Malike adigun, founder of curate entertainment at the turn table
Photography by Brian Tietz

Cape Coral's Curate Entertainment Masterminds the Definition of a Great Party

DJ Malike Adigun redefines the entertainment landscape in Southwest Florida—one party at a time.

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Malike Adigun’s laugh echoes across the room before you see him. The 33-year-old’s voice rises above the steady beat bumping from the DJ booth as he buzzes around Naples’ Jet1 hangar in the sweltering July heat, greeting guests with glass clinks and hugs. Every few steps, he’s willfully swept into a conversation and soon presses on—he has a job to do. The evening’s conductor assumes his position before the crowd and begins his address: a brief introduction for tonight’s performers (a string of local DJs bringing the house down); a shoutout to vendors like Tulia Catering by Vincenzo Betulia, which brought the artisanal small bites; and a promise for a sensational night ahead (smoke machine and light shows included). 

This event—Curate Entertainment’s five-year anniversary celebration—is the definition of a great party (especially when you consider it’s a Wednesday night, out of season, and there are about 350 people gathered). At 9:30 p.m., Malike hops back into the DJ booth. “Are y’all ready to go for another two to three hours?” he shouts. Cheers crash over the dance floor in waves.  

As the founder of Curate, Malike orchestrates opportunities for creatives to create and play. The entrepreneur formed the label in 2019 when his wedding DJing hobby—which started by chance when Malike was a senior in high school and a friend asked him to play his wedding—exploded and turned into a full-time endeavor. He gave up his work as a teacher, youth pastor, podcaster and advertiser to create the supergroup of about 60 entertainers, half of whom the New York native helped establish from the ground up. His network of DJs, musicians and sound technicians now gets deployed to about 600 events a year (and they can bring add-ons like uplighting, confetti cannons and smoke machines). 

Authenticity and originality are embedded into the group’s fabric. Many of the DJs create their own beats, and Malike and his crew take a detective’s approach to designing each event’s soundtrack. When people reach out to book Curate, the team mines for data: When was the bride-to-be born? What concerts has she been to? What year did she and her sorority sisters (now bridesmaids) graduate from college? The finds turn into tailored playlists. “My art is in the recreation of songs that I can blend and join two different types of people—whether it’s generationally or culturally,” he says. 

As an African American man, he believes in uplifting young people of color, a philosophy that led him to handpick his minority-dominated team. While it’s common to see African American, brown and Indigenous DJs on radio shows and in clubs, Malike says breaking into the luxury event industry is more challenging. In his early career days, he remembers being confused for kitchen help by resort hotel staff, and the time an industry veteran suggested he change his stage name (DJ Malike). “He said, ‘No one’s going to book you with that name. That’s a little too cultured, too much,’” Malike recalls. 

“My art is in the recreation of songs that I can blend and join two different types of people—whether it’s generationally or culturally.” 

Rather than heed the advice, the whiz kid took the idea as a challenge. “Dance, music and entertainment are the biggest exports by minorities worldwide,” he says. Knowing music and revelry are part of daily life and in the DNA of many artists of Latin American, African and Asian descent, he taps into his members’ inherent musicality and high energy to infuse rhythm and soul into social gatherings. “[We] creators need to be represented in those spaces,” he adds. 

The father of two wants to expand the creative community in Southwest Florida. He aims to show artists the region isn’t as sleepy as many believe; high-striving creators don’t have to leave the Gulf to find success. In addition to securing steady work for his artists through Curate, Malike encourages his members to ingrain themselves in the community by hosting events, such as  DJ nights at Fort Myers’ Backyard Social and Downtown Social House. The go-getter stays actively engaged on a civic level, too. As the youngest person on the board of Collaboratory, the innovative community foundation working to solve all major social issues in the five surrounding counties in the next 15 years, Malike serves on the governance committee, advocating for the unseen parts of his community and helping to build a more diverse team by ensuring the right people have a seat at the table. 

“When I walk in a room, I feel a responsibility to make people feel joy,” he says. He spreads the jubilation via music—the medium that has gotten Malike through his toughest times, including when his parents split up and he and his brother started getting into trouble in New York. His mom moved the boys to Cape Coral, where they got into sports and church. In eighth grade, Malike created a Battle of the Mic event, where local rappers performed in front of a crowd. “In Brooklyn, we shot balls into a broken milk carton,” he says. “In Florida, I had uniforms, coaches—I was part of a team.” 

At 21, Malike leaned deeper into his craft when he lost his mother to cancer, and his father, who still lived in New York, passed away soon after. “There was a period when I thought I wanted to die,” he says. The young DJ began producing music to find an emotional release. “It was a way for me to say something out of my heart,” he says.  

Since then, Malike has dedicated himself to honoring his mother’s legacy of helping others. In 2018, he co-founded Curate Hope to host mental health-focused school assemblies with music, dance, humor and high energy. “My community literally saved my life,” he says, recalling the friends who showed up to sit with him at the hospital and drag him away when they knew he needed a break. Now, the entertainment dynamo gets to pay it forward, with music as his currency. “People remember how you made them feel,” he says. With every song mixed, pianist dispatched and confetti cannon fired, Malike makes life feel pretty good.