Alexis Chang (senior), widely known by students as “DJ Lexos,” was first introduced to the world of DJing during the 2020 global pandemic. A year later, they opened for Spring Fest’s headliner, Flo Milli, as a first year — and Chang said they couldn’t have done it without the support and connections they have at Occidental.
“Oxy has helped me kickstart my entire career,” Chang said. “[Spring Fest] still is one of my favorite sets ever. It gave me a lot of exposure within the school because there were so many people there.”
Prior to attending Occidental, Chang said their interest was piqued by live stream DJ performances on social media.
“There were DJs having live streams, and my mom would always play them. I started following more DJs on Instagram — DJs from New York,” Chang said.
Chang, a New York native, said they have lived a very nomadic lifestyle. They said they lived in upstate New York until the age of 6, London until the age of 11 and New Haven, Connecticut until moving to LA to attend Occidental at 19 years old.
After Chang returned from Connecticut for their sophomore year, they became even more involved at Occidental, DJing for homecoming weekend, athlete and POC formals and other various events toward the end of their sophomore year.
“Having spaces to DJ and play for people and a community like this is very helpful, they’ve taught me a lot,” Chang said.
When they were only in their second year of DJing, Chang said they still had to pre-plan out song orders and experiment with transitions before performing a set. Now, they do things differently.
“For a two-hour set, I’ll probably try to get 60 to 100 songs in a folder. I don’t know exactly what I’m gonna play, but that allows me to just improvise,” Chang said. “You can’t always predict the vibe.”
After DJing multiple events at Occidental, Chang began to share their musical talents outside of the college. In October of their junior year, Chang’s booking manager got them a spot to DJ at The Friend, a bar in Silverlake.
“The first guest slot was for them to see how I played. It was so much fun, and I was able to bring a lot of people out,” Chang said.
Chang has continued their residency at The Friend into their senior year, where they said they have had the opportunity to connect with other DJs.
“I feel very looked out for. The Friend is a warm community to be a part of. I love the people who work there and I love being able to set the vibe and be with my friends,” Chang said.
When Chang was a first year, they became close friends with Sweda Rajaram ’22, a senior at Occidental at the time. Since then, Rajaram said she has been able to watch Chang grow and support them as a developing artist.
“I think I’ve always thought of them as a DJ, because I knew they were into music from the jump,” Rajaram said. “Especially for somebody so young, they had a good grasp and a pretty decent amount of years of experience.”
In her senior year, Rajaram was able to attend Chang’s performance at Occidental’s Spring Fest.
“They’re so good at knowing their audience, but also knowing really good music and how to mix,” Rajaram said.
During their first year at Occidental, Chang took a class with Director of the John Branca Institute for Music and Associate Professor of Music, David Kasunic. Chang said they did not initially refer to Kasunic solely as their “professor,” but also as an advisor and mentor.
Kasunic said that Chang has tremendous energy.
“They’re deeply passionate about what they do,” Kasunic said. “They’ve been engaged and an extremely positive presence in the music department.”
Kasunic said that for Chang, DJing is not merely a hobby, but an intellectual passion.
“It’s a consuming passion. It involves everything that they’re learning, everything that they’re doing,” Kasunic said.
Chang will be launching their own radio show on Sept. 27 with Occidental’s radio station, KOXY. They said they intend to play mixes to spread positive energy through the Occidental community and beyond every Friday at 11 am.
Until the kickoff of their radio show, DJ Lexos Vibes Radio, Chang plans to spend their mornings experimenting with different mixes and transitions on their DJ controller.
“Most Friday mornings I’ll usually DJ in my room to set my vibe for the day. I don’t have class so I wake up and if I want to listen to music, I’ll just DJ for a little bit. Being able to have a consistent show and have people listening to it from wherever will be a very cool opportunity,” Chang said.
After graduation in the spring, Chang plans to return to New York.
“I’m going to be living in Brooklyn next year, but now I really like the idea of being bi-coastal,” Chang said. “I really do love LA and I’m starting to meet more people working here. I don’t want to just dip on LA. It’s a great city and there’s so much more for me.”
Contact Amelia Gehlhaus at gehlhaus@oxy.edu and Ellie von Brachel at vonbrachel@oxy.edu
