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Dubai-based teen DJ aims for first female scratch title at 'Olympics of DJing'

Fourteen-year-old DJ Michelle Rasul is chasing a place at the top of competitive turntablism, building on a passion she developed as a child watching her father perform in their native Azerbaijan. Known as DJ Michelle, the Dubai-based teenager began learning the art of scratching and mixing records at the age of five, after asking her father, DJ Vagif Rasulov, for her own equipment.

Rasul won the DMC Middle East DJ Championships in the Scratch category in Dubai in September 2025 and went on to represent the UAE at the DMC World Finals in Tokyo in October, but did not take the title. She is set to defend her regional title at the upcoming 2026 DMC Middle East competition in Dubai on September 6, with the winner qualifying for the world finals due to take place in London in November.

REUTERS | VAGIF RASULOV

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Transcript
00:15My dad is a DJ and ever since I remember I always saw him practicing in his studio back in
00:21my home
00:21country in Azerbaijan and when I turned five I asked him to get me my own equipment started out
00:27at first my parents thought that I just wanted to copy my dad but then I started progressing and
00:32learning on my own my dad taught me the basics and then I started progressing and progressing
00:37and I realized that it's my thing
00:59I can't explain but when I'm on the stage I just feel this happiness it's like I'm at home and
01:04I love
01:05sharing the good vibes and playing music seeing making people happy with my music
01:19experience over the nine years that I've been DJing shaped me in many different ways at first I used to
01:26be nervous when I got on stage but then I got comfortable it made me more confident speaking
01:31with people and being in front of huge crowds and it I think it really changed me but in a
01:36good way
01:48my biggest dream is to win the DMC World Scratch Championship DMC is basically like the Olympics
01:55of DJing it's like the biggest thing that you can win the biggest title then you can achieve and if
02:01I
02:01win DMC Middle East here then I can go to London this year and compete in the finals for the
02:08title
02:08and if I win I'll be the first female DJ to win
02:27DJing definitely brought me closer to my dad because it's something we have in common and we
02:32practice together we teach each other stuff sometimes he teaches me sometimes I teach him
02:36and yeah it definitely strengthened our bond a lot
03:07Adventure Head Coach
03:10it definitely depends on my dad's name
03:11but it's a little it's a little bit of a huge amount of work
03:14and you can get it on stage and play music
03:14and you can get the melody and play music
03:14or if you can get this melody
03:15my dad's name is the guy
03:16my dad's name is the guy
03:19my dad's name is the guy
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