DJ A 16 year old high
OJ
An Interview by Andres raygada
school student going to 21+ older clubs for free, and getting paid to play music? That sounds like a pretty cool high school job. DJOJ leads himself
“I love watching people react to your music. When they’re having a good time, I am having an awesome time”.
to high school success. “ I have always loved playing music really loud “, and after seeing his neighbor getting paid for doing what he loved doing, he decided to pick up deejaying as a side job for his high school years. He started to DJ during his sophomore year, and the school eventually hired him to play at school dances.
DJOJ has been successful since the beginning, but his age makes it a little difficult to make it big in the DJ scene.“ My friend used to call me OJ as a nickname”. Coming up with a Dj name was not difficult for him. His nickname was OJ even before he decided he wanted to pick up deejaying. When he came up with the decision of wanting to DJ, right away he knew his stage name was going to be ‘DJOJ’.
Oren Merry, DJOJ, was inspired by his neighbor who was a professional DJ. Oren loves to listen to music, but loves listening to it louder even more. He also likes the party scene of being around people having a good time. He decided to follow his neighbor’s footsteps, and become a DJ. “ I love playing really loud music, and I thought, if I were to get paid for it, I’m totally down for that! “. His parents helped him out a lot with getting equipment, and driving him to his first couple of gigs.
He got a lot of support from his parents, but his siblings didn’t have as much faith for him. DJOJ proved them wrong, and now his older brother is asking him to DJ for some of his parties. He is proud of his high school job, and proud to prove some people wrong. DJOJ’s job is pretty important. If he screws something up, then everything can become screwed up. Deejaying is a difficult job. Setting up all the equipment, making the music, making sure the crowd you are about to perform for likes the music you are about to play for them. His job is to appeal an audience. If he fails to perform a good performance, then he fails the night, and is looked down upon until he improves.
But how are people going to know if he improved or not if nobody wants to hire him because of his last performance? That is something Deejays have to deal with if they do not appeal the audience the way they were suppose to. Appealing the audience means to play a great performance. Play music that the audience wants to hear, have light shows for entertainment, and keep the party alive by making sure they are having a good time. They need to engage the audience with their small talk. On top of his performance, he needs to make the music before the gig. The specialty of disc jockeys in night club is that they must be able to download music that is trendy and then present in a way that gets the crowd grooving. They need to play the latest and most happening music and do it in a way that is sensitive to the dancers’ requirements(www.selfgrowth. com ). “It’s hard to find music that you know your audience will enjoy...if it is a latin party then I’ll have to spend lots and lots of time looking for latin music”. There are many obstacles you have to be able to dodge if you want to be a good DJ. “It feels good to be up on stage, and watching the audience react to your music. It is a good feeling to see that the audience likes your music”(Merry). DJOJ spends about four to six hours a week looking for and downloading music so he can be prepared for his next gig. “ School work always comes first “(Merry). In order for DJOJ to keep up with his deejaying, he must keep up with his grades. He tries to look for new music everyday once he is done with school work. His parents push him to keep up with his grades. “Or else I will have to take a ‘break’ from deejaying in order for me to catch up “(Merry).
“ I love playing really loud music, and I thought, if I were to get paid for it, I’m totally down for that! “.
Taking AP and Honor classes in high school can be very time consuming. For deejaying, it is a lot of work to keep up with the “New Hottest Hits” and downloading plenty of songs. The equation for DJOJ is simply School + deejaying = a lot of time, and a lot of work. His free time is mostly during the weekends, which he uses to hang out with his friends and listen to music and get feedback from them. His daily schedule throughout the week can be busy, but in the end, “ ...I make serious money “(Merry). When people are enjoying the party and having a good time dancing to his music, Oren feels accomplished. “...getting paid to play music loudly, and making people happy is what I enjoy most about my job”. The Dj is usually the one in charge of the party. He gets to play what he wants. What he wants, is for the people to be having an awesome time. Performing on stage is super fun. “There are cool lights everywhere, you are pretty much being the life of the party, everybody is enjoying themselves, I am playing really loud music that I enjoy, and I’m getting paid for it! ”. It seems to me like Oren really enjoys his job. “ My least favorite part is being taken seriously”(Merry). He is only a Junior in high school, being compared to all the other older deejays that have better connections. “ There are ups and downs to everything in life, and you just have to push yourself up when you’re down”. Confidence is very important, especially for deejaying. Without confidence, anything you do will slightly decrease in performance. In high school, there are many different types of people who act differently. Not everyone enjoys the same music. Everyone has different “tastes”, which is another part he has to dodge. People, especially
high school kids, are always going to “hate on” music from another high school kid. There can be many negative aspects that he has to face, but it will never be a big deal, unless the entire crowd dislikes him. He has a good amount of friends, and a good amount of confidence. His friends think it is really cool that he picked up deejaying for his high school job. It is a unique high school job because of everyone else doing completely different things. There are a group of lifeguards, which is what most kids at MVHS do, there are those who work for their ancestors, work for coffee shops, jamba juice, or any other store. “Deejaying sounds like the most interesting and fun job that anybody can have in high school”, says his friend Parker. DJOJ gets a lot of support from his friends. They hang out a lot and listen to music, and give him advice on what the new stuff is nowadays. DJOJ enjoys his high school career, and hopes to keep it at his side throughout high school and college. “ I want to actually get a steady professional profession, but this was a great money making and super fun business to do as a teen”(Merry).