Detroit’s DJBJ 3525 will bring the party to the polls on Election Day

When DJs at the Polls went looking for DJs in the Detroit area, one of the first people they contacted was DJBJ 3525, aka Brian Jackson.

Between his work as a DJ, radio host and producer, Jackson is one of the most recognizable names on Detroit’s music scene. He loves drawing people out to party, and now he’s excited to draw them to the polls. 

“I have a lot of young followers who don’t really care about voting. It’s just another day to them,” Jackson says.

But, he added, if they get a message about voting “from someone who has so much influence on the community, it’ll probably make them change their minds.”

Music Is His Life 

Music has been big for Jackson his whole life. His dad owned a record store, and Jackson saw him mingling with stars like The Temptations and Michael Jackson. But the boy’s childhood dream was to be a baseball player. He won a baseball scholarship to Eastern Michigan University—but once there, he says he had the rude discovery that “I’m not that good.” 

Forced to rethink what he could do with his life, Jackson realized that he loved music and that his best school subject was math. Put the two together and it adds up to deejaying. Being a DJ is all about beats per minute, he says.

Before he even started playing, he knew to brand himself. The name DJBJ 2535 came from his own initials and the numerals attached to those letters on the keys of his Nokia phone. He quickly put the name on a shirt and walked around campus to see what reaction he got. Everyone wanted to know what 3525 meant. “I knew it was working.”

Soon he was deejaying in clubs, even though he wasn’t old enough to drink. His career really took off at age 19 when he got a show on the Detroit radio station HOT 107.5. At first, he just played mixes, but was reluctant to talk on air. He’s always been shy. The station manager told him he was also being paid to talk.

Realizing that his voice counted “changed my life,” Jackson says. He would later leave the station because the time demands were too draining, but he held on to the lesson of the importance of using his voice.  “It’s the same thing as having your vote count.” 

Being an Entrepreneur—and Keeping Pizza Weird 

Jackson used his DJ platform to create several businesses through the years, including a clothing line and a recording studio. But over the past few years, he’s stepped back from the travel and late nights of deejaying to focus on his daughter, who’s now 6. 

Jackson also teamed up with a friend to open a pizzeria in Toledo, Ohio called Pizza Cat. The idea is to serve pies with the strangest toppings possible, such as flaming hot Cheetos or ranch garlic butter with pickles, red onions and sauerkraut. The store motto: Keep pizza weird. Last week, they opened their seventh Pizza Cat location, this one in Ann Arbor.  

Meanwhile, he and his brother started a new venture—a mobile bowling alley, with two-foot lanes, two TVs, a sound system and booth all tucked onto a 40-foot trailer. 

Though he’s not playing clubs full-time anymore, he still keeps his hand in the game. And he’s excited to be back in the booth spinning tunes on Election Day. “I know how important voting can be.” 

Read more: Local DJs to provide the soundtrack at Michigan polls on Nov. 5