MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Before the COVID-19 pandemic, DJ Fazed was making a good living and growing creatively, but then it all came to a halt in March 2020.

DJ Fazed, real name Malik Braxton, makes electronic and rap / hip-hop beats. He said bars and clubs have closed and his source of income has dried up. Braxton was forced to drop out of college and return to live with his brother until the end of the summer. He returned to Morgantown in the hopes of finishing his studies and resumed making music and DJing.

“It hit me hard because I was going to have like a whole gig and stuff,” Braxton said. “I had paid for similar ads before and then COVID hits and that ends the whole gig. We were going to have NLE Choppa, Tyga and Chief Keef, all in one place, one night for reunion. And then they canceled it, so I lost a good amount of money.

Throughout the pandemic, losing money has been a recurring problem for Braxton.

He admitted his wallet had been “hit pretty hard,” but said he was just a young man chasing a dream.

“I love music,” Braxton exclaimed. “And, I think, it wasn’t until my sophomore year in college that I really learned that I wanted to do this for a career. I wanna play music and produce and all that kind of stuff for, you know, music and stuff. Deejaying was the way and it was a way to get paid and do what I love. “

Now, Braxton said, when he’s on stage it doesn’t look like a job.

“It’s literally like having fun,” he said. “So that’s why I chose to do it.”

It is this passion that drives him forward. Plus, he said, things are starting to pick up since his concert was canceled in September.

He has three DJ residences in Morgantown, at Code, Pryzym and Fat Daddy’s.

Additionally, Braxton said he was “just coming back from a tour” about two weeks ago. And, he’s trying to organize another tour in Phoenix, AZ.

DJ Fazed said he was still hopeful.

“Very optimistic,” he said. “I have to keep my hopes up, man.”

He said things haven’t completely returned to normal in the music industry, and he’s not sure they will ever be.

However, he said, this is not necessarily a problem. Things could change, but he knows he can still make a living by partying.

“I think, you know, it will eventually become profitable, like super profitable again,” Braxton said. Like doing concerts and stuff like that, I think it’ll happen again. Everyone loves concerts so it’s gonna have to happen you know? Maybe not necessarily anytime soon, but it will happen. “

You can find DJ Fazed and his music online.

“I do rap and EDM beats,” Braxton said. “I have a Linktree on my Instagram account, which is DJ_Fazed. And I just made beats on it. I have a SoundCloud and stuff like that. I have a few mixes now. I’m starting to understand and, you know, getting it right. I also have some videos.