A wave of frat flicks rose above the sea of sweaty bodies, booming bass consuming the crowd. One person can be held accountable for creating this West Campus experience — resident DJ Matheus Lucian.
Lucixn, the DJ’s stage name, accumulated over 400,000 streams on SoundCloud, his primary platform. With a fresh Spotify account displaying his first original song and a West Fest gig already under his belt, Lucixn now looks beyond the realm of producing.
“Ideally, everyone wants to be big and famous,” Lucixn said. “But being in the industry and the times I’ve booked my own events, I realized — maybe I do want to work in the industry.”
Last spring, Lucixn and fellow musicians, Alejandro Arias and Pierre Filerio, stepped away from part ownership of West Campus Music, a student talent agency, to open ODYZ Entertainment, hoping to unify students from different social circles for a night of music.
“That’s what we mean by targeting,” said Arias, ODYZ’s operations manager. “To create an environment where people can be friends with others that they would typically not hang out with.”
To kick off the semester, ODYZ hosted its first ticketed event on Sept. 4, giving both new and seasoned DJs the chance to perform in front of a large crowd. Arias said attendance of spirit groups and organizations, including those outside of UT, marked a step in the right direction, but there’s still room for improvement.
“We definitely want to take a step back to look at what was successful, what wasn’t and how we can ensure that we do better in the future,” Arias said.
As a freshman, Lucixn accepted a scholarship to study at UT as a jazz major and played for the UT jazz ensemble throughout his first year. His relationship with the sax began early and grew over time, but after nine years, he realized it was no longer compatible with what he wanted to do with his life.
“I’m not sure what the transition (would) be like after college doing jazz,” Lucixn said. “So I switched into government.”
Lucixn said the simplicity of the major’s application attracted him. He said it paired well with his vision to pursue DJ’ing, a desire that manifested after the functions he attended on campus with his fraternity, Texas Pike.
Conner Escobar, Radio-Television-Film senior and Pike’s social chair, documented Lucixn’s musical growth over the past two years after rushing together. Escobar said their friendship was built upon their shared passions and future careers.
“He doesn’t know anything about making videos,” Escobar said. “I don’t know anything about making music, but I feel we’re able to learn off (of) each other.”
Having witnessed the start of Lucixn’s DJ career, Escobar said his videos not only gave exposure to Lucixn’s music but also his work ethic.
“He definitely worked his ass off,” Escobar said. “It wasn’t one video (that) changed his whole career, but a collection of them to show that he was actually invested.”
Even though his degree doesn’t align with his aspirations, Lucixn said he’s ready to continue working in the industry.
“What I’m doing now really opened my eyes to what could be in my future,” Lucixn said.
