“DJ Poison in the House!”

Katrina Ipce

DJ Poison with his favorite fan Mr. Crowley.

Katrina Ipce and Sarah O'Moore

Did you know there’s a celebrity attending our school? That’s right! DJ POISON recently made his debut on Instagram. Jorge Wayar (aka DJ POISON), a freshman at East Rockaway High School, has found a passion for music and entertainment and is sharing that love for all listeners on a weekly basis.

We took it upon ourselves to get a closer look behind the scenes to see how Poison’s love for music started. After attending one of his sets, we needed to interview him and get all the details. Now how did he even discover the world of DJs? Surprisingly, he actually learned about it from a reality TV show! He remembers watching Jersey Shore with his mom and sisters and saw DJ Pauly D. He now looks up to Paul D. DelVecchio Jr. (DJ Pauly D) as an inspiration since his rise to fame as an American television star and DJ. In 2011, he made a three-album deal with 50 Cent’s G-Unit Records and G-Note Records. Jorge found this passion for being a DJ January 2021 and has never looked back. One of his most asked questions is where he got his name from. Jorge said the name originated from his favorite early 2000s R&B classic “Poison” by Bell Biv DeVoe. 

Being a DJ takes a lot of commitment and equipment. When he started to learn more about this passion he watched a countless number of YouTube videos to learn more about what is needed. He eventually made the decision to get a DJ deck, computer, and speakers. The two JBL speakers are connected to the DJ deck, which allows the music to be played when he goes live. He goes live on Instagram which is the only platform he uses. He chose Instagram because he thought it would be the platform he could grow the most on and would be the easiest to use. The first time he went live for his first concert might not have been as successful as you think. Only 2 people joined within a time span of 20 minutes. But that didn’t stop DJ POISON. He then realized he had to promote his account throughout the school if he wanted to grow. He started off by telling the football team and his friends. He then went on to telling all the students and teachers in his classes about it and writing his account name (@DJPOISON) on every chalkboard he could. This caught the attention of one teacher at our beloved school: MR. CROWLEY! Mr. Crowley, our APES and Earth Science teacher, is very supportive of Jorge’s passion. He made sure to tell all his classes about DJ POISON and was yelling throughout the halls, “Don’t forget to follow DJPOISON!!!” It wouldn’t be a day at school without hearing Crowley tell someone to follow him. After all the promoting DJ POISON recently hit a milestone of 100+ followers! Now, every time he goes live his audience increases every time. After asking Jorge how he felt about all the positive feedback, Jorge states, “I feel like a celebrity!”

Here are just a couple of people at school who support Jorge and what they have to say about his sets:

Mrs. Perrone: “DJPOISON sets are the addition to my Friday nights that I never knew I needed.”

Mr. Crowley: “Jorge brings so much positive energy to the high school building during the day. His Friday night DJ performances give so many of us something to look forward to as the school week comes to an end!”

Francesco Maio: “I love to hype up Jorge in the chat–the chat is always blowing up from all the support.”

Angelina Palma: “I’m always getting invited to DJPOISON’S lives.”

George Carpio: “I think it’s fire, the best DJ in East Rockaway!”

Leah Ortega Herrera: “Thank you for entertaining me while I work on Fridays.”

His supporters aren’t just people from school, they are also his family. Jorge says his family supports him 100% and loves what he does. His favorite part of all of this is that everyone around him enjoys what he is doing and has a great time at his live concerts. Now that the summer is coming up he wants to do more with his DJ passion. He plans on possibly DJing at parties and gatherings to take this passion to the next level. In the future, he doesn’t necessarily know if this is what he wants to do as a main job. He said if he gets the opportunity to be something great as a DJ, he will take it. If not, he would still love to DJ on the side and continue this passion. 

Jorge has grown a lot since he first started. Going from 2 supporters to over 100 is insane! That’s why it is always important to not give up. A piece of advice Jorge would give to anyone wanting or trying to become a DJ is “to have fun and love what you do!” He appreciates all the support he gets. This is why he will continue to go live every Friday at 7:00 p.m. We asked him why only once a week and his answer was very well thought out. He doesn’t want to have too many concerts because he likes to keep people waiting and make Fridays special. Go make sure you are following DJ POISON on Instagram and set a reminder on your phone for every Friday at 7! When you see Jorge (DJ POISON) in the halls… don’t be shy about asking for a picture! 🙂