By Marina Rangel |Staff Writer|

Music burst through the SMSU Event Center Mar. 8 on Thursday night. DJ Pleaze, DJ Infinity and Kid Disko pumped up students with their custom beats in CSUSB’s first DJ Master Competition.

The DJ Master Competition  featured some very talented students. It was hosted by the new campus’ club Underground Music Society (UMS), and with some support from Red Bull, CSUSB welcomed three disk jockeys to participate in a 15 minute spin-off.

“We wanted to bring some of the music scene to CSUSB and connect students through music,” said Emmanuel Rodriguez, UMS president.

The competition’s master of ceremonies was DJ Wall-E. He spun during the gaps between competitors. DJ Infinity kicked off the night, followed by DJ Pleaze and Kid Disko closed the competition.

DJ Pleaze, also known as Will Macale, got the crowd really going, scoring him the grand prize: a paid trip to Vegas.

Macale works for Coyote Radio and said it felt great to win and had fun participating.

Rene Tovar, calling himself Kid Disko, took second place with his beats and John Orta, stage name DJ Infinity, spun his mixes for third place.

House DJ, DJ Wall-E and competitors had students on their feet with every mix. Participants even included popular old-school jams from past decades.

The night was filled with dancing and screaming for your favorite DJ. Red Bull was the perfect addition for setting the tone by handing out their energy drinks to get students going.

UMS hoped for a huge turnout not only to promote local talent but to prove music could bring a lot of people together and create a real presence on campus.

This was only the beginning for events like this. UMS has only been around for two quarters and they aspire to bring the type and size of music scene similar to UC Riverside here to CSUSB.

“Everyone loves music and it’s a great way to bring people together no matter what type of music you like,” said Rodriguez, speaking of the club’s motivations.
UMS tries to bring out those artists that want to share their talents and at the same time bring culture to our campus.

Music is not an easy industry to break into, but foundations can be made while in school and it’s a great place to start networking.

UMS hopes to create this type of environment for aspiring musical artists.

Events that bring life and excitement to our campus while showcasing students who are passionate about what they do, is what breaks the mold of our so-called “commuter college.”