ZEEMUFFIN on representation: Artistry in the Age of ‘Inclusivity’

ZEEMUFFIN’s career continues to catapult her in global conversations – musically and beyond. Born in Lahore, raised in New York, and a city girl through and through, ZEEMUFFIN’s career speaks to the multifaceted experience she has travelled through in her life. DJing for the past fifteen years, she studied the viola, drums, Kathak, Bhangra, and more – “I knew from a very young age I needed to do something involving music,” ZEEMUFFIN tells me. “I’ve just been someone who’s always wanted to express myself and tell stories in whatever medium.” 

I was first acquainted with ZEEMUFFIN in the summer of 2024. New to New York, and to Brooklyn – my friends and I attended her first ever “Azadi” event, created to honor its title “freedom.” This event continues to grow (more on that later), but what I thought was going to be a fun DJ set, perhaps a space where I’d get to vibe to ‘familiar’ music, ended up being a far more evocative experience. Getting to hop on a call with ZEEMUFFIN, talking about her career and her intentions, I realized the impact her work left on me. It had less to do with our connected cultural backgrounds, and a lot more to do with the energy and values she cultivated in the space – showing me what New York is really about. 

Our virtual conversation felt like two new friends sitting on the couch at the end of a busy day. Starting with her background, ZEE told me about the past fifteen years and what they looked like. “After I graduated is when I took my first DJing class at a school called Dubspot when I was 20. [..] And through that DJ course, I was just obsessed. I would sit there, literally researching music. Like, I should be doing other stuff. And I would be typing down, okay, this is the 60s. And I would make a whole note, a word document on, 60s and then, 70s music.” 

Spending her finance job hours archiving her digital library, becoming an avid student of music – ZEEMUFFIN credits her teachers at Dubspot for encouraging her to take it seriously. Her core teacher,  JP Solis, pushed for her to play at no longer existent club “Westway,” which she describes as the coolest club at the time, perched on the West Side Highway where she played in the other room from Jersey Club Legend, DJ Sliink. Her career and continued ambition became DJing in the New York scene. Over time, ZEEMUFFIN became a well-reputed Hip Hop DJ, playing at bottle service clubs, making friends with Bas, J-Cole’s right hand and getting booked for Dreamville parties. 

Talking to ZEEMUFFIN, her respect for her music and the wider community in New York is paramount. Far along in her career, and successful, she comes across as a humble student – with deep respect for everyone who brought her to where she is. Mid-conversation, ZEE pauses and tells me, “I have to give a big shout out to Brunch Bounce – Irvin Benitez and Jose” two Dominican guys whose parties uptown pioneered much of NYC’s party scene, and who platformed her at the iconic Apt. 78 many years ago. 

Today, ZEEMUFFIN is playing sold-out shows in more than just New York City, after selling out 2000 tickets at Brooklyn’s Elsewhere for her third “Azadi” event – she has sold out shows in DC, Atlanta:“all these places where I never in a million years thought people would pay money to see me.” For ZEEMUFFIN, the goal was to be a sought-after DJ in the New York circuit, to be “known as somebody who can rock any party.” ZEEMUFFIN fits that bill today, and to global audiences. 

As we got further into conversation, my interview with ZEEMUFFIN became less of a Q&A and more of a heart-to-heart about practice, identity, and being a person of multitudes. Earlier this year, ZEEMUFFIN firmly requested audiences via instagram to respect the process of DJing, and not [in my opinion, obnoxiously] request Bollywood or Arabic songs, expecting her to change her set accordingly. 

“Like, that’s what people don’t understand is, of my 15 year career, 12 of those years, I would sprinkle in little desi things here and there, if I could.” DJing for Riz Ahmed, ZEEMUFFIN, unexpectedly, began to find natural opportunities to insert musical influences that came from her heritage – something she is very close to.  “I’ve also very much felt close to my Pakistani identity. And my Muslim identity, I grew up going back to Pakistan every summer for months on end. I even moved back for a year when I was 11 years old. So I have a deep love for Lahore and for Pakistan and our culture as well as Bollywood and all that shit. Like, I love that shit.” This love is what Azadi was born out of, inspired by her heritage, she shaped the event around a broader movement for collective healing through music, diversity, and coming together.

What ZEEMUFFIN refuses is to be fit into one box. An almost fifteen-year-old career, her exploration into genres from her home region, does not define her – it is part of her. The power in her identity, she believes, should be leveraged in what it means to break out of generational norms and fear – rather than over-correction in the name of diversity; imposing expectations on artists just because they are a minority in their field.

For ZEE: “the ultimate healing power is music.”

ZEE and I spoke at length about how it matters less to be represented – and more to be seen. “I know I’m one of very few Muslim Desi woman DJ’s in the global scene right now,  and that’s awesome –  I  hope I can inspire others to tap into what is in their soul.” but her career is an amalgam of all the influences and communities that impacted her – she doesn’t just want to be typecasted for “South Asian” shows that garner numbers. 

ZEE talks about diversity and representation as it exists in multitudes, and that music allows that, “there’s so many multitudes in the production, in the music, in the DJ sets. We need to see that multitude and respect artists, regardless of what avenue they choose, if they choose to sing fully in Arabic, choose to sing fully in Urdu, or if they choose to sing fully in English and not wear jhumkas or whatever it is. We need to accept people for where they’re at in their identity exploration. And as long as they’re respectful, kind, and authentic, you can see the authenticity. And that’s what matters.”

For ZEEMUFFIN, being Pakistani, being a New Yorker, being a DJ – these are all privileges she wears as badges of honor. When speaking about her heritage, she talks about the wealth of creativity that has been suppressed – and that it means something to carry that forward, to transform it and have it interact with creative influences around the world. That’s what ZEE hopes to do, use music to heal, to build community – allowing artists to be multiple things at once, whilst rooted in their values. She hopes Azadi’s success can broaden out of a party and be organized to further this mission in the daylight.

Preparing to release her own music for the first time ever, and for an even bigger and better Azadi in 2026 – ZEEMUFFIN, the artist and the community member, is here to stay.