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Music

The Best Decision Apple Made Yesterday Was Getting Julie Adenuga

Young British women are making the most engaging radio around.

This article originally appeared on Noisey UK.

Yesterday, Apple announced a new online global radio service called Beats 1, which is to be free, 24 hours a day, and is essentially going to be a bit like if Spotify, Tidal, iTunes and Radio 1 put all their car keys in a bowl, paired off with each other, and years later their illegitimate children all met at the same swingers party. Incase you’re still uncertain of what I’m trying to say here, it’s basically a strange and good thing.

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Despite yesterday’s live Apple broadcast being more tedious than a game of rock paper scissors with yourself in a mirror, everyone in the UK did a little clenched fist celebration when one particular Beats 1 announcement was made. Zane Lowe would be repping the LA arm, Hot 97’s Ebro Darden would be covering New York, but more importantly: no-shits-given underground tastemaker Julie Adenuga was confirmed as London's headline host for the new station. Not bad for someone who, a few years ago, was working in an actual Apple store as a sales assistant.

You probably already know Julie Adenuga, but if you don’t then the tl;dr is this: Adenuga is the current don of underground music broadcasting. When your brothers are JME and Skepta, it could be easy to fall into the shadows a bit like that Olsen what isn’t a twin, but the young London presenter has been spreading her sweet wings all over radio and TV for the last few years, like some sort of grime and rap eagle god person.

Her drive time Rinse FM show became scientifically proven as the only thing that could make you smile on your way home on a London bus. And as anyone who listens to too much UK radio online will know, finding a show with decent music is easy, but one with an actual sense of humour is like discovering a hot water bottle in the Arctic Tundra.

Last year she created and hosted a totally underrated music television show on Channel AKA and Daily Motion called Play It that started off as a UK rap and grime platform - featuring Stormzy, Youngs Teflon, Ms Banks and more - then quickly embraced singers and poets too, making it a frontline platform for championing anyone who could just do words out their mouths really really well. And she’s also the host of Noisey’s very own Grime Karaoke, because she’s the only person that can tell Big Narstie to STFU without leaving in an ambulance.

Through Maya Jama, Clara Amfo, Sian Anderson, Monki and more, it’s become a given in the UK that young women are making the most interesting and engaging radio shows around. So for all these reasons, it’s pretty great that Beats 1 is going to become a springboard for Adenuga to put UK music on worldwide blast.

Right now, Skepta is on the cover of Fader, JME’s album absolutely slayed, and now sister Julie is leading the UK arm of Apple’s biggest music move yet. 2015 is basically The Year of the Adenuga*, and everyone should be super stoked.

*There is a fourth member of the Adenuga family who’s a shit hot illustrator, so if you’re reading this BBC commissioner of Who Do You Think You Are?, stop wasting your time on shit soap stars and dank politicians and make this show!

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