At first it seems like a setup for a joke — a two-year-old playing with the knobs and buttons of a sophisticated music system. Yet, the tiny boy is in control of the big beat of the bass-heavy house music. He is South Africa’s youngest disc jockey, DJ AJ.
At one of his shopping mall appearances, a crowd gathers around the toddler as he bops his head to the beat, his large headphones slipping off. Adults whip out their cellphones to capture the moment, while children just stare.
Oratilwe Hlongwane is still learning to put together words, but he is already able to select and play music from a laptop and has become a viral phenomenon on South Africa’s social media landscape.
APPLYING HIMSELF
His mother, Refiloe Marumo, credits his father’s decision to buy an iPad for his then-unborn son. Glen Hlongwane planned to download educational apps to speed up his child’s education.
Glen Hlongwane, a gymnastics coach and aspiring DJ, also downloaded a DJing app for his new hobby.
At about a year old, DJ AJ learned how to manipulate the iPad. Not satisfied with number recognition games, he began to fiddle with his father’s DJ app.
DJ DIAPERS?
The parents were blown away when their son, still in diapers, repeated what he had learned on the app on actual DJ equipment, playing with sound effects and bouncing between songs.
A cellphone video of him on the turntables went viral. Now DJ AJ has nearly 25,000 Facebook fans.
His newfound fame online has brought special appearances and sponsorship deals that many older DJs dream of.
However, celebrity has also brought some criticism, as some observers have accused his parents of child abuse, saying that they profit from their child’s precocious ability.
“I am not going to exploit my kid,” his father said.
DJ AJ’s parents will not allow him to play in clubs or at parties.
The pair are adamant that they will not force their son to be a DJ when he grows up, but say that they believe his affinity for electronic equipment will probably decide his future.
“I can see a future Bill Gates here,” DJ AJ’s father said.
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