Following a recent set at a local club a young DJ was repeatedly asked by an acquaintance what his “real job” was, which resulted in him becoming increasingly agitated after firmly, but politely, insisting that “Djing is [his] real job”.
“I came back from the DJ booth where the DJs go to DJ, because I’m a real life DJ,” explained 24 year old DJ Mark Cooper, “and when I sat down this girl complimented me on my set then in the same breath asked me what I did for a living.”
Mark says he laughed thinking it was a joke and replied “well I’m a DJ obviously, I just DJed right there like a DJ would DJ, so I’m a DJ”, but says that the unnamed girl asked again, “But what’s your real job” putting a lot of emphasis on the word “real”.
“I just made a face like I was really annoyed, looked into her eyes and insisted, as convincingly as I could, that DJing was my real job,” he continued. “She didn’t really believe me and started asking questions about how I could support myself on one DJ gig a month, but I just zoned out after that and replayed my set in my head til she went away.”
Mark claims that he has had to deal with questions like that ever since he started DJing and that he believes that, no matter how much he insists, people will never take someone who claims to be a DJ seriously unless they’re “crazy rich or cocky”.
“DJing is my job and passion,” he insisted. “But okay yeah, I do work in the bank from Monday to Friday, and sometimes the odd Saturday morning, but that’s just a hobby that I like to do because it ensures I have enough money to feed, house and clothe myself. But that’s not exactly something I’d consider a job.”
“Maybe I’ll just wear a t-shirt that says ‘I am a DJ’ on it at all times to prove to people that I’m a proper DJ because I’m sick of telling them,” suggested Mark. “To be honest I don’t know why they think I’m not a DJ, I dress like a hipster, talk about genres with practiced familiarity, always carry a record bag and I’ve used headphones as a scarf since 2011.”
“I might update my Linkedin profile and add more picture of myself DJing to Facebook,” concluded Mark, “just to keep it fresh in people’s heads that I am a real DJ and not just some dude who’s unrealistically deluding himself.”
