Study Shows It's Hard to Tell Difference Between Student DJ and Regular College Student

WEST CAMPUS—A recent on-campus study has revealed that it’s really hard to tell the difference between a student who identifies as an aspiring DJ and a regular college student.

A group of sociology majors recently conducted surveys of students who both are and aren’t trying to get discovered in the illustrious hip-hop scene to create a better understanding of what it actually is that makes student DJs so cool and special.

“Sometimes when I’m at a party, I’ll grab the turntables, fire up Ableton and make a jam that [freaking] rocks the place,” said DJ QB sneakZZ, known to his friends and family as finance major James Reynolds (SMG ’15) from San Diego, California.

“At parties I’ll sometimes choose the music from a Spotify playlist. People generally like the music I put on,” stated Kyle Alvarez (COM ’14) from Naperville, Illinois.

Beyond the fact that only one of them thinks he is special because he knows how to crossfade, very few contrasts could be made between sneakZZ and Alvarez, both of whom happened to be wearing white Lollapalooza ’11 t-shirts, black skinny jeans, and small purple backpacks on one shoulder at the time that they were surveyed.

When asked about his performance history, sneakZZ described a recent evening at BU Central, where he opened for DJ Association with a 15-minute set. “The crowd was really feeling it. I had a lot of fun,” said Alvarez. “I don’t think there’s any videos of the show but there’s an album on Facebook if you’re interested,” said sneakZZ, who reportedly then directed the surveyors to an album of 30 pictures of him staring at a laptop on a stage.

Alvarez – who, the study noted, also has a passion for music performance but doesn’t let it consume his entire personality – shared a similar story when asked about his social life, recounting the time when he performed original songs he’d written on the guitar for BU Central’s Open Mic Night.

“It’s great to be able to express yourself in a way that’s completely your own,” Alvarez said to the surveyors, who had previously listened to sneakZZ speak passionately about how he had sampled bits of songs composed by famous professional artists to make what he considered a “new, different [song].”

The study’s findings suggest that one of the primary traits common to both college DJs and regular students, as well as everyone else, is a love of music.

“I love going to concerts,” sneakZZ added. “I saw Tiesto at the San Diego Sports Arena last Summer. College Invasion tour. Greatest [freaking] night of my life.”

“I like going to concerts,” Alvarez also stated. “I saw Jack White at Aggannis Arena this month. It was awesome.“

While the large number of similarities between Alvarez and sneakZZ led to a largely inconclusive study, researchers did discover that the most explicit difference between the aspiring college DJ and the typical, non-assuming student is that the DJ has a shitty taste in music.