July is Disability Pride Month. Gum News will feature people claiming their disability and excelling. Claiming disability means actively accepting their condition and integrating it into their identity.
Over thirty years ago, the world-renowned DJ Black Coffee was in a taxi accident during celebrations for the release of South African activist Nelson Mandela from prison. He suffered an injury that permanently paralyzed his left arm. Black Coffee is the stage name of Nkosinathi Innocent Sizwe Maphumulo, a South African disc jockey (DJ) and music producer. He creates electronic dance music (EDM). Black Coffee is known for his futuristic, tribal, and jazz-inspired sounds.
Maphumulo was born on March 11, 1976, in Durban, South Africa. Maphumulo grew up in Mthatha, in the Eastern Cape. Maphumulo later studied jazz music at the Durban University of Technology. Black Coffee earned one of two spots for South African artists in the Red Bull Music Academy in Cape Town in 2003. The academy is a traveling EDM festival and workshop. Maphumulo released his first album, Black Coffee, in 2005. His breakthrough hit was the single “Happiness” (2005).
Black Coffee began making appearances at nightclubs and music festivals. His other albums include Have Another One (2007), Home Brewed (2009), Africa Rising (2012), and Pieces of Me (2015). He released the EP Music is King in 2018. EP stands for extended play and is a type of musical recording that includes several songs but is not considered a full-length album. In 2022, Black Coffee won a Grammy award for best dance/electronic album for Subconsciously (2021).
Black Coffee has spoken out about how he stopped wearing his arm brace due to bullying and also rarely shows his left arm in public. Black Coffee has honed the hands-on skill of disc jockeying.
