DJ Cosmo

Born on 23 December, DJ Cosmo (real name Cosmas Chileshe) is a Zambian renowned musician, songwriter, radio presenter and Club DJ. He is the third child in a family of six children. He began his career in 2008 as a musician. He was inspired by his friend Kayombo. Kayombi is one of Zambia’s top dancehall artists.

He recorded his debut single ‘Nalelo Bwacha’ in 2008. Kayombo featured on the song. This was followed by the release of the video which was nominated at the Born and Bread Awards. In 2009, he did collaboration with British pop artist Kris Coulthard. They collaborated on a single titled ‘Fly’; the song is a fusion of pop and dancehall genres. It was sung in English and Nyanja languages. Since then, he began collaborating with some of the top Zambian artists like Exile, Hamoba, Franciar, Baska and JK.

In 2010, he held a number of performances around the country. His popularity saw him sharing the stage with Malawi’s Lucious Banda in 2011. That same year, he proceeded to South Africa alongside Zambian dancehall veteran Danny. Later in 2011, he travelled to Austria where he ignited his international exposure. The exposure saw him collaborating with some Austrian artists and shot his video called ‘Kwacha’. This earned him much airplay on local radio and TV stations. The airplay earned him a household name and saw his single ‘Koko Ndodo’ nominated at the Born and Bread Awards.

In 2012 he collaborated with JK on the single ‘Unani Tenga Mtima’. The success of his ‘Koko Ndodo’ single prompted some artists to do a remix (2013) which featured Franciar, Petersen, Kayombo, T-Sean, Flexville Marley and Kapepa. In 2013, he released a debut album titled ‘Point of No Return’. The album sold 8000 copies in its first month with most sales coming from his home country and Austria. The success of his debut album prompted him to shift his music writing style to attract an international audience by writing more songs in English.

DJ Cosmo has remained faithful to his roots by recording dancehall hits. He did a single called ‘Sexy Panty’ which featured South African based Zimbabwean dancehall artist Buffalo Souljah (real name Thabani Ndlovu). They shot the video in South Africa and it did very well on Channel O, Trace and MTV Base.

The overwhelming response of his music saw him getting an invitation to perform at the Africa Movie Academy Awards nomination party held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2014. That same year he was also invited to perform at the 2014 Namibian Music Awards. In 2015, he released another album titled ‘The Statement’. The album followed the release of a single called ‘She Aah Bomb’ featuring Kayombo. He also released a second single titled ‘Whine Ya Body’ featuring JK.