Hip-hop’s first female DJ Wanda Dee reflects on career ahead of LA Legends of Hip

In the ’70s, hip-hop was budding at block and house parties in the Bronx, where DJs spinning turntables moved crowds like puppet masters. Until the late ’70s, most of those DJs were men; that is, until the ascension of Lawanda McFadden, aka Wanda Dee.

Dee became the first woman DJ to lead the hip-hop genre, and during a recent phone interview, she elaborated on the process of gaining others’ acceptance in the industry. She recounted one night when Afrika Bambaataa, one of the originators of breakbeat DJing, invited Dee to perform at an event. When she tried to set up, the guy running the PA dismissed her.

“I walked up to the DJ booth and told him I was a guest of Afrika Bambaataa to DJ, and this guy laughed in my face,” Dee recalls. “He was like, ‘I don’t believe you. Get out of here.’”