Miami Derpin’ with MAKJ

Mackenzie Johnson AKA MAKJ has accomplished what most have dreamed of in a lifetime. He’s been a professional race car driver as well as a world famous DJ. With many monstrous collaborations and numerous solo bangers, he definitely has proven his ability to make music that people love. He’s performed at major festivals such as: TomorrowWorld, Coachella, and Electric Zoo to name a few. Not only does he tour regularly but he also has a weekly podcast called Revolution Radio. This year marked the 30th anniversary of the Winter Music Conference in Miami and I was lucky enough to have the chance to sit down with him and get to know him and how he came to be a world famous DJ.

Dance Rebels: In the past two years since the time I saw you at the Shore Club till now. Describe your rise into the spotlight.

MAKJ: I don’t know, it’s been kind of a work in progress. I’ve worked my ass off for the last two years, I know that. It’s just one of those things that takes time. A lot of these kids now a days don’t really know how long it takes to build your name in this industry because there’s so many people in it. I mean everyone wants to be a DJ, f***ing everyone. Which is cool because you have more notoriety but at the same time it’s hard to make it so you gotta work your ass off, you gotta work that much harder. Since two years ago, I worked a lot. I’ve seen a good rise but at the same time I expected that too because I know how hard I’ve worked and I know what I was supposed to get in that amount of time. Set goals you know, if you set goals you’ll be able to achieve what you want.

Dance Rebels: As most of us know, you were a good friend of DJ AM. Did he mentor you in any way? Did he teach you things about DJing?

MAKJ: In a sense yeah, he wasn’t just a mentor. He was not a brother, he was a part of our family. He was part of our group. It’s like having the homie that’s like there and everyone looked up to him but he was just the homie. He wouldn’t just tell me to be a DJ, he’d be like, “Yo, this is where you need to go eat, these are the people you need to meet,” it was just a homie thing. The funny thing is, I never really talked to him about DJing. He wasn’t that guy, he was a guy that was part of the group that I was hanging out with. It ended up me just gaining friends with him and being a homie and not just a mentor. People have kind of a weird say on that because everyone thinks he just taught me. He did teach me and I learned a lot off of him but it wasn’t like hey man I’m coming to your house, your teaching me to DJ. You learn new s**t everyday, definitely hanging out with more people your going to learn something. You’re going to learn something off of everyone.

Dance Rebels: When you’re up DJing and you miss a mix in or mix out, are you harder on yourself than anyone else around you?

MAKJ: For sure, you’re always your own worst critic. That’s the hardest part about being an artist: anything from a painter to a musician. You’re always going to hate yourself for doing something and people aren’t even gonna give a sh-t. Half of these people are f-cking puking right now. You’re always going to be your own worst critic and that’s the beauty about being an artist: you’re gonna have to deal with it. Of course I’m always gonna be harder on myself, like today i know I f-cked up one time at Ultra and I was just hating myself for it but my manager calmed me down. He was like “dude you killed it, it was really good.” Surround yourself with good people and it usually ends up really well.

Dance Rebels: Other than DJing, what other passions do you have?

MAKJ: I really like to surf, I live right by the water. I surf hopefully twice a day all the day. My house would be right there, it was like a ten minute walk at most to my beach, or our beach. So, I like surfing a lot which is nice because you’re by yourself, it’s really quiet and cool. But I like to cook. It’s impossible to cook on the road but I get to try a a lot of amazing food in each different city. I make it a point to where when I go out to a different city that I’ve never I always write down the recipe or what I ate and try remaking it when I go back home.

Dance Rebels: So we all know that there was something going around about Mexico…

MAKJ: Uhhh, yeah, I got arrested. I love animals, I grew up on a farm. I had like 4 dogs, I’m an animal guy. They sell their animals for money, in a sense of, like, they hold the monkeys on leashes all day, and you can hold them for $5 dollars, you can take pictures of them for $20, you know what I mean? I took one and just walked away with it, it ended up bad but whatever. That’s what happens in Mexico. I stole a monkey!

For info about MAKJ, as well as his touring dates, click here.