Disk jockey

Disk jockey is a term for a variety of performers who make use of pre-recorded music (originally on disk-shaped media such as phonograph records or compact discs) for entertainment. The entertainment can be live, or broadcast over the radio, and the role of the Disk jockey can be actively creative (as with Hip-hop DJ's, who scratch and mix the pre-recorded material with a high degree of improvisation and dexterity), or relatively passive, as with a wedding Disk jockey who simply plays the requested music, with occasional pauses for announcements. The abbreviation "DJ," pronounced deejay, evolved early on for this term; in Hip-hop, performers prefixed these initials to their stage names (e.g. DJ Jazzy Jeff, or Kool DJ Herc).