At first it seemed like a fluke – a 2-year-old playing with the knobs and buttons of a sophisticated music system, mixing tracks on the hoof.
However, the father of viral DJ sensation Oratilwe Hlongwane (aka DJ AJ) quickly realized that his son was in total control of the beat of the bass heavy house music emanating from his home speaker system.
“I was playing with my mixer, with the actual mixer, playing the hit song ‘Kose Kuse,'” explains Glen Hlongwane. “So now I got tired and I’m like ‘Let me just sit a little bit, just to watch TV,’ but I left the music playing,” “Then as I was watching TV I didn’t realize that AJ actually went to my mixer and started Djing.”
“Whatever he was doing with the mixer turning the knobs, the timing of him doing what he was doing was so good and he knew where the effect button (was), he pressed the effect button and started fading in and fading out. And I was like to the mom, ‘Hey listen just take a video of this.'”
The resulting cellphone video of young DJ AJ went viral and now he has nearly 25,000 Facebook followers.
His mother, Refiloe Marumo, credits the toddler’s father for buying an iPad for his then unborn son. Hlongwane planned to download educational apps to the tablet in order to speed up his child’s education.
However, he also decided to download a DJ app for his own use.
Aged just 12-months, DJ AJ quickly learned how to manipulate the gadget. No longer satisfied with number recognition games, he began to fiddle with his father’s DJ app.
His newfound fame has brought special appearances and sponsorship deals that many older DJs dream of.
The manufacturers of the app he learned to play on have sent equipment and software, while a local automobile dealership has supplied him with a mini car. A media college has also sponsored weekly training sessions that will help him improve his technique.
But celebrity has also brought some hard lessons for his family, with some accusing his parents of abuse and profiting from their child’s rare ability.
“It was hard hearing stuff about our kid and not having the power to fight back,” said his mother. “We see that whether you do good or bad people will forever talk. And a lot of, you know, celebrity people go through that, so it’s something that we had to learn and get over.”
DJ AJ’s parents, who will not allow him to play in clubs or at parties, are adamant they will not force their son to be a DJ when he grows up, but they do believe his affinity for electronic equipment will probably decide his future.
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