The beat never stops for junior Victor Olaleye. He’s had a heart for music since being introduced to it in church when he was younger. He began playing in his church band and his love for music grew from there.
His strong interest became serious around the age of nine when he received his first drum kit, a keyboard and a saxophone. He wasn’t very gifted at the time given that it was his first time playing the instruments, but he worked diligently until he improved.
His twin sister, junior Victoria Olaleye has watched his love for music evolve since they were kids.
“Victor has always been very passionate about music. When we were growing up, music was all he thought about and honestly, that hasn’t changed,” Victoria said. “If anything, I would say that his love has only grown.”
No instrument is foreign to Victor, considering that he plays five. In addition to the keyboard, drums and saxophone, he plays the vibraphone and a variety of percussion instruments.
Music has taken Victor in many different directions that he would’ve never imagined. He is a percussionist in the H-F band and has been involved since his freshman year. Victor also formed a band in 2017, “Timeless”, which is an ensemble of students from a few surrounding schools.
The path music has taken him down the road of deejaying.
Victor has been deejaying since the age of 13, when he got his first deejay controller and basic deejay softwares and his career took off from there. Since then, he knew deejaying was more than a hobby, it became something he was truly passionate about.
“As a kid, I used to like deejays a lot. At parties, I used to stand and watch the deejay and not [focus] on anything else or the party going on around me because I was so interested in it,” Victor said.
At first, he played around with it, but now he takes being a deejay seriously, using professional sound and audio equipment worth thousands of dollars.
“I am always practicing at home. You’ll never come to my house and not hear music. I’m always perfecting my craft,” he said.
His clientele started off small but now Victor has anywhere from five to 10 gigs a month. His weekends are always booked and sometimes he has gigs all weekend long. He loves having packed schedule that allows him to interact with customers.
“I love that I’m able to connect with the crowd and make everybody hype. When I see the smiles on people’s faces and that they’re having a good time, and knowing that I am the one making them feel that, it feels good,” Victor said.
Being a deejay is no easy task, and it became harder after he gained more customers. Victor has multiple friends or “roadies” that help him with large party set ups. A party set up can take anywhere from one hour to three.
Junior and roadie Jalen Mays is a friend of Victor and has worked two shows with him. He often video records and photographs the gigs and events for him.
“Victor is really cool and he is really and he’s about the business. He’s doing really big things at such a young age and continues to [grow],” Mays said.
In the upcoming year, they hope to launch a business together, DX3, a package deal of Victor as a deejay and Mays as a photographer.
In the future, he wants to continue to deejay and expand the “DJ Vick” brand. Deejaying is something that he wants to do for a longtime and even considers it as a profession.
“I feel like my career is elevating and I really love being a deejay. More and more people are noticing me,” Victor said. “My career is only going up from here.”