderness, Charissa was lost. Mulholland Drive isn’t known as the road to Reading, but it’s what brought Rap here.CTA to finish (perhaps in bold, or different size font, to distinguish):Want to know what happened next?Read the full story for free on Substack, where DJ Rap talks about her extraordinary life – and how she rebuilt it here in Reading.
You'll find many more stories like this about Reading too. Read more: The reinvention of DJ Rap
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See you there,Chris (The Reading Reporter)